Yertle the Turtle Craft and Treat

We are so excited to share our Yertle the Turtle Craft and treat with you! Dr. Seuss day is coming up this week, and this is the perfect activity and treat for you to do with your little ones. And not only are these little green turtles super yummy, but this activity provides the perfect opportunity to teach about the consequences of being thoughtless, vain and conceited.

Yertle the Turtle is king of the pond on the island of Sala-ma-Sond. The turtles have everything they could ever need and they are happy there. Until one day, when Yertle the Turtle decides his kingdom is too small and his throne needs to be higher! So Yertle the Turtle commands the other turtles to stand on each other’s backs to create a tower.

Now, Yertle the Turtle can see the whole pond. But this isn’t enough for him, and he commands more turtles to stand on each other’s back to create a tower that rises higher and higher. Now the end of this story is no surprise, as the tower becomes higher and higher the smallest turtle on the very bottom, named Mack, begins to worry that his shell will crack.  He decides enough is enough and lets out a little burp that shakes the whole tower and sends Yertle the Turtle plummeting back down to earth.  Now king of only the mud, Yertle the Turtle learns a great lesson of treating others kindly and being thoughtful and humble.

Making these Yertle the Turtle craft and treats is easy, and no turtles will be harmed in the making. ☺  Here are the things you will need:

• Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups  (miniature size)
• Mint Chocolate Chips
• Green Malt Balls (Green PB M&M’s would also work)
• Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
• White frosting
• Candy Eyes

Begin by melting some of the Semi Sweet chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Spoon the melted chocolate into a sandwich sized baggie and cut a small hole in the corner. Pipe a small amount of chocolate onto the green malt ball and stick it onto the upside down peanut butter cup. Then pipe the chocolate onto 4 mint chocolate chips and place them around the peanut butter cup.

Next place a small dab of white frosting on each candy eye, and place them on the green malt ball.  Then melt some of the Mint Chocolate Chips in a microwave safe bowl. Spoon it into a baggie with a small hole cut in the corner. Pipe the mint chocolate in a tic tac toe design on the top of the Reese’s peanut butter cup.

This creates one turtle. To create the Yertle the Turtle Tower, create as many turtles as you would like to stack on top of each other. Use the melted chocolate to glue them together. We made our Yertle the Turtle Tower Treats 4 turtles high, but feel free to stack em as high as you want! Just remember poor little Mack on the very bottom, worried that his shell will crack. ☺

We hope you have fun making these adorable Yertle the Turtle Craft and treats, and we hope you have even more fun eating them!

Happy Dr. Seuss Week!

Check out some of our other Dr. Seuss inspired crafts.