Fun-Filled Friday: Thanksgiving Ideas

It's hard to believe, but Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away. I'm sure some of you are already looking for Thanksgiving arts & crafts ideas, so here are some to inspire you and get you started.

Thankful Pumpkins

For each pumpkin, cut out the inside portion of a large paper plate. Paint the remaining rim orange. Cut a white construction paper circle a little bit larger than the open area inside the rim; then glue the paper to the back of the rim. Have each child add a green or brown construction paper stem to their pumpkin. Around the top of the orange part of the pumpkin, use a permanent marker to write, "I am thankful for . . .". Then have the child draw and color something to complete the sentence.

Optional: If you have a classroom of pumpkins, you can mount these to a bulletin board and make a vine to go around the pumpkins. You could also change this design and use orange construction paper instead of painting the paper plates.

Rustic vests

My first year teaching preschool, I actually made these for each of my preschoolers. This is before I had children of my own, but still the project took me so long that I was left frazzled and wondering, "What was I thinking?" LOL The children loved their vests and they wore them to the family Thanksgiving dinner at the school. Anyway, on to the project.

You will need 1/2 yard of burlap for each child's vest. Fold the burlap once for an 18-inch square. Cut a v shape in the fold for the neck opening. Then cut from the bottom of the front panel to the bottom of the v-shaped opening. This will be the front of the vest. Pin the sides at least half way up. Using a plastic yarn needle and yarn, sew the sides as pinned and remove the pins. (I chose to sew the sides of the vest myself. My students were 3&4 years old.) Draw a Native American design onto the vest with permanent markers. (Supervision is needed with permanent markers!)

Optional: Using bright colors of yarn, straight stitch over the lines. Finish the vest with additional stitching as desired. (I skipped this step. It was all I could do get enough of these done for everyone. lol) If you have only one child to make this for, then you could try this step (or if you actually have some help).

This idea is from a very old, but still good Mailbox magazine.

More Thanksgiving ideas via link love:

Tiny Toms

Turkey Fan Toilet Paper Roll Craft

Thanksgiving Word Search

Make Your Own Books

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The Creation Story

When teaching my children about the Bible, I decided to "start at the very beginning - a very good place to start." Genesis 1:1 say, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." So the Creation Story is the beginning.

• Kids' Sunday School Place offers a complete lesson plan about "God the Magnificent Creator." Although this is intended for a Sunday School class, this would work well at home, too. The Creation Blocks craft is easy and appealing and helps the children to remember what God created each day. The skit about Adam naming the animals encourages your child to think about different animals that Adam named.
• Danielle's Place offers directions and an illustration of a Paper Quilt Craft on her Paper Crafts for Kids Page 1. Have your child use light-colored construction paper to draw pictures for each of the 6 days of creations. He can make more than one picture per day if he wants to make a big paper quilt.
• Kids4Truth/Art Works page offers a free color sheet for each day of Creation.
• MSSS Bible Lesson offers several pages of Creation ideas: Creation (general), Days of Creation, Adam and Eve (for "God made man"), and The Sabbath (for the seventh day). I especially liked the Days of Creation page which offered various activities for each day of Creation. Day 1 includes a link to this Earth Pendant craft. Day 2 offers directions for transforming your child into "Cloud Nine." Day 3 links to this Learn About Flowers Craft from DLTK's Growing Together. Day 4 offers a Sun Mask craft from KinderArt.com. Day 5 offers a cute and simple Footprint Fish from Idea Box. Day 6 ideas include Enchanted Learning's multiple egg carton animals. Day 7 emphasizes that this is the Lord's day when we need to go to church to worship Him. This Matching Pieces Church

creation clipart courtesy of fotosearch.com

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More Valentine's Day activities

A lot of people have been looking for crafts and activities to do with Hershey's Kisses. I've found a few of those crafts as well as more Valentine's-related ideas.

Family Fun.com offers this very cute Valentine's Day Blast Off Rocket Candy Card. (Whew! That's a mouthful!) This craft features both a Hershey's Kiss and a roll of hard candy, such as Life Savers.

Perpetual Preschool offers many, many Valentine's Day ideas submitted by readers. Submissions include instructions for creating candy necklaces, handmade cards, hand print flower bouquets, play dough hand print hearts, Valentine's mailboxes, room decorations, and so much more.

BlessingsforLife.com offers unique ideas including Chocolate Heart Sandwich Cookies, several varieties of Homemade Hearts, Hershey Kiss Roses, and A Box of Love. You can also read about the Origins of St. Valentine and Valentine's Day or choose a special saying from three pages of Valentine's Day quotations.

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Celebrating President's Day

Unsure of the origins of Presidents' Day, I ran a search and found a very helpful site, InfoPlease, which gave very interesting and in-depth information. According to a portion of their information, the third Monday in February (this year it's the 19th) is the Federal holiday known as Washington's Birthday and was created to celebrate only George Washington's birthday, which is actually February 22. InfoPlease went on to state that whether you celebrate President's Day or Washington's Birthday may depend on where you live. Washington's Birthday is a federal holiday, but states are not obliged to observe such holidays. Consequently, while the majority of states celebrate Washington's Birthday, there are about a dozen that celebrate President's Day, and several more celebrate Lincoln's Birthday as a separate holiday.

