Thanksgiving
I was going to post some of my previous Thanksgiving crafts when my son’s quiet time was a lost cause after 30 minutes ( you win some you loose some) so I gave him the option of staying in his room or coming down and quietly doing a craft so his sister’s nap wouldn’t be a gonner too. This is what we came up with! You don’t have to include construction vehicles in yours but I think it’s a good reminder not to take craft time too seriously.
- Gather your materials. You will need brown ( whole sheet), red,white, yellow and orange construction paper ( scrap paper would do well). You will also need glue, scissors and a marker.
- Draw a ear of corn on your brown paper.
- Cut your paper into smaller strips to make it easier for your child to cut them.
- Start cutting. We shared this task.
- If you want smaller kernels of corn, cut the paper into even smaller strips for your child to cut into pieces.
- Add glue ( and construction vehicles if desired).
- Using your hands or a front loader and dump truck add the cut pieces on the cob.
- Add more glue as needed and keep adding pieces.
- My son insisted on using his toy steam roller to press the pieces down so I grabbed a plastic bag to put between the craft and his toy to prevent glue everywhere.
- Let dry.
- Cut the husks from the corn.
- Color with a brown marker.
- glue the husks over the cob and let dry.
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Family Photo Quilt
This thanksgiving craft is a favorite of mine. We made it last year and I plan to make one when my camera is full of pictures of family and friends we only see once a year. So take a bunch of pictures today, and sit down after hitting the sales Friday and make something priceless! Have a wonderful holiday filled with family , friends and food! Click on the picture above for the full instructions for the craft.
Marshmallow Corn !
I was looking for a good place to hide Halloween candy and found marshmallows I hid months ago. They were hard and dry and perfect for a craft! If you don’t hide sugary treats from yourself in your kitchen just leave the marshmallows out over night to get stale. They need to be stale so that your child can color them, without marshmallow bits getting on your markers, or being too squishy to color. Have fun with this, my son thought it was hilarious that he could color the marshmallows and asked at dinner if he could color his fish sticks. Thankfully the markers were put away.
- Gather your materials. You will need a handful of stale mini marshmallows, yellow and brown construction paper, red, brown , yellow and orange markers , glue and scissors.
- Start by coloring one end ( or more) of the marshmallows with various colors.
- Keep going!
- While they color the marshmallows draw an ear of corn on the yellow paper and husk on the brown.
- Add glue to the corn.
- Add the marshmallows.
- Color the husk if you want.
- Cut the husk out.
- Glue it on the top- you can wait until everything is dry to glue it on. I was eager to post this so I fast forwarded a bit.
- Let dry and cut out .
Books
This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story
Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving 
Thanksgiving Treat
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Thankful Box
Yesterday was Thanksgiving in Canada and although we didn’t celebrate with a big turkey dinner we did make this thanksgiving craft, took time to think of things we are thankful for and share them at dinner. At the dinner table last night each family member wrote what they were thankful for , and added it to the box. We didn’t keep ours a secret but you could. Our plan is to fill the box up over the next week and read it over dinner on Sunday to celebrate all we are thankful for.
- Gather your materials. You will need a cardboard craft box ( a show box covered with paper would be great too), some markers ( one permanent), glitter, scissors and plain paper.
- Cut a slot in the lid.
- Write the words ” I am thankful for…” in permanent marker on the lid.
- Have your little artists decorate the box with crayons or markers, you could use paint too, we didn’t because we wanted to use it shortly after but if you have the time to wait for it to dry, go for it!
- Don’t forget the lid!
- Grab the glitter. I think glitter makes anything a little more special than it was without it , and a box like this deserves some glitter… or a lot. We only added it to the lid because I didn’t want it interfering with my son being able to open and close the box.
- Let dry.
- While the glitter is drying write out a few things you are thankful for. These were my son’s – I didn’t coach him one bit, I admit I thought he’d say he was thankful for Hondas before anything but he mentioned his parents and great friends . I would encourage never saying ” No” to any suggestion, model the things you are trying to get your children to be thankful for but let them come up with their own. You can’t force this- but you can lead by example.
- We folded our papers and popped them in the “dry enough” box.
- We read these notes out at dinner and added more, which was when we decided to write more each dinner for a week then read the whole lot on Sunday.
Books
Thanksgiving in Canada is similar to the holiday in the United States, although we don’t have pilgrims, don’t watch football all day , and don’t line up for sales the next day either! Our celebration is a celebration of the harvest, yes we eat turkey and cranberry sauce and each family has their own traditions. These books work for Thanksgiving in both countries, something that is useful for the many families like mine that is both Canadian and American!Also I couldn’t resist adding my favorite book about home, if you aren’t familiar with Canada I urge you to find this book and flip though, it’s a great cheat sheet or introduction to Canada!
A Plump And Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman is such a cute and funny book about a town that needs a turkey and the lengths they go to to find one, including trickery! The town is sadly outwitted by the turkey and end up eating shredded wheat for thanksgiving. The illustrations kept my little man interested even though the story’s humor was above his head.
**Edited for 2009** Much of the humor is still above my wee man’s head although I was reminded how much this book’s dark humor makes me giggle. He was a little off put by the idea of the towns folk eating the turkey and was relived when he escaped before they shoved him in the oven. I like that he is starting to understand that the meat he eats is actually a cooked animal, we take that for granted but for many young kids this is a huge realization!
Thanksgiving is For Giving Thanks by Margaret Sutherland is book that explains what Thanksgiving is, and gives lots of examples of things to be thankful for. I like this book although I could go without the page where the narrator is thankful for lollipops, all the other things are wonderful like a teacher’s encouragement, grandma’s hugs, and sunny days and to me the lollipops sorta fall flat. Easily skipped over if you are not keen on it but the book as a whole is valuable teaching tool about thanksgiving.
M is for Maple, a Canadian Alphabet by Mike Ulmer. This book will make you feel proud to be from Canada if you are Canadian and teach you something about your neighbour if you aren’t . It will also teach your children things about the country they live in and why we feel pride when we hear names like Terry Fox, Anne with an E and Gretzky! I love this book and have since I first read it during teacher’s college in Thunder Bay, if you can be happy about being in Canada during a very cold Thunder Bay winter you can be happy about it anywhere.
