how could we not?

 

 

 

 

 

turkeys drawn by threes

 

I asked the children if they wanted to draw some turkeys thinking of our elephants. We sat down with paper and crayons and looked at pictures and illustrations of turkeys. It was decided that a turkey body was a circle, the head was like a thumb, the waddle like an oval and the tail feathers were lines. I love how they turned out. So much fun!

and then we made leaf bowls

This project is ALL over pinterest and the internet. I loved the idea so much that I decided to do it with my school kiddos.

We used a mixture of Mod Podge, white glue and water to start. I prepped the bases (we used buckets) with cooking spray and plastic wrap and set out trays of our glue mixture and dollar store leaves. I also sponged on the first coat of glue so the children could see how what the plan was.

 

 

We used sponge brushes to brush the sticky stuff on. Some of the children loved the sticky but others did not. For those who did not, they selected their leaves and placed them on the base while I held the leaves down for them to do the painting of the sticky.

 

We set them in the windowsill to dry but they were feeling a bit flimsy so I hit up our fabric store for some spray fabric stiffener and did another few rounds of spray for protection (they took about two days to fully dry). The children were super excited about their bowls and their families were also pretty keen. I think I will do this every year if the time and space allows for it. Happy Fall!

thank you pinterest...

...and all you crafty bloggers out there who share your ideas! Last week we read Fletcher and the Falling Leaves and worked on all sorts of Thanksgiving fun found through pinterest!

 This fine motor activity was inspired by Twoodaloo. I used floral foam cut to fit one of our small wooden crates. The picks were made by me, using stickers from Michael's and construction paper. Out of all of these projects, this one took the most prep time but the children loved it! Though it may be that they really loves the sound of the toothpicks going into the foam. Feathers were great too!

 This awesome rainbow button turkey inspired by Raptor Mama. This one I did turn into a color matching game as well as the fine motor aspect of the buttons. My threes had a hard time at first but soon got the hang of it and played with it over and over again.

 This awesome clothespin turkey inspired by Pink and Green Mama. Thank you to mr. a-go-go for drawing me the turkey. I used scrapbook paper for the wings and a glitter paper for the base. I had wanted to do the color matching turkey but our local Michael's was out of rainbow feathers so I went with this instead focusing on the fine motor movement of pinch the clothespins.

And this semi-modern take on the classic handprint turkey from Things to Share and Remember. The children chose their own colors for their turkeys and I painted their hands. They drew in their legs and eyes and selected their beaks and waddles. The backgrounds were painted on the backs of cereal boxes and then hot glue to cardboard. They also painted their noodles for the handles. I love, love, love how they turned out!

Roll-up Pumpkin Rolls

Earlier this year, we busted out this delicious cream cheese roll recipe and it was so tasty we made it again and again. Now that it is fall here in the states, I thought adding a touch of fall flavor would delight us even more and I was right! This is quite tasty and you can make up your own batch of homemade pumpkin butter using yer own pumpkin or a handy dandy can of puree, it's up to you. To make your own pumpkin butter, hop on over to scrumdillydilly for the recipe.

Ingredents:

*1 can of crescent rounds
*pumpkin butter
*chocolate chips
*cookie sheet
*parchment paper

You can use any store bought or homemade dough, the rounds are used for convenience and they look really purty when baked. Here are the steps in pictures...enjoy!

Arting it up for Thanksgiving...

the Old School way...

Come on, you remember doing this, don;t ya? Whether or not you like it, think it is art or just plain silly I tell ya, kidlets LOVE doing this. It's a nifty trick, turning your hand into a turkey. This project could probably give you some much needed kitchen/clean up time, just make sure your wee ones can handle scissors before leaving them alone!

What you need:
*yours and/or your kidlets hands
*markers, crayons, pencils, etc.
*kid friendly scissors
*construction paper, scrap paper, magazine pages
*tape and/or glue
*feathers, ribbon, fabric, tissue, etc.

scrumdilly-do it!

Set your wee ones down with all their materials. Really, the supply list you could use for this is endless. Help them or have them trace their hands. Cut out hand shapes. You may want to do this for younger wee ones and while you are at it, cut out enough hands as there are dinner guests, you can turn these turkeys into place holders or table decorations!

Next up, decoration time, color, glue, tape and bedazzle your turkeys. When you're done, give them a name and put on a show and tell. Most of all, have fun! Let your kidlets get creative, let them go wild with the masking tape. If they want a pink turkey, let them have a pink turkey, the goal for this is to give them all the freedom they want to turn their hand print into something else. Who knows what they will come up with!While you're at it, read them a fun book. I'm sorry I didn't get this up sooner but two of my favorite Turkey stories are Twas' the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey and Pete's Chicken by Harriet Ziefert with pictures by Laura Rader.Happy Turkey Day! Don't forget to ask your wee ones what they are most thankful for and while you are at it, don't forget to ask yourself!