Toddler Theme: Turkeys Galore!

The theme this week from teachingtinytots is Turkeys! We had so much fun making these Thanksgiving Day crafts. We did a few that aren't Turkey's but do have to do with Thanksgiving.

Thankful Turkey-from Teachintinytotshttp://teachingtinytots.blogspot.com/2008/11/thankful-turkey.html
Materials=
__brown construction paper
__scissors

__different colored construction paper

__markers or crayons

*Basically cut out a turkey. I used a template but you could free draw one. Next, cut out some feathers from construction paper. Every day add a feather with something you are thankful for written down. I did cover mine in contact paper to protect it. *Rather than deal with having to put on the feathers everyday and keep little one from having feathers all over the house, we added our feathers all at once. Zhana doesn't know what 'Thankful' means yet, so I asked her what things make her happy and she said, "Pop bubbles", "To draw". This will be a project we keep through the years.

Hands and Feet Turkey-Unknown source (If this was your idea, let me know so I can give you credit).
Materials=
__Construction paper in brown, tan, orange, red, yellow and white
__Scissors
__glue
1. Trace two feet (with shoes on) on brown construction paper.
2. Trace two hands on tan construction paper.
3. Trace two hands on red construction paper.
4. Trace two hands on orange construction paper.
5. Trace one hand on yellow construction paper.
6. Cutout all the pieces
Put the two feet tracings together to make the turkey body and head, placing the heels together one on top of another, and spreading the bottoms apart Cut two feet out of the orange scraps, then cut a diamond shape for the beak. Draw the eyes on white paper and cut them out, or use wiggle eyes. Make the wattle out of red construction paper. Glue each piece on. Glue the red, orange, and yellow construction paper hands behind the brown body to make the tail. Position the two tan hands on either side of the body to make the turkey's wings and glue them in place.

*Ours isn't exactly like the instructions, but Zhana had great fun with this.

Thanksgiving Bubble Wrap Art: This isn’t a Turkey but it is related to Thanksgiving. I love this bubblewrap idea from No Time for Flashcards. *This was my very favorite thing we did. It is so easy for the little ones and they turn out looking great. So many crafts are hard for our little ones and we end up having to do some of the work. This one is PERFECT for toddlers. The link is at http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2008/11/lend-me-your-ear.html
Materials=
__2 pieces of paper
__a crayon

__paint
__a piece of bubble wrap
__a paint brush
__glue
__scissors.

Basically cut out some corn on yellow construction paper. Dip bubble wrap in brown paint. Let the little one paint away. Then cut some stalks out. I used green with brown over the top to make it look more like fall corn and brown painted onto white paper on some.

Lightbulb Turkey-familycorner.com; I didn't get around to doing this one but it is so cute, I thought I'd post if for someone that might have all the materials. Also, this is NOT for a toddler but an older child.
__burnt out light bulb

__small straw hat

__2- 1 1/2"wood hearts
__acrylic paint: brown, orange, white and black

__felt: red and orange

__small silk flower

__6-8 fall colored feathers

__washer

__paint brush

__acrylic sealer spray

__hot glue gun

__white craft glue

__pattern

*Photo by Familycorner.com
Blessings Snack Mix-From http://pie.midco.net/grammalowe/thanksgiving.html#c02Material:

__Bugles chip
__pretzels

_Candy Corns

__nuts or sunflower seeds

__Dried fruits (raisins, dates, apricots, etc.)

__M&M's

__one Hershey's Kiss

This is so cute! I'm bringing this on Thanksgiving as a little gift to everyone. We haven't made it yet.

*We printed out and drew in the details from these templates we found: http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/m-draw-details.htm
Materials=

__paper

__crayons

This was great for my little girl. It has the outline but gave her a chance to draw in details of a face. I'm super proud of how great she did. As she drew the parts, I labeled them and I'm sure this will be treasured in years to come. One added feature she drew I think is really sweet. She loves the blow bubbles (she calls is 'pop bubbles') more than just about anything. She added the pilgrim a "pop bubble" to her drawing.
__paper
__printer
__crayons

*We printed out, glued, and colored this Native American girl. The template can be found at http://www.dltk-holidays.com/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/images/bgirlnative.gif . I used the art2theextreme rainbow crayons I did a review on last week for this project. I obviously colored some of it with her, but the rainbow crayons worked great because she could just rub and have a ton of colors. Then we cut out the Native American woman and baby.

*Here are links to a few Thanksgiving books I have. They are from the Enchanted Learning website. I think they are the free ones. If anyone notices they aren't, please let me know and I'll remove them.

