 |
| Thanksgiving |
| Art: Pine Cone Turkey Take one red Chenille bump & shape into an "S". Glue this to the rounded end of a pine cone with the bump protruding somewhat above the cone for the head of the turkey. Take one orange bump & shape into a "V". Glue this under the bottom of the round part of the cone for the legs & feet. Take 5-7 other bumps & carefully bend them so the narrow ends can be twisted together leaving the puffy end somewhat rounded. Glue as many of these as nicely fits close to the flattened stemmed end of the pine cone remembering to use glue on the twisted end of the wire. Potato Turkey Give each child a Russet potato & a precut turkey head with 2 tabs at the bottom of the neck. Using 2 halves of toothpicks, secure tabs to potato. Using another toothpick pock holes in the side of the potato & place a real feather in each hole. Use 4 toothpicks as legs. A variation of the Potato Turkey is the APPLE TURKEY. Use the apple for the turkey body, precut turkey head, and those frilly cocktail toothpicks for feathers. Take a wire coat hanger and bend into an oval with the hook at the top. Stretch a leg of brown, tan panty hose over hanger, tie at the top. Children cut out and glue on six feathers, three each side. Two eyes, pupils, triangle orange nose, red gobbler, and two orange feet. We hang ours from the ceiling - they are adorable. Pumpkin Pie Playdough 5 1/2 cups flour 2 cups Salt 8 tsp. cream of tartar 3/4 cup oil 1 container (1 1/2) Pumpkin Pie spice orange food coloring (2 Pts yello, i pt red) 4 cups water. Heat over low heat mixing together until dough follows spoon and leaves the side of the pan. Cool and knead. Store in airtight container. Grocery Bag Turkey Take a walk and gather fall leaves. Cut out two circles from grocery bag about 5 or 6 inches across. On the head glue eyes beak and waddle cut from construction paper. glue the leaves to the outer edges of one of the circle with most of the leaf sticking out over the edge ...glue the other circle on top . add two legs from construction paper. Clay Pot Turkey Purchase little bitty clay pots from a craft store. Cut out of fun foam a large heart the glue it to the bottom of the clay pot (the feet). Take one of those little wooden flat spoons you used to get with a dixie cup of ice cream (these can also be bought at the craft store). On that wooden spoon glue two wiggly eyes. Glue the spoon on outside of the pot, then glue a maple leaf to the outside opposite end of the pot. Hand's and Feet Turkey Make one every year to see how your little one grows! Materials: Construction paper in various colours, Scissors, Glue, Wiggle eyes (optional) Directions: Trace your child's hands and feet, two feet (with shoes on) on brown construction paper and cut 6-8 hands for feathers and wings. To make the turkey's body, glue the two feet together matching the tops for the head and spread the bottoms apart as in the illustration. Make the Turkey's feet with the orange scraps, cut a diamond shape for the beak. Cut white paper eyes, or use wiggle eyes. Make the wattle out of red construction paper. Glue them onto the body as shown. Now it's time to add the feathers and wings. Overlap the hand cutouts, gluing one top of another. The Front wings are made with the same color and glued to the front. Variation: Trace the child’s foot (in socks) on brown construction paper, then trace their hand on a variety of colored construction paper and cut everything out. Turn the foot upside down (the heel part on the top--add eyes, beak and waddle and then glue the hands to the back (lower portion) for the feathers. Add the poem underneath that says: "This Turkey very special as anyone can see because this little turkey was made by hand by me." Variation: First paint the child's hand. Used red, yellow, and orange to paint the fingers (feathers) and brown on the palm of the hand. Place the hand print on a large piece of paper. Trace the child's foot, with a shoe on. That is the turkey body. Paste this over the palm of the hand print. Add eyes, beak and waddle with markers-we used wiggle eyes. Next, type and paste the following poem beside the turkey: "This isn't just a turkey, as anyone can see. I made it with my hand and foot, which are two parts of me. " Dramatic Play: Turkey Dance Let's talk turkey! What a walk it's got! Strut about, strut about, Do