Last week, I had the extreme privilege of subbing for my son’s 1st grade classroom for the afternoon. This Mommy Teacher really misses the classroom so I was really excited to jump back in… if only for a little over 3 hours.
Well, it just so happened, that I had planned a Thanksgiving craft with my kids that evening, so I decided to bring some supplies and do it with James’ class, too… after all, this was one of my favorite activities to do in my own classroom each November…
I spoke to the kids about the month of November and it being a time to give thanks. I explained what thankfulness is and gave some reasons about why I was thankful. I then had each of the students say one thing that they were thankful for… guiding those who couldn’t think of something new. My favorite? “I am thankful for opportunities to be helpful,” referencing the different tasks the classroom helpers rotate each week. (And, of course, James being thankful for his mom ranks pretty high, too!)
I cut feathers out of construction paper and gave 3 to each student. The students had to come up with 3 things they were thankful for and write each on one of their feathers. At the end of our activity, we glued the feathers down and had a beautiful turkey! It gave James a great picture of what our own finished turkey would look like after 28 days…
That’s right, we are taking the whole month to make our turkey… two feathers at a time (one for each of my boys).
Day 1: James (6) is thankful for his little sister, and Leyson (4) is thankful for, well, Leyson! Since we are a few days into November, use your first day you do this activity to play catch up to get the kids used to talking about things they are thankful for.
One thing I am thankful for? All of our wonderful mommy teachers out there! Thank you for stopping by The Mommy Teacher! Please share your Thanksgiving crafts with us on Facebook!
UPDATE: This is Jessica (The not-artsy Mommy Teacher) wanting to share the printable I made tonight so that I could do this tomorrow. This is for the UN-artistic people who want to do this 😉 – (cough cough) namely for me and my kids !
Click here: Turkey Template Printable to get the simple turkey template for this activity OR click on the image above! 😉
8 Comments on We are Thankful for…
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I started this with my kids (4 and 2) on Tuesday night and they LOVED it. I didn’t see your template so I drew mine by hand (not as cute but they get the idea). My 4 yr old actually reminded me to do it last night…how sad, 2nd night and I forgot already. Any suggestions on how to get them to think of things they are thankful for? Night 1 we had teddy bears and Night 2 it was hats. I get that they are young but any insight on expanding their thinking would be great!
You are an awesome mom! I have forgotten already too. If my kids can’t think of anything they are thankful for, I ask “What makes you happy?” because even Mckayla (who will be two soon) can say “Babies” and then I say “Babies make me so happy too! Thank you God for babies. I am thankful for babies. Mommy is going to write “babies” on this feather.”
So glad your kids are enjoying the activity! I have to admit, we missed a day and my kids FLIPPED OUT! So we did 2 the next day 😉 My boys are 6 and 4 so before they write on their feathers, I brainstorm all the things I am thankful for. So far, the kids haven’t gotten past naming every single person in our family, so I’m pretty sure we won’t get past family members on our own turkey. Just brainstorm with your kids… the first year you do this, it will probably be a lot of repetitions of what you say, or their most prized possessions, i.e. hats… because I get it, when it’s cold outside, I am thankful for hats too! Even if they are not generating their own answers, opening the discussion for brainstorming and making that model for them will help give them the idea to give thanks for what is given to them! I hope this helps! When your turkey is finished, please post pictures on our FB wall! http://www.facebook.com/themommyteacher
Thanks ladies! I did ask the 2 yr old last night what makes her happy and she told me Coley and Kisten (her daycare teachers…Nicole and Kristen). My 4 yr old had a wonderful suggestion of asking anyone who visits us during the month to add a feather for what they are thankful for. WOW! She’s thinking outside of the box already. We add our names under what we are thankful for, so it could be fun to see how many “outsiders” we can get. I told my husband that we need to invite people over just to fill up our turkey!
Ah I LOVE that idea! Sometimes our kids are the best idea generators!
I’m going to have to do that! Sean Patrick already asks random people “What are you thankful for?” in grocery lines, but I love the idea of recording it as separate turkey!
Technology is awesome!!!