Turkey Book~More appropriate for older toddler. It has mazes, matching, and more...http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632396/TurkeyBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Thanks is For~This one lists items that have to do with the letters used to spell Thanksgiving. http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632394/ThanksIsForBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Thanksgiving Book~Child has room to draw the different things they are thankful for~http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632390/ThanksgivingBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Thanksgiving Counting Book~http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632388/ThanksgivingBk-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Thanksgiving Activity Book~Connect the Dots and Morehttp://www.ziddu.com/download/2632382/ThanksgivingActivity-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Thanksgiving simple reader~http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632373/ThanksgBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Thankful Book~http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632369/ThankfulBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Pilgrims Book~http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632358/PilgrimsBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Thanksgiving Feast Book~http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632335/FeastBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

*We printed out, glued, and colored this pilgrim cutout. Great gluing practice. http://www.dltk-holidays.com/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/images/bpilgeasy.gif

*Paper Bag Turkey-From Ramblings of a Crazy Woman-http://jennwa.blogspot.com/search?q=turkey
Materials=
___Small brown paper bag,
___newspaper
___ scissors
___construction paper
___glue
___stapler
___wiggly eyes
We didn't get to this one because I couldn't find a small brown paper bag but included it so others could enjoy it.

*Fingerprint Turkey-From DLTK website at http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/mfingerprint-turkey.htm
Materials=
__Brown finger paint
__Red/yellow/orange fingerpaint
__Something to hold paint
__Black marker
__paint

*I'm pretty proud of this little creation. I love that she did this all by her little self. I think she did pretty good!

*Paper Plate Turkey-From Ramblings of a Crazy Woman-http://jennwa.blogspot.com/2008/11/paper-plate-turkey.html
__Large and small paper plates
__brown paint
__brush
__scissors
__glue
__wiggly eyes
__construction paper

*Another project we didn't get to do to lack of materials.
*Thanksgiving Lacing Project-From DLTC http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/mlacing.htm ; Very easy!

Just print, cutout, punch some holes, and add ribbon/yarn/string
Materials=
__Ribbon
__Hold punch
__Scissors
__Pencil
__Cardstock or construction paper

Turkey color and number activity file folder game at http://www.preschoolprintables.com/filefolder/turkey/filefolderturkey.shtml; We didn’t do this one but it sounds like a great activity especially for toddlers who are a little older and know their numbers.
__Materials:
__Folder
__Printer
__paper

*Make your own Thanksgiving puzzles; Templates at http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/mpuzzle.htm
Materials=
__Cardboard
__Printer
__Paper
__Crayons
__Scissors
__glue

Very easy, just print, glue onto cardboard, and cut out.

*Turkey Handprints

__paint

__paper

I'm sure we all remember this simple one from grade school. Dip your hand in paint and voila, instant turkey! I added this little poem: " This isn't just a turkey as you can plainly see. I made it with my hand which is a part of me. It comes with lots of love especially to say, I hope you have a very, Happy Thanksgiving Day!"

*Matching Cards-unknown source

I'm not sure where I downloaded these from but I have some Thanksgiving matching cards that I printed and made.

*Turkey alphabet; This is great for a flannel board and more; http://www.kidsparkz.citymax.com/f/Thanksgiving_Turkey_Alphabet.pdf
*There are also turkey numbers from this same site at http://www.kidsparkz.citymax.com/f/Thanksgiving_Turkey_Numbers.pdf
*Here is a link to some cute Thanksgiving songs: http://www.kidsparkz.citymax.com/f/Thanksgiving_song_posters.pdf
*For the Doman mama’s here are some flashcards. http://www.kidsparkz.citymax.com/f/Thanksgiving_flashcards_color.pdf
*Link to Thansksgiving Day Turkeys…
http://www.kidsparkz.citymax.com/f/Turkey_colors.pdf
*Games
http://www.starfall.com/n/holiday/turkey/load.htm?f&n=main
I LOVE Pilgrim looking at me in the style of Brown Bear, Brown Bear at
http://carlscorner.us.com/Readers/Pilgrim%20Pilgrim.pdf

*Toilet Paper Turkey-Another Source I can't find! Sometimes I save ideas on my computer and then forget the source. I'm so sorry. If you know where this came from, please let me know. Basically, paint a tp roll brown. Paint a piece of paper in fall colors. Fold it accordian style. Tuck it into the top of the tp roll. Add eyes and ect.

To see more great ideas go over to Tinytots blog and see the other moms who participated in this theme. The link is http://teachingtinytots.blogspot.com/2008/11/toddler-theme-challenge-turkeys.html

Here are a few Turkey/Thanksgiving related books

Leaf Learning Day

This week, the focus of our learning was leafs. This is inspired by Tinytots (see right-blog list). Today, we went to a local park and had a lot of fun simply playing in leafs. We haven't got the color changing of leaves down here yet, but there were plenty of brown leafs on the ground.

