Category: Thanksgiving

Hungry Caterpillar at Thanksgiving

11/21/2013

Supplies needed; Clothes pin, fall colored pompoms, wiggly eyes, scissors, glue, printout of the Thanksgiving food page posted below.
Directions to make Caterpillar; Glue 4 pompoms to the back of your clothes pin. Once dry, glue on wiggly eyes.
Directions for food print out; Allow (or assist) children in cutting out food shapes from the image provided.
Directions for play; This project can be used with smaller children to help improve fine/small motor skills as well as creative play. With older children it can be used to teach food grouping, and the importance of proper nutrition and food choices. Allow children to "feed" their caterpillar foods by pinching the Thanksgiving food in the clothespin.

The Perfect Thanksgiving

11/20/2013

Read the book: The Perfect Thanksgiving by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by JoAnn Adinolfi.

A story of two different families and their different Thanksgiving traditions. Despite their vast differences each family has a PERFECT Thanksgiving.

Supplies:

Constructions paper
Markers/colored pencils/crayons
Googly eyes
Glue
Feathers

Directions:
Trace both hands onto a piece of paper.

Have the children use the materials provided to create two different yet perfect turkeys.

Turkey Finger Puppets

11/20/2013

Supplies:

Rubber gloves
Glue
Construction paper
Feathers
Googly eyes
Permanent marker
Scissors

Directions:
Cut fingers off glove at base. Glue eyes, beak, gobbler and feathers onto glove fingertips to create a turkey. Use a permanent marker to draw on legs.

Ol’Tom Turkey Loses Feathers

11/19/2013

Read: “Sometimes It’s Turkey, Sometimes It’s Feathers” by Lorna Balian and Lecia Balian

Instructions; For fun drop feathers every time Ol’ Tom loses his feathers and let the children pick them up when the game is done.

Supplies Needed; Scissors and crayons or markers.

Directions; Have children color and cut out "Tom Turkey" and his feathers. As you recite the poem (posted above). Ask the children to drop the feather as you recite the poem.

Materials needed: Paper plate, fake feathers, glue, construction paper brown, orange and red construction paper, scissors, and wiggly eyes.

Directions: cut one shape the size of an avocado, one shape the size of an egg, one size the shape of a small triangle for the beak. Put the large shape on the plate in the center-bottom vertical. Put the next size on top of this shape for the gobbler. Put the triangle at the top of the egg size shape for a beak. Put the wiggly eyes near the triangle. Or, let the children use these shapes any way they think is nice. Let the children glue on as many feathers as they think a turkey should have.

Candy Cornucopia

11/19/2013

Supplies Needed; Waffle cone, fall candy, microwave, ribbon or twist tie, and cellophane.
Directions; Dip the ends of the cones in a cup of water, about an inch. Then sprinkle a few drops inside the cone. Too much water will make the cone. Then microwave the cone for 30 seconds on high. As soon as it was done, carefully wrapped the end around a thick pencil and hold it for a few seconds until it held its shape. Fill the cone with candy. Once the cone is filled with candy, wrap a small square of cellophane, about 3x3 inches around the end and secured it with a piece of ribbon or a gold pipe cleaner and tie/twist into a bow.

Snowflake Turkey

11/19/2013

Supplies:

Paper (any kind will work even recycled newspaper or magazine pages)
Scissors
Glue
Googly eyes

Directions:

Cut paper into a circle or trace a circle onto the paper and cut it out. Fold the paper in half. Fold it in half again (it should look like a triangle).

Fold it in half once more.

Cut designs into the paper being sure not to cut straight through the paper and leaving a few folded areas on each side.

Carefully, unfold the paper until you have a half circle. Cut out a turkey body and glue it into the middle of the snowflake semi-circle.

Glue on googly eyes, beak, gobbler, and legs.

Turkey Cookies

11/18/2013

Supplies:

Sugar cookies (store bought or homemade)
Frosting
Various items for decorating: candy corn, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, licorice, pretzels, etc.
Plastic knife

Directions:

Frost cookie with frosting. Create a turkey with the candies and pretzels.

Some final projects may not look entirely like a turkey do to the turkey parts being sampled prior to finishing the project.

Homemade Butter

11/18/2013

Children love to help in the kitchen!
Let them participate in the Thanksgiving meal preparation. A simple yet fun and busy way to include them is to have them make butter.

Homemade Butter

Supplies:

Heavy whipping cream
Empty jar with lid
Pinch of salt (optional)

Directions:

Fill jar two-thirds full. Seal lid tight onto jar.

Shake jar vigorously until the fat in the cream lumps and sticks together.

Remove lid and drain out the liquid (buttermilk). Replace lid and shake a few more times.

Chill any leftover butter. If you are feeling experimental you can add flavors to your butter such as honey or cinnamon and sugar or garlic and herbs.

Drain any remaining liquid. Stir in a pinch of salt if desired. Serve on bread.

Leaf Turkeys

11/17/2013

Directions:

Glue googly eyes, beak, gobble, and legs onto leaf to create a turkey.

Supplies:

Leaves (real or artificial)
Glue
Googly eyes
Orange triangle beak (construction paper, card stock, or tissue paper)
Red triangle gobble (construction paper, card stock, or tissue paper)
Chenille stems or any other craft supply you find suitable for legs or tweak the stem into legs

Sophie's World: "Five Little Turkeys" singalong

I Know an Old Lady That Swallowed a Pie

11/17/2013

Read the Book: I Know an Old Lady That Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson and illustrated by Judy Schachner:

A Thanksgiving twist on the classic book I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.

Cream Pies

Ingredients:

2 packages (4 servings size) any flavor pudding mix (we used Pumpkin Spice!)
2 cups of milk
1 container of Cool Whip
Graham cracker pie crust or any other pie crust you like

Directions: Mix 2 packages of pudding mix and 2 cups of milk for 2 minutes.

Gently fold in the container of Cool Whip. Spoon mixture into crust. Chill for 20 minutes.