the turkey trot! Construct a teepee using a sheet and poles tied at the top with rope. Fine Motor: String beads, macaroni or straw pieces and make Native American necklaces. Cut out or tear food pictures from magazines and paste to paper plates. Encourage the children to string cranberries. Games: Popcorn Relay Race This is a bit messy, but well worth it to see relatives young and old playing together! Set out bowls full of popcorn at one end of the room and empty bowls at another. Teams must transport the popcorn from a full bowl to empty, using a measuring cup. Note: popcorn is a choking hazard for children less than three! Thanker chief Arrange the children in a circle. Pass around a "thanker chief" (handkerchief) around as they recite this poem: Thanker chief, thanker chief, around you go -- Where you'll stop, nobody knows. But when you do, someone must say, What they are thankful for this day. The player holding the "thanker chief" when the poem ends, must tell one thing, they are thankful for. This continues until everyone has had a turn. Where is Mr. Turkey? Instead of saying "warmer . . . cooler" you gobble? One player is the hunter and the others are helpers. The hunter leaves the room. The helpers hide a small toy turkey. The hunter returns with a mission to find the turkey. Helpers give clues by "gobbling" like turkeys. If the hunter is not close, the helpers gobble very quietly. As the hunter gets closer, the helpers gobble more and more loudly until Mr. Turkey is found! Pin the Feather on the Turkey Played just like pin the tail on the donkey. Provide the children with a huge turkey shape, and feathers. You may want to use tape instead of pins to attach the feathers on the turkey. Blindfold one child and have them tape the feather on the turkey. Popcorn Pop (Creative Movement) Have the children watch popcorn pop. Have the children pretend to be popcorn. Use upbeat music, or a recording of popping corn may stimulate the children to jump more. Do the Turkey Pokey (Dance) Sing the Hokey Pokey like normal, but then the last line goes as follows: "You do the Turkey Pokey and you gobble all around, that's what it's all about." Language: Five Little Turkeys 5 little turkeys standing by door, One waddled off, and then there were 4. 4 little turkeys under a treee, One waddled off , and then there were 3. 3 little turkeys with nothing to do, One waddled off, and then there were 2. 2 little turkeys in the noon day sun, One waddled off, and then there was 1. One little turkey better run away, For soon will come Thanksgiving day. Activity: Word Find Take a Thanksgiving related word such as: Thanksgiving, Mayflower, Cornucopia, etc. and find as many little words as possible within before the timer runs out. Example: Cornucopia Words: corn, pin, no, arc, car, nip, cop, cup, on, or, rap... Finger Play: The Turkey A turkey I saw on thanksgiving, Her tail was spread so wide. Shhh....don't tell that you've seen her, For she's running away to hide (make fist for turkey & spread fingers of other hand for tail, Make a shhhsound) Activity: Thanksgiving "Take-Home" book When You Meet aTurkey Draw a big picture of a turkey in the middle of each page. Add these words for each page pg1 Be sure you tickle his tummy pg2 Be sure to tickle his head pg3 Be sure to tickle his neck pg4 Be sure to tickle his featherspg5 Be sure to tickle his feet pg6 Then he will run and hide On each of the pages the children color the body part that is mentioned. On the last page, cut the turkey in half and put it close to the stapled edge to look like it is hiding. To finish, each child glues on a feather to the end of a popsicle stick (you'll probably have to use tape too). Then as the read the book the tickle the part of the turkey they read about. Poems Let's be thankful for this day For our friends and for our play Let's give thanks for you and me And our home and family . Some families are BIG. Some families are small. But I like my family Best of all. Let's talk turkey! What a walk it's got! Strut about, strut about, Do the turkey trot! Music: Smells Like Thanksgiving sung to: “Frere Jacques” Smells like Thanksgiving Smells like Thanksgiving Mmm so good Mmm so good I can smell the turkey I can smell the pies Mmm so good Mmm so good Thanksgiving Day sung to “Old MacDonald” Thanksgiving Day will soon be here Let us now