Leaf Art
*Collect leaves. Paint one side of the leaf. Press onto white paper. This leaves a beautiful print. Zhana had great fun painting the leafs. I showed her how to do them and then she took off making the prints. In the process, she discovered that she could also dip flowers in paint and make prints. They look like pretty little fireworks. Painting with nature will likely stay as a part of our future endeavors.

*Have the children trace their hands onto construction paper. Make sure that the paper is the color of leaves such as red, orange, brown, green, etc. Then, just glue the hands onto a tree for leaves.


*I had read somewhere about an activity where you make leaves out of coffee filters. We didn't have any watercolor paint around, just fingerpaint. I tried to dilute it with water, but it just didn't work out. Since ours didn't work out, has anyone else tried this? You are supposed to cut coffee filters into leaf shapes and then with eye droppers place watercolors on the leaves. The colors are supposed to blend together.


*Another project we didn't do this time but sounds really cute and we plan to do in the future: Purchase several white tiles from a hardware store (10-30 cents a piece). Using double sided tape attach leaves to tile. Have children sponge paint around the leaf using ceramic paint. When dry remove leaf and tape. Coat with a ceramics top coat. Hot glue ribbon around edges of tile, and also glue squares of felt to bottom. Add child's name and date. Makes a great coaster. Has anyone tried this?

*Make a picture on paper with a lot of space. Collect leafs and tear into little pieces.It’s a leaf mosaic! For ours, we used a printout of a tree. For the trunk, we used the brown leafs crumbled up. For the leaves, we tore up some pieces of mums. I thought she did pretty good for a 2 year old with minimal assistance from her mom!

*Glue a leaf to a sheet of paper and draw features to make them into leaf people, such as arms and legs, necks and heads, tails, etc. Then draw a scene around your leaf person! She did need more assistance with this project. I can't wait to do this with her next Autumn.




*Draw a trunk of a tree. Next, set out fingerpaints in the color of fall leaves. The child dips their fingertip in the paint and makes leaves using the tip of their finger. Next, color the background. This was my favorite project to do with Zhana. Leaf Snacks (we don't have a leaf cookie cutter yet, so this is still on our to-do list.)
*Use leaf shaped cookie cutters to cut out leaves from refrigerated sugar cookie dough. Mix food coloring (fall colors) with milk in several small bowls. Before baking the cookies, use clean watercolor brushes to "paint" the cookies with the colored milk.
*Use leaf cookie cutters with white bread to make leaf shapes. Put on cookie sheet and toast in oven for short time. Give the children strawberry and apricot jam to spread on their leaves so they turn into fall colors.
*Leaf shaped jello jigglers
Leaf Activities
*Fall Princess: Make a 2 inch-wide headband large enough to fit the child's head and staple. Glue leaves all around the crown. Zhana LOVES her crown and I expect she'll be wearing it until Christmas, lol. She put it on and said, "Ta-Da". Also, for the leaves of the crown, we did leaf rubbings which was fun. She could get the concept of rolling the crayon sideways over the leaf, but did have some difficulty with using enough pressure, so I had to help with this.

* Wrap a piece of masking tape (sticky side out) around each child's wrist. Go on a nature walk and have children collect one leaf from each of several trees, sticking it on their leaf bracelet.
· (We haven't done this yet but plan to in the next few days):Cut a tree trunk out of brown felt. Cut leaf shapes out of orange, red, yellow, and brown felt. Arrange on the tree.
· Make a Leaf Puzzle: Glue pictures of leafs onto cardboard (we used a cereal box). Then draw random lines on the puzzle. Cut out and you have a puzzle.
· Leaf Sort Have the children sort the leaves they collected by color, size or type of leaf. You can also make printed leaves, that is what we did.


· Leaf Dramatic Play: Zhana just turned 2 a couple of months ago, so this was a little difficult for her-but she did get some of the exercise! The children can pretend they are leaves. Read the kiddo's the following story and instruct them how to move. "A yellow maple leaf was hanging onto a branch, stretching on its tiptoes and reaching up, holding on with its hands together. The chilly autumn breeze sailed through the tree, shaking the branches and leaves, bending them in the middle, turning them in all directions. The next breeze was strong enough to make the leaves turn in circles and back again in the opposite direction. The yellow maple leaf twisted its top half, bending at the middle, moving in all directions as the wind shook the branch. Suddenly, the leaf lost its hold on the branch and floated down, down . The wind tossed it about in the air. It appeared to be dancing, leaping, skipping in the air. Another puff pushed it higher, as it stretched to grab its old branch. Suddenly the breeze changed direction and turned the leaf around, again pushing it up, leaping up, crouching down, twirling down, flying down. It stopped. The wind moved on to other trees and dropped the leaf to the ground. The leaf sat still. It rolled up against a stick. It wiggled its toes, feet, legs, arms, hands, and neck. The leaf was fine . A rake came toward it and rolled the leaf into a pile with other leaves of all types . Was it going to be burned? The maple leaf shook with fear. It felt a human hand move to push the leaves into a basket and carry them to a garden. The leaves were spread on top of the garden plants and roses. The leaf sat still, warming itself in the sun. It was lying over a delicate rose. As the days passed, its color changed to brown and it became dry. But it smiled and relaxed, for it was protecting the rose from the cold weather and the snow to come.


