Whoville Christmas Program Sets

Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot. This year our school is performing a Grinch themed concert and so I was tasked with designing the Whoville sets. 

I sketched out some of Dr. Suess's house drawings, placed added some trees and mountains and projected them onto 8 foot panels. I had to outline them in black paint for my visually impaired students to see, and even then it was hard to differentiate from the gingerbread background that was already there, so I'd trace those with thicker color lines.

Within a couple of Friday afternoons, most of the painting was finished and we were able to use them as a backdrop for our "Santa and Mrs. Claus pictures" at the student Christmas party.

Meanwhile, I got word that I was on a team to help decorate an office space the Department of Education in Atlanta. Guess what the theme was? How the Grinch Stole Christmas!  So I spent a few afternoons creating cardboard cut outs of Whos.

My teammates stuffed Grinch pajamas with newspaper and added hands, feet, and a lower face using polar fleece that matched perfectly. They curled bulletin board paper for tree boughs, made a 3D paper roast beast, and printed labels for cans of who hash! The Grinch has a cane and is reading a Braille book, which is also a scratch and sniff book from 1970. It still smells! (No one will probably notice, but we get a kick out of little things like that).

Flat decorations were made tactile like garlands and snow (batting) were  glued to the "Welcome to Whoville" arch. We hung real ornaments on our paper trees. Glued yarn for hair, beards, and colors, buttons, pom-poms, and jingle bell for accessaries. 

 A couple of Whos and Max the dog as a portion of our office hallway to deck.

Of course the sets eventually made it to the stage. We painted colorful cobblestone walkways with snow in between on the stage floor. Now we just wait for the giant Whoville backdrop and the Grinch to show up for this week's performance.