Thanksgiving

          This week we took a break from our normal letter of the week school time and focused on Thanksgiving.  We did several crafts and activities that I thought I would share.  The first thing we made was a thankful tree.  For this activity, we first walked around our yard and collected branches that had fallen.  We then placed them in a vase that I wrapped with a burlap ribbon tied with a beaded string.  Brooklyn enjoyed helping me put the beads on the string (which is also good fine motor skill practice).  I had cut several leaves out of cute fall colored scrapbook paper (you could also just use solid colored construction paper).  I traced the leaves and acorns with cookie cutters that I already had, but you could also either print off a picture of leaf to trace or trace a real leaf that you find outside.  We punched holes in the tops of our leaves and cut several pieces of string.  We reviewed a few of our previous verses – “Give freely” Deuteronomy 5:10 and “Be thankful in all things” 1 Thessalonians 5:18.   I then asked Brooklyn what she was thankful for.  The things she said were “my family, my friends, my bed, my nap, my house, my books, and my snack.”  I left some extra leaves beside our tree so we can add new things that we may think of later.  I hope to continue this tradition throughout the years so on each leaf, I wrote Brooklyn’s name and the year.  I am planning to add some thankful leaves of my own and encourage the rest of my family to do the same.  It will be cool to look back each year at the things each person wrote in the previous years. 

          Another craft that we made (which I have done for many years with lots of different children) was hand and footprint turkeys.  I traced both of my girl’s hands onto construction paper.  For Brooklyn, I traced both of her hands on red, orange, yellow, and green paper.  For Madelyn, I only used red, orange, and yellow (since her hands/turkey is smaller).  I also traced both of their feet on brown construction paper.  This works best with socks on since you don’t need to trace each toe. Once you have everything traced, cut them all out.  Older children can do this by themselves, but for my little ones, I did this for them.  Brooklyn helped me glue them together.  We glued the feet together by matching up the heals to make the turkey’s body, and then we arranged the hands around behind the feet to form the feathers. We taped them together, glued the feathers to the body, then added feet, a beak, and eyes.  This is the third turkey that I have made with Brooklyn, and I love getting out the old turkeys each year to see how her turkey (hands and feet) have grown.  Don’t forget to label you turkey with the year! 

          The last Thanksgiving craft that we made this year was a tepee.  Before we made this craft, I showed Brooklyn a short cartoon video that I found on youtube that explains (on a 2 year old level) the story of the first Thanksgiving.  She really enjoyed watching this, and it helped me explain why we celebrate Thanksgiving.  I showed her some pictures of Pilgrims and Indians enjoying the first Thanksgiving together, and we talked about how they prayed and thanked God for their food, friendships, and for taking care of all of their needs.  We also talked about how the Indians lived in tepees, and we made our own.  I printed out these tepees that I found here (you have to scroll down and click the link to print the tepee), let Brooklyn paint them, let them dry, cut them out, and taped them together. 

          I pray that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with their friends and families.  Don't forget to take some time and thank God for all that He has blessed you with this year.