*Fall Feely Box:Put Leaves, acorns, pine cones, nuts, apples, and other fall nature items in a shoe box with a hole cut in the top. When your child puts their hand in the box, have them describe what they feel.

Songs
· To the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down: "Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down, Autumn leaves are falling down welcome Autumn.Sweep the leaves and put them here, put them put here, put them here, Sweep the leaves and put them here, welcome Autumn.Jump right in and have some fun, have some fun, have some fun, Jump right in and have some fun-welcome autumn."

· To the tune of "Wheels on the Bus." The leaves on the trees turn orange and brown, orange and brown, orange and brown. The leaves on the trees turn orange and brown, all through the town. The leaves on the trees come tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down. The leaves on the trees coming tumbling down, all through the town. The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish. Swish, swish, swish. Swish, swish, swish. The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish, all through the town."

Books
*The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein; I'll take any excuse to read this book as it is one of my absolute favorite children books. For some, this book is controversial as they interpret it to symbolize a codependent relationship. I like the book because I believe it teaches about unconditional love. However, please be aware that some people wouldn't read this story to small children, while other people love it and believe it should be read to all children.

* Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert: The description by Amazon reads: " A narrator recalls the Leaf Man that used to live nearby but recently blew away with the wind. "He left no travel plans." From that breezy beginning, the narrator imagines the different flight patterns the Leaf Man may have followed "past the chickens, toward the marsh,... over the prairie meadows,... past the spotted cows," and punctuates the lyrical text with an occasional refrain ( "a Leaf Man's got to go where the wind blows").

· The Fall of Freddie the Leaf by Leo Buscaglia. This is another book that some parents may prefer not to read to small children. My personal view is that at small children will benefit from learning about the cycle of life. As the child grows older, the book can be used to explain the life cycle of human beings as well. This book is popular among therapists to use with children who have bereavement (grief) issues. The Amazon description is: "The Fall of Freddie the Leaf touches children and adults alike, illustrating the delicate balance between life and death. The Fall of Freddie the Leaf is a warm, thought-provoking story about how Freddie and his companion leaves change with the passing seasons and the coming of winter. The book uses the gentle, concrete metaphor of the annual changes in leaves on a tree to help anyone appreciate the different phases of life. Each leaf leaves the tree differently: some drift down quietly, and others fiercely resist the tug of the wind. This shows how each person approaches death differently. Freddy resists until he is withered and brown, the last leaf on the branch. Finally he lets go and experiences a sense of peace.

· The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger. Amazon describes it "As all the other leaves float off and fly past, Little Yellow Leaf thinks, I'm not ready yet. As the seasons change all around, Little Yellow Leaf holds on to the tree. Still not ready. Will Little Yellow Leaf ever be ready? This is a story for anyone who has ever been afraid of facing the unknown—and a celebration of the friends who help us take the leap.

*I am REALLY wanting to do the Leaf Alphabet activity I found at the Martha Stewart website but I'll going to wait until the leaves are pretty yellow, red, and orange instead of the crumbly brown ones I found. The website for the craft is at http://www.marthastewart.com/

1. Collect leaves, avoiding ones with any mold or rot. Lay leaves flat between phone-book pages or layers of newspaper, then weight them with something heavy. Allow one to two weeks to fully flatten and dry.

2. Arrange leaves on a page of heavy paper. Embellish leaves by cutting notches for parts like mouths, tails, and fins. From spare leaves, cut out details like eyes, wheels, hats, etc. Using leafs, make pictures of items that start with different letters of the alphabet. For example, for the letter F, you might make a leaf fish like the one pictured below.

3. Glue leaves into place with glue stick or white glue. Lay a clean sheet of paper on top of glued leaves and rub gently to smooth and flatten. Carefully remove the top sheet.


A great file folder leaf shape game can be found at http://www.preschoolprintables.com/filefolder/fall/filefolderfall.html . It is a free download! We haven't done this yet, but plan to this week. Also, in the next few days I plan on making some laminated learning cards like these:

We had great fun learning about leaves and hope you will too!

**Check back tomorrow for Fancy Friday, where we'll be featuring a GREAT boutique giveaway. We have several amazing giveaways in the next few weeks. We also of couse have some super fun learning coming up as well. Happy Fall!

Came Across A Great Site for Printables/file folder games

I discovered a wonderful site for printables and file folders. It is at http://www.preschoolprintables.com/filefolder/butterfly/filefolderbutterfly.shtml. You should all check it out! It is great!