Wonder Inspired Choose Kind Shirt Tutorial

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through any link, we may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Supplies used may be given to us free of charge, all projects and opinions are my own.

If you and your family haven’t gone to see the movie Wonder yet you need to go right away.  We went and saw the movie this Thanksgiving weekend and it was the perfect way for us to kick off the holiday season.  We’ve had so many opportunities already to talk about the movie, how it made is feel and what exactly it means to “choose kind”.
This past summer Bright, Mia, and I all read the book Wonder.  We loved it so much we borrowed the CD version from the library and listened to it again with everyone on our drives to and from the lake and around town.  We all enjoyed it so much and enjoyed having conversations about what was happening in the book when we would get out of the car – things like WHY Julian was such a jerk, why people care so much about what other people are doing, why Jack Will said something so mean, and why showing even a little bit of kindness can mean so much.  When we found out a movie was coming out we were counting down the days until we could see it.
The timing of the movie ended up perfect for our family since we love to see a movie when we’re all together on the Thanksgiving holiday break.  When I asked Lila “Do you want to go see the movie Wonder?” her response melted my heart “Wonder?…You mean the book we read??  OH YES! With my whole heart I want to see that movie!”  Obviously we’re all fans!
As soon as the movie was over and the tears were all mopped up (and trust me, there were tears.  Little Lila has the softest heart and once the tears started there was no stopping them.  At one point she had to leave the theater to compose herself.  For me it was just a general continual tears situation, sometimes happy tears, sometimes heart break tears for Auggie and for his parents and what I can only imagine they would go through having a child like Auggie, and tears for the trials kids face and how they want to be good but don’t always know how…off topic but seriously the movie was cast so perfectly!) we started talking about Auggie and his friends in the movie.  The choices they had to make and why choosing kind can sometimes seem so hard.
I don’t want to give away the book/movie for those who haven’t read/seen it but I do want to share some of my favorite quotes from Wonder and would love to start a conversation down in the comments about why this book and movie are exactly what the world needs right now.
Some of my favorite quotes:
“It’s not enough to be friendly, you have to be a friend.”
“The best way to measure how much you’ve grown this year isn’t by inches or the number of laps you can now run around the track, or even your grade point average – though those things are important, to be sure.  It’s what you’ve done with your time, how you’ve chosen to spend your days, and whom you’ve touched this year.  That, to me, is the greatest measure of success.”
“Courage.  Kindness.  Friendship.  Character.  These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness”
“Kinder than is necessary.  Because it’s not enough to be kind.  One should be kinder than needed.”
And my very favorite:
“When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind.”
This last quote is the one that inspired Lila’s (and soon to be all of ours) new shirt.  She is completely in love with this movie and wanted something to wear that went along with the theme of the movie.  There is no question that, at least part of the theme is kindness, choosing it and why it matters.
Thanks to a super cute plain-ish hoodie from Wal-mart (of all places), my Cricut, and EasyPress we had her shirt ready in no time.
Choose Kind Shirt supplies:
Shirt (ours is from Wal-Mart and is about $8)
Cricut Maker or Explore Machine
12×12 Standard Mat
Iron-on (I used black)
Weeding Tool
EasyPress or Iron
Cut File (you can find mine here)
Choose Kind Shirt Tutorial:
Gather your supplies.
Open cut file in Design Space (you may need to resize the phrase if you’re making this for someone younger (her shirt is a 6/6x) or older, because it’s sized for her shirt).
Place your iron-on on the mat, shiny side down.
Once you have the phrase the size you want click “make it”.
From there you will mirror your image, select your material (iron-on) then click continue.
Load your mat, let it cut, unload your mat, trim your material and then using your weeding tool weed all the excess.
Because I wanted kind to have a block around it and for the word to be the fabric of the shirt showing through I weeded out each letter instead of the box.
(We got a new puppy and Lila insisted she needed to be in some of the photos…”Mom! We have to choose to be kind to animals too!“)
Once your iron-on is all weeded preheat your EasyPress or Iron.  Decide where you want the phrase to be on your shirt and then preheat that area as well.  If you’re using the EasyPress set your temperature to the correct temp for your fabric and which type of iron-on you’re using.  If you’re using an iron follow the directions on your iron-on packaging.  Press the iron-on onto the shirt from both the front and the back, let cool for a moment and remove backing and you’re finished.
What I absolutely love about this shirt is that it is a conversation starter.  Lila loves to tell people what it says and why it says it.  She’s already dying to wear it to school so she can tell her friends all about the movie and how they can all choose kind.
Wonder is currently in theaters across the US and I believe coming to theaters outside the US in December.  While I don’t think reading the book before seeing the movie is a requirement I do recommend it.  Like all movies there is only so much you can cover and the book rounds out all those corners.  It’s a very quick read and is sure to become a family favorite.  Even though we’ve already read it and seen the movie the book has made its way onto my kid’s Christmas lists.  Also, there is a second book Auggie and Me that we’ll be reading for sure this Christmas vacation on our drive home from being with family for Christmas.
I would love to know how you’re choosing kind and how you’re helping your children to choose kind.  Our conversations have often revolved around pointing out when someone wasn’t kind (in the book and movie), {why does it seem that is so much easier to spot?} and what you could do differently in those situations.  I think sometimes (and if you haven’t already you’ll see this in the case of Julian when you read the book or see the movie) children don’t necessarily recognize how unkind what they’re doing/saying actually is, especially if they don’t have examples of kindness in their own homes.  We as adults/parents must be examples of choosing kindness if we want our children to choose kind too, we can’t just hope they pick up on the best of our moments and ignore when we’re unkind.  Be honest with your kids, if you’ve found yourself being unkind, especially if they’ve witnessed it, talk about how you can try to fix it and how you can do better next time.  We don’t have to be perfect, we just have to try and let them see us trying.  That way, they know, if they make a mistake, if they’re unkind, it doesn’t mean they’re a terrible person, they can try to fix it and they can do better next time.
Leave a comment below with your favorite part of the book/movie and I’d love to hear your Choose Kind stories too!
I used supplies given to me by Cricut to create this project, all thoughts and opinions are my own.  This post contains affiliate links – this means if you purchase through these links we may receive a small commission, you will not pay more for your purchases.