give thanks For the blessings of the year Let us now give thanks With a thankful heart With a thankful heart On this day, we’’ll stop to say ““For the blessings of the year Let us now give thanks.”” Gobble Says the Bird sung to: ““If You’’re Happy and You Know it”” Gobble Gobble, gobble gobble Says the bird Gobble Gobble, gobble gobble Says the bird Mr. Turkey gobble gobbles And his feet go wobble wobble Gobble gobble gobble gobble Says the bird Turkey, Turkey sung to ““Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”” Turkey, turkey look at you Please be careful what you do Thanksgiving Day is almost here We eat turkey every year Go and hide out in the woods We’’ll eat pizza, as we should! There’s a Big Fat Turkey sung to: ““Little White Duck”” There’’s a big, fat turkey Down on the farm A big, fat turkey Who stays away from harm He’’s always gone on Thanksgiving Day For some odd reason He just runs away There’’s a big, fat turkey Down on the farm gobble, gobble, gobble Recipes: Hot Dog Canoes Cut hot dogs in half. Use two refrigerator biscuits. Let the children pat and stretch each biscuit so it makes a rectangle longer than the hot dog. Wrap the biscuits around the hot dog and pinch up the ends to look like a canoe. Bake about 10 minutes at 375. CORN CAKES Another very fun snack we have used is the Jiffy cornbread mix. We make dollar-sized corn pancakes from them and fry them on an electric skillet or griddle. We top with butter and other toppings the children bring in--jelly, jam, honey, etc. They love these! FRY BREAD 2 cups self-rising flour 1 cup milk cooking oil Mix the flour and milk in a large bowl, adding flour as necesssary to form a dough. Flatten small amounts of the dough into patties. Using a wok or an electric skillet set at 400 degrees, brown the bread patties in hot oil. Drain the cooked bread on a paper towel. Serve the warm bread with butter, jam, or cinnamon sugar. Makes approximately 24 small servings of bread. PUMPKIN PIE One year we made real pumpkin pies, using canned pumpkin, frozen pie crusts and the recipe from the Libby's pumpkin can. The children did all the mixing and we used the standard recipe. We baked them at the beginning of school and they were cool by snack time. We served with whipped topping. Yum! FRIENDSHIP FRUIT SALAD Ask each child to bring in a piece of fresh fruit or a can of fruit. Allow them to chop the fruit with a plastic knife. Mix all together in a big bowl and serve. May top with miniature marshmallows or even add some dry vanilla pudding to the fruit to make it special. The extra cans of fruit above what we need go to the local food pantry. Nuts & Seeds Have each child bring in various nuts, seeds and corn to pop and blend these together, teaching the children that these are some of the items the pilgrims & indians enjoyed. Tepees Make tepees out of Large rod pretzels and tortillas.......wrap the tortilla around 3 pretzel rods........fasten with peanut butter.........let the kids paint indian symbols on with paint brushes and food coloring. Cucumber Canoes you'll need: cucumbers, carrot, low fat yogurt/ dip ( or regular "fat" is fine too), tomato, radishes, and lemon juice. Directions: Wash and peel cuc's. Cut in half lenghtwise. Hollow out the pulp from each half. Wash the other veggies. Peel carrot, and trim greens fron the radishes. Chop the tomato, carrot, and radishes on a cutting board --as finely as possible. Mix the chopped veggies with the yogurt add a little lemon juice and mix-- spoon the mixture into the canoe and away u go I used the extra veggies to dip into the mixture also good w/ chips/crackers Applesauce Peel apples. Have children cut them into pieces with plastic knives. Place in crock pot. Add enough apple juice to cover the bottom of pot. Add 1 tsp cinnmon. Cook until mushy. Stone soup Have kids bring canned vegetables. Drain and put in crock pot along with 1 lb of browned ground beef. Add 1 can of tomato juice and 1 can of water. Serve hot. Butter Put cream into a small jar. cover tightly. Shake. Pass around the classroom, giving every child a turn. Bread Use frozen bread dough. Thaw, dust with corn meal, break into small pieces and shape into loaves. Bake. Serve with homemade butter. Cranberry sauce 1 can whole cranberries (not jellied) 1 can mandarin oranges 1 cup walnuts 1 cup pecans In a medium size bowl, gently fold together cranberries, mandarin oranges, walnuts, and pecans. Serve cold. |