Having passed on that interesting bit of trivia, here are some ideas for celebrating President's Day.

• Preschool Rainbow offers a Preschool Holiday Art and Craft Activities page which includes three activities related to President's Day. One is especially simple: let the child use different coins to create pencil rubbings. Discuss the president pictured on the coin.
• Perpetual Preschool has many activities for President's Day including a fun yet simple coin toss game (intended to celebrate Lincoln's Birthday but could modify for Washington's birthday or President's Day). The President's Day Art page includes ideas for making wigs, painting cherry trees, creating Lincoln cabins using 8 oz. milk cartons and a penny, and creating simple silhouettes.
• Enchanted Learning, a site I had not previously visited, features a Activities, Worksheets, and Crafts for President's Day page that is chock full of useful ideas such as their easy-to-make Lincoln's Hat craft, George Washington, I Can... A Printable Book, Abraham Lincoln: A Printable Book, Washington Monument printout, and Mt. Rushmore printout.
• Preschool Express by Jean Warren offers a President's Day Theme page which includes ideas for art, counting, movement, science, music, and snack time.
• Apples 4 the Teacher offers seven printable George Washington short stories and twelve printable Abraham Lincoln short stories.
  

President's Day clipart courtesy of fotosearch.com

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Letter R crafts and activities

Yes, I'm finally getting back to the alphabet theme. I took a little break from the alphabet because I don't want to bore anyone by doing the same thing all the time so I try to vary what I post.

• First School offers a Alphabet Letter R Preschool Activities and Crafts page where you will find numerous ideas including Letter R Alphabet Letter Printables, a Noah's Ark and Rainbow lesson plan page which includes a craft, a heart theme Raccoon craft (see illustration at side), Raccoon coloring pages, Rabbit Paper Bag Puppet craft, Rabbit printable puzzle (a 4 stage puzzle for children 18 months-6 years) with lesson plan, The Tale of Peter Rabbit Activities, and more.
  
• DLTK's Growing Together always has a lot to offer, and this time is no exception. Look at their Letter R crafts for kids page which includes the Robbie the Robot Rectangle Shapes craft, Rabbit Toilet Paper Roll craft, Rainbow (hand print) craft, Letter R Alphabet songs sung to familiar tunes, Letter R Games and Puzzles, Letter R mini book, and much more.
• From my friend Karen, a thrifty mommy and preschool director/teacher, come the following ideas for rainbow crafts.

Froot Loops Rainbow
Suitable for 2+ years

Supplies

• Froot Loops cereal
  
• Paper
• Glue
• Something with which to write
  

Directions

1. Separate the Froot Loops according to color. This would be good color practice for a child who is still working on color recognition.
2. Draw a rainbow on the paper.
3. Help or supervise your child as they glue a different color of cereal on each band of the rainbow.

If you are an adventurous parent, you can use the same idea but, instead of cereal, substitute finger or poster paint.

clip art of letter R courtesy of fotosearch.com
raccoon craft illustration courtesy of First School.ws

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Inside activities

With the current rainy and cold weather, I thought I would share some links to indoor activities which will help keep your children occupied.

(All these ideas came from Family Education)

Activity

• Hide and Seek - here's a different version; hide a ticking clock and have the child find it by its sound
• Bean Bag Toss - make some bean bags for inside fun
• Hot or Cold - play this with small toys or edible treats for an exciting change
  
• Pillow throw - hit the moving target; PLAY THIS IN A PLACE WITH NO BREAKABLES
  

Creativity

• Let your runaway artist create his own mural - tie his crayons to his easel or create a place to tie them so that your child cannot write except where allowed
• Paper bag faces - your child gets to tear paper into pieces, stuff them into a bag, and create his own puppet face
• Froot Loop Sand - put that sugar-laden cereal to good use; your child will enjoy creating his own sand artwork on a sheet of paper
• Play with boxes - encourage your child's imagination and story making abilities
  

Kitchen time

• Light to dark - add food coloring to a glass of water, one drop at a time. Talk to your child about light and dark colors. (You could also mix colors and talk about how to create new colors.)
  
• Apple smile - your toddler or older child will enjoy creating an edible smile complete with teeth
• Alphabet sandwiches - using alphabet cereal, your child can write messages on a slice of bread spread with peanut butter
• Living room picnic - create happy memories with your child
• Kitchen helper - let your child help you put away silverware

Take advantage of this weather to spend some extra time enjoying your child.

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The joy of painting

I think most little children love to paint, and because they are uninhibited by fear of failure, they often create beautiful artwork even when they just splash paint onto paper. We can easily channel this fun activity into an educational opportunity.

For instance, while a toddler is painting (I recommend letting them use the little Crayola watercolor boxes) say the names of the colors he is using and have him repeat them.

For an older child who already knows the color names, show how mixing 2 colors together produces a third color.

Explain what makes primary colors primary: they are colors that you cannot make by combining other colors but can combine to make any color other than white, black, or grey.

Help your child make a sunset scene, like the photo at the top of this post, by gradually mixing red and yellow (click the link for the instructions for creating the scene).

For the more advanced, I think you could use red and blue and white to create a sunrise scene similar to the sunset scene.

Let go of your inhibitions and have fun painting with your child. You just might learn something, too.

artwork courtesy of Ideas for Children's Art Lessons

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