Thanksgiving

I don't have a full layout for Thanksgiving because, frankly, I dropped the ball on the book list and nearly all of the Thanksgiving books were checked out of the library by the time I went! So I'll just share a few of the projects we've been working on.
My main focus for Thanksgiving has been talking as often as I can with the kids about what we are thankful for.

 

Activity/Project:

-We made a turkey out of hand and foot tracings, decorated it, and then hung a piece of paper beneath it where we are trying to write things down every day that the kids are thankful for. You get some of the cutest answers from them when you ask!
Here's how to make this simple project:
Trace their foot on brown or white construction paper and trace their hands 6 times; 2 each of yellow, orange and red.  Cut these out (if your child is old enough to cut, this is a great cutting exercise).  Let them decorate the foot as the body of the turkey and the hands as the feathers.  Either draw on or cut and glue on eyes, a beak and feet.  Then, glue the feathers (handprints) to the back of the body (footprint) in a fanned-out pattern. 

 

-We also made pinecone turkeys, which are very cute, but definitely require a lot of mom-help!
We began by gathering a variety of pinecones on a nature walk (I gathered quite a few to save and use in future projects).  I cut out feathers from yellow, orange and red construction paper and glued 6 together in a fanned-out pattern for each turkey.  Next, I cut out eyes from white construction paper and a beak from orange construction paper.  Then I took an orange pipe cleaner and cut it into 4 pieces.  I twisted two together per foot.  Now for assembly!  I asked my son what things he was thankful for and wrote them on the feathers (again, cute answers!).  Then I let him decorate the feathers, eyes and beak as he wished.  We glued them all in place together, and voila! An adorable turkey decoration for the table!

Happy Thanksgiving!