Bryce and I are excited to host Thanksgiving dinner this year - back in our own home and back with family. Not to say that we didn't enjoy our Thanksgiving celebrations in Luxembourg - because we did. Last year we had friends over and hosted a traditional (as much as possible) Thanksgiving dinner. It was great fun to share the Thanksgiving tradition with our English friends and a family of fellow Americans.
Frightened by the prospect of having 7 children running amok last year, I created an activity that I hoped would occupy them. I also thought it would be a nice way to help the kids focus on the meaning of Thanksgiving; thankfulness.
I drew a leafless tree on a large piece of butcher paper and affixed it to the wall with glue tack (aka poster putty, sticky putty, adhesive putty) I put out autumnal colored construction paper, leaf templates, markers and scissors. Using the templates the kids cut out leaves for the tree. On each leaf they wrote what they were thankful for. The kids then put their leaves on the tree with glue tack (you could use glue stick or tape instead.)
I was amazed and very pleased with how well this activity went over. The kids loved it! The older kids helped the younger with spelling and cutting. They were engaged and it put their mind towards thankfulness. They even colored in the tree I had drawn. Many of the adults contributed to the tree as well.
This year we'll only have 4 kids, my girls and my nieces. I'll likely do something similar. Here is a list of supplies in case you'd like to make this for your Thanksgiving celebration.
Butcher paper
Construction paper in fall leaf colors
Markers
Glue tack (or glue stick, tape or push pins)
Scissors
Leaf Templates (I just googled free leaf template printables. Look for one that is simple to cut out)
My youngest came home yesterday with a Roll a Turkey dice game. We played it last night for her "homework." She thought it was the bees knees. Think I'll print out a few for Thanksgiving this year.
Here is a link to some Thanksgiving printables I collected a few years ago.
Frightened by the prospect of having 7 children running amok last year, I created an activity that I hoped would occupy them. I also thought it would be a nice way to help the kids focus on the meaning of Thanksgiving; thankfulness.
I drew a leafless tree on a large piece of butcher paper and affixed it to the wall with glue tack (aka poster putty, sticky putty, adhesive putty) I put out autumnal colored construction paper, leaf templates, markers and scissors. Using the templates the kids cut out leaves for the tree. On each leaf they wrote what they were thankful for. The kids then put their leaves on the tree with glue tack (you could use glue stick or tape instead.)
I was amazed and very pleased with how well this activity went over. The kids loved it! The older kids helped the younger with spelling and cutting. They were engaged and it put their mind towards thankfulness. They even colored in the tree I had drawn. Many of the adults contributed to the tree as well.
This year we'll only have 4 kids, my girls and my nieces. I'll likely do something similar. Here is a list of supplies in case you'd like to make this for your Thanksgiving celebration.
Butcher paper
Construction paper in fall leaf colors
Markers
Glue tack (or glue stick, tape or push pins)
Scissors
Leaf Templates (I just googled free leaf template printables. Look for one that is simple to cut out)
My youngest came home yesterday with a Roll a Turkey dice game. We played it last night for her "homework." She thought it was the bees knees. Think I'll print out a few for Thanksgiving this year.
Here is a link to some Thanksgiving printables I collected a few years ago.
1 comment:
Thanks for the great link. Can't wait to try that game for family night this week.
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