This adorable idea from Kiwi Co’s website brings Dr. Seuss’s story of Yertle the Turtle to life. It requires a bit of grown-up prep, but nothing too complicated. Ahead of time, I saved up bottle caps until we had 12. It would have been a bonus if they were green to begin with, but a quick coat of tempera paint solved the problem.

Meanwhile, I traced out turtle shapes on green felt around each bottle cap, (you just need a head and four limbs extending off the round body), and then cut out.

Use hot glue to add a green bottle cap in the center of each body and 2 wiggle eyes on each head.

Now it was time to watch the story! This was the perfect snuggle time on a rainy day, but the book was only halfway finished before the kids were trying to stack their turtles just like the ones in the tale.

Oh no, this tower toppled over at only seven turtles!

Veronika simply delighted in stacking a few before knocking them down on purpose. Clearly these turtles were a hit!

Travis, meanwhile, was the champion. He carefully began stacking…

…and managed to stack 10 turtles before his “king” hit the ground.

This was a wonderful way to make the book come alive.