thanksgiving

Footprint Turkey Wreaths: An Easy Thanksgiving Craft and Keepsake for Kids

Thanksgiving is a great time to get the kids involved in crafts that are also keepsakes. After all, one of the things we are most thankful for is our friends and family. Hand and footprint crafts capture a moment in time, and remind us of how small we were, and how much we have grown. This footprint turkey wreath is an easy fall craft that your toddler or preschooler can make now, and that can serve as a decoration for years to come.

Here is what you need to make your own Thanksgiving Footprint Turkey Wreath:

a paper plate
brown construction paper
scraps of yellow and orange construction paper
squares or scraps of red, orange, yellow, and brown tissue paper
a black marker
scissors
glue

1. Cut the centre out of a paper plate (an adult's job). Spread glue onto the paper plate, and cover with squares of tissue paper:

3. Trace your foot onto brown construction paper. Cut out. Use your marker to add two eyes, and glue on a orange beak.

4. Cut two long strips of yellow construciton paper, and accordian fold each one. Glue to the bottom of the turkey's body to form its legs.

5. Glue the turkey's body to the bottom of your wreath, and hang your wreath on the door. Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by momstown Teach on 10/04/2012 - 14:16

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Great Thanksgiving Turkey Decoration for Kids

I love Thanksgiving.

I love the idea of pausing to be consider and appreciate the local harvest, and those who have brought it to us. I love the idea of a celebration that is not focused on the giving of gifts, but rather on the expression of gratitude for the myriad gifts and blessings we experience each day in our lives. I love having the opportunity to spend time with my family.

Hand and Footprint Turkeys:

This is one of my favourite Thankgiving crafts to do with kids. Most little ones are delighted by the experience of having their hands and feet traced, and by making it each year, you have a record of how they have grown. Imagine the sweetness of seeing this craft made with your one year old's hand and footprints, and then being able to compare it with the size of the turkey made by that same child six or seven years later.

Here's what you need to make it:

brown, beige, red, orange, and yellow construction paper

googlie eyes
scissors
glue

Here's what you need to do:

Trace your child's foot (in a shoe works best) onto two sheets of brown construction paper. Cut out.

Trace your little one's hand onto red, yellow, orange, and beige construction paper. You should have two red handprints, two beige handprints, two orange handprints, and one yellow handprint. Cut out.

Use scraps of orange and red construction paper to cut out feet, a beak, and a wattle.

Arrange the brown footprints so that they are slightly overlapping, wide ends pointing down. Glue together. This forms the turkey's body.

Turn the body over. Arrange and glue the red, orange, and yellow handprints onto the back of the turkey to create the feathers. Glue on feet.

Turn turkey over again. Glue beige handprints onto front of turkey. Glue on eyes, beak, and wattle.

Enjoy your turkey!

Momstown Calgary

Posted by Teacher Mom on 09/27/2012 - 20:36

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Pointilism For Preschoolers: Seurat Inspired Fall Trees

It's officially fall: the perfect time to create a simple fingerprint or q-tip fall tree art project with your toddler, preschooler, or child! We love kids crafts, but we also love learning about famous artists. Our home is filled with kid friendly art books, we take regular trips to the art gallery, and we love learning about art history and techniques as we watch "Pirates: Adventures in Art" on Kids' CBC. Every month we also try to learn about one artist in particular. We look at pictures of the artist's work, read stories about his or her life, and use what we have learned to create art of our own.

This month, we have been learning about Georges Seurat. Georges Seurat was a famous French painter who lived from 1859-1891. He is most well known for developing a new art technique known as pointillism. Pointillism involves using small, distinct dots of colour applied in patterns to form an image. A good way for kids to understand it is to have them think of a reallly pixelated image on a computer screen. That is essentially the digital version of pointillism. We practised using the pointillism technique to make two fall tree pictures: one with finger prints, and one with smaller dots made with the end of a Q-tip.

To make the simpler, fingerprint tree, you will need:

thick white or cream paper
brown construction paper
red, yellow, orange and brown paint
scissors and glue

1. Cut a tree trunk shape out of brown construction paper, and glue onto your background paper:

2. Squirt red, brown, yellow and orange paint onto a palette (yogurt lids work great):

3. Dip your fingers into the various colours of paint, and then make finger prints where you think leaves on the tree should be:

4. Allow picture to dry, and you're done! This would be a great project to keep the kids busy before Thanksgiving dinner.

To create the slightly more complicated Q-tip version, you will need:

Thick cream or white paper
brown, red, yellow, and orange paint
Q-tips
A paintbrush

1. Paint a brown tree trunk onto your background paper. Allow to dry:

2. Squirt yellow, red, brown, and orange paint onto a palette. Dip your Q-tip into one colour, and begin to make dots on your paper where you think leaves should be:

3. Continue adding dots in various colours until you are satisfied with the look of your fall tree:

This version is not really any more difficult than the fingerprint painting, but it is a bit more time consuming, due to both the size of the Q-tips and the need to allow the tree trunk to dry first. We enjoyed doing both and comparing the results, but whichever one you do, have a happy fall!

Posted by momstown Teach on 09/23/2012 - 18:34

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40 Fun Fall Activities For Kids

1. Jump in a pile of leaves. Make sure you take pictures!

2. Make baked apples

3. Visit a corn maze

4. Make leaf rubbings

5. Make a things we're thankful for tree (more on this soon)

6. Have a bonfire or campfire

7. Make people, shapes, and letters out of sticks and leaves

8. Roast pumpkin seeds

9. Pop popcorn in a pot on the stove

10. Watch the geese fly south

11. Make apple cider

12. Plant paperwhite bulbs for Christmas gifts and decorations (plant in mid November for Christmas blooms)

13. Make a scarecrow

14. Visit a fall fair

15. Go apple picking

16. Visit a favourite park and observe how it has changed since the summer

17. Join in a turkey trot fun run for a local charity

18. Donate food to the food bank. Consider canvassing your neighbours for donations too

19. Read "Pumpkin Soup" by Helen Cooper, and make pumpkin soup of your own

20. Help a neighbour rake their leaves

21. Spot an owl

22. Bake pumpkin cookies

23. Take a flashlight walk through your neighbourhood

24. Make pumpkin pie smoothies

25. Make leaf prints by dipping leaves into paint

26. Go for a walk in the forest to see the fall colours

27. Visit a pumpkin patch

28. Make thank you cards and give them out to people just because

29. Pumpkin Lattes! (order steamed milk for the kids)

30. Go through last year's winter gear, and make puppets out of single mittens

31. Plant tulip bulbs outside so you'll have flowers in spring

32. Visit a local farm and buy produce

33. Make apple butter

34. Have an indoor campout: set up a tent in the living room, roll out sleeping bags, and have hot dogs, smores, and other camping foods for dinner. Turn off the electronics and lights and read stories and games by flashlight

35. Embrace the wind and fly a kite

36. Collect pinecones. Try to find different types and sizes.

37. Make a bird feeder

38. Go on a hayride

39. Host a winter kids gear swap with friends. Trade last year's too small coat for one that fits, and let the kids have a fashion show. Donate any extra gear to charity

40. Make pumpkin pie playdough

For more seasonal activities for the whole family, delivered to your inbox every month, sign up for our newsletter!

Posted by momstown Teach on 09/14/2012 - 16:10

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