Give Thanks!! :)

So much to be grateful for when you have a class full of cuties at Thanksgiving!!

We start out with our Thanksgiving t-shirt...a TURKEY, of course!!  Dark brown palm and thumb, red, orange, yellow and green fingers.  Add a red wattle and orange beak and feet...all in laundry proof acrylic paints.  I love anything handprints...they grow up way too fast!

The kids always like to play BINGO and Thanksgiving is no exception...

We got ours here but you can Google Thanksgiving Bingo Cards and choose from others.

And then our parents join us for a Thanksgiving feast, complete with all the fixin's.

We have so much to be grateful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am Thankful for...

Want to smile?  Ask a 4-year old what they are thankful for.

Our kiddos put together these sweet turkeys, then told us what things they were most grateful for.

It works best if you use a large piece of construction paper for the background.  Then cut out a large circle for the body and a small circle for the head.  Cut out different colors of feathers, a little orange beak and a red wattle.  Add a couple of googly eyes, then the fun begins.

Most of the responses are the touching ones that make their mommas' hearts melt.  But I think our hands down favorite was "the whole entire planet, even aliens, too."

Gotta love a kid who can be grateful for the aliens.

Toilet Paper Roll Turkeys

Our kiddos loved this simple activity...probably because of the "real" feathers!

It was a simple activity, but again, works on those small muscles!!  We painted the tp rolls brown ahead of time.

Then, all you need is a few feathers, some googly eyes, a triangle piece of orange paper, and a piece of red yarn for the wattle.

Be warned, some of the kids had a little difficulty with gluing the feathers on the inside of the tp roll, the coordination was just a little too much and they needed a little help.  The rest is self explanatory.     

Just don't eat them!  :)

Stone Soup

Have you ever had stone soup?

It's delicious.

There is an old story about three strangers, hungry and tired, who pass through a war-torn village. Embittered and suspicious from the war, the people hide their food and close their windows tight. That is, until the clever strangers suggest making a soup from stones. Intrigued by the idea, everyone brings what they have until-- together, they have made a feast fit for a king!

We ask each of the kids to bring one ingredient, some brought carrots, others brought onions, peas, broth, noodles...and we provide the chicken.  

We read them the story and then we all go into the kitchen and everyone gives what they have....

...and then we sit down together and enjoy or own soup, fit for a king!

It's a fun story, a great day, and a valuable lesson.  We can always do more together than we can alone!

(For information on how to make the above "table for five," go here.)

Once there was a Snowman...

Paper plate crafts rock again!!  

For this fun Snowman craft, you will need this for each kiddo:

a paper plate

a pipe cleaner 

construction paper cut into circles for eyes, a long triangle for a carrot nose, and lots of little squares for the mouth

2 pom poms

Using their sweet little fingers, they glue the eyes, nose and mouth on the plate first.

Then they glue the pom pom/pipe cleaner ear muffs on to the freezing cold snowman ears...

...and you've got the cutest little snowman head with warm ears ever.  Just be careful he doesn't get too warm, he may melt!

Musical Letters or The Best Letter Game Ever!!!!

 We stumbled on this game quite by accident.  We love to play a couple of different music games with the kids...musical chairs and freeze dance.  One day, Janette's husband came up with the idea that we combine them along with the letters to make a fun letter game...and the kids loved it.  

We lay the alphabet around the rug in random order... 

The kids stand in a circle around the rug...and then we start the music.  The more upbeat, the better.  We love the kid's versions of many of the popular songs...the kids dance around the rug and  when the music stops, QUICK!!  Find a letter!!

They all drop down by the letter they are close to.  Then a letter is called, and the one who has that letter brings it to the front and exchanges it for a small treat...like an M-n-M or skittle.  We have them tell us the sound of the letter and sometimes a word.  

Several of our kids who were struggling with letter recognition at the beginning of the year are learning and they love it!

Then the music starts again and off they go!

When it gets down to not having enough letters for each to have their own, they share.  So then there can be more than one winner in that round.  Sometimes we throw numbers in, too.  Just to mix it up.  The kids love the movement and the music and the competition! 

We love this game, and so do our kids!