Have you Tried?. . . Sequence turkey cutouts from smallest to largest. Provide cards with matching pairs of Thanksgiving-related pictures or stickers for the children to match. Place two lines of dried corn kernels on the table. Make sure both lines have the same amount of kernels, but spread one line out so it is longer than the other. Ask the children if one line has more kernels, then count with the child. Make patterns using different colors of beads. Have the children to create a Thanksgiving menu. Assist them by choosing the foods by voting. Give the children turkey cutout and a box. Have the children place the cutout on, under, beside, etc. the box. Ask each child to bring a favorite recipe from home for Thanksgiving dinner Then make a cookbook to send home to each family. Keep a calendar for the month and every night write a few sentences about something they are thankful for that happened that day. Provide the children with Lincoln Logs to build with. make hot apple cider Use paper towel tubes to make totem poles. Estimations and measurement with cranberries (Dry or fresh) Children can guess how many cranberries long some items are and then use actually berries to measure Have each child make a quilt square showing something they are thankful for. Put it together for a class quilt. Have an ear of indian corn and a magnifying glass available for them to look at. Sequence feathers by size or sort by color. Provide raw and cooked cranberries or potatoes for the children to examine. Put grass, sticks and stones in a box for examination. Put a pan of water in the area for children to see which items sink and which float. Use cranberries, bark, corn, stones, grass and sticks. Have bark available for examination. Have the children take turns tossing a bean bag into a box decorated like a turkey. Hold a treasure hunt using items related to Thanksgiving. Dance like Native Americans using drums they made. Run a relay race using an ear of indian corn. Assist the children in making turkey placemats for Thanksgiving. Provide each child with a sheet of manila paper and fingerpaints. The children can dip their hands in the paint and press them on the manila paper. After the placemats have dried the child may wish to decorate the handprint to resemble a turkey. Label with the child's name and cover with clear contact paper. Encourage the children to make their own turkey pictures using chalk and construction paper dampened with liquid starch. The children can brush on the starch with paint brushes and then use chalk to create their pictures. After the chalk dries, spray the pictures with hair spray to keep them from smearing. Make turkey puppets using lunch bags and paper plates. They can draw feathers on the plates before assembling. Assist the children in gluing the paper plates to the backs of the paper bags. They can also add facial features to the front of the bag. Have the children design a collage of things they are thankful for and things they like. Provide magazines and old photos, construction paper, glue and scissors. Label the items, directing the children's attention to the words that correspond to the pictures. Have the children create designs using dried corn. Make tie-dyed napkins by boiling cranberries in water. Dip squares of white material, that has been tied into knots into the water. Let dry! Give the children a large sheet and squeeze bottles full of tempera paint. Have them paint all over, for a Thanksgiving table cloth. Make Native American headbands or drums using empty shortening cans. c.2004 - 2007 |
| Prop Box Ideas Include the following collections of objects and materials for children to create, discover, and use for imaginary play. Store collections in boxes or baskets to be accessible at any time (indoors or outdoors) for children to enhance their dramatic play. bird feathers pumpkins coloured leaves pinecones wreath garland harvest colours candles acorns pilgram hats Native headbands corn cornucopia |
| Idea Web Introduce and explore the following topics to expand and inspire new activity ideas. autumn leaves harvest apples pumpkin Turkeys Sharing Family Holidays Thanksgiving |
 |
| "Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory
banks of our children." Charles R. Swindoll |