“My character wipes out COVID. I created it so if you have COVID it heals you and if you haven’t and you touch it, you will be immune like a vaccine,” said Ring Elementary School third grader Gia Bell. “I thought it was a great idea to do it because it helps us show how we think and can help people.”

Mrs. Whitman completed the Dr. Seuss character lesson with kindergarten through fourth graders. They took a look at not only Dr. Suess’ characters, but also his personal artwork.

They noticed that each character in his books has a goal or a mission to complete. The class brainstormed today’s issues and how a character could solve some of those problems. They thought about what skills or abilities our character would need for solving their chosen problem.

“I created a character that is the fastest animal and it brings people food,” said Ring Elementary School third grader Ethan Johnson. “I think it’s a good idea to do a project like this because it shows everyone how much we care about each other and the world.”

Some of the other characters students created were: a roving vending machine that seeks out people that are hungry and allows them to pick what they want for free or a character that cures cancer or one to clean the polluted lakes and oceans.

Students learned the process of drawing large and filling paper space, just like an illustrator, and including text to tell the reader the story behind their character. 

Many skills were used, such as lightly sketching a draft character and then finalizing the drawing with bright easy-to-see techniques. Mrs. Whitman was very touched by some of the problems the children presented.

“I love that the kids made a connection between art and community and world needs,” said Mrs. Whitman. “They started discussions about how their character could solve the problem by using perhaps superpowers but then understood that we could really solve some of the problems by brainstorming and working together in real life too. I was very impressed with how aware of society issues the kids were and their sincere desire to help. They came up with so many ways to be compassionate and solve issues with their characters. I did not anticipate the level of creativity they embraced! These are our leaders of tomorrow, and practicing solving big problems was an eye-opening experience. The level of compassion and creativity was impressive.”