Tasty Tuesday: Turkey Snack

I remember seeing this idea in Family Fun last year.  I didn't quite have all the ingredients, so I substituted!

You need:
Pear
Mandarin oranges
Raisins
Peanut butter (or substitute)
Peanut
Cranberry
Sunflower seeds or pretzels

1)  Cut a pear in half.  Place on plate.

2)  Put mandarin oranges around the pear.

3)  Use peanut butter to stick raisin eyes, a peanut nose, a cranberry waddle, and sunflower feet on the pear!

Tasty!!

Linking up to ABC & 123's Show-and-Tell!

Classic Handprint Turkey

We turned a handprint turkey into a Thanksgiving card to send to family we won't see on Thursday!

You need:
Paper
Crayons and/or markers
Scissors
Glue

1)  Trace hand.

2)  Color palm and thumb brown (for turkey head and body).  Color fingers various colors (for feathers).

3)  Cut out.  If you want to make a card, fold construction paper in half.  Otherwise, just use a full-size piece of paper.  Glue the hand down.

4)  Add feet, beak, waddle, and eye.

Five Kernels of Corn

Mary's First Thanksgiving: An Inspirational Story of Gratefulnesstells about a young immigrant girl's struggle to be thankful during her family's first Thanksgiving in America.  Food is scarce, and she has yet to find a friend.  She doesn't feel there is much for which to be grateful.

Her father tells her the story of the Pilgrims' struggle when they first came to America.  He shares the legend of the five kernels:  After the Thanksgiving feast, the winter was hard and there wasn't much food.  They survived on small amounts of food and were given a few kernels of corn per day.  Years later, the colonists would place five kernels of corn on their plates.  This helped them remember when they were so hungry and without food.  They would give a blessing for each kernel of corn.

Kernel 1: Bounty and beauty of fall
Kernel 2: Love for each other
Kernel 3: Love for family
Kernel 4: Friendship
Kernel 5: Freedom to worship God

You need:
Five kernels of corn
or 5 pieces of candy corn

1) Place the corn on plates at dinner.  Take turns sharing thanks for five blessings!

This tradition was new to me, but it is a wonderful reminder to give thanks!

Linking up to ABC & 123's Show-and-Tell.

Gratitude Journal

This is so simple, but I think it's a great record of thankfulness to look back on in future years!

You need:
Notebook or Journal
Paper
Scissors
Glue
Clear contact paper

1)  Decorate the notebook cover with pictures of things for which you are thankful.  Cover with contact paper.

2)  Each family member draws or writes about what they are thankful for.


You could make this much prettier or turn it into a keepsake by using a nice bound journal (rather than my 10 cent notebook)!!

Cultivating Thankfulness in Preschoolers: Part 2

Below are a few more ideas on cultivating gratitude in your child.  If you missed Part 1, you can find it here.  Also, thank you for your feedback and suggestions!  I love reading your comments and learning from you! 

Teach Your Child to Say "Thank You" Early and Often
When the girls were babies, I taught them a few words in sign language.  The first being "Please" and the second being "Thank you".  Although I still give plenty of reminders, I am seeing some fruit from this process!  Also, consider including your child in writing thank you notes -- even a preschooler can scribble a special "note" (with your interpretation, of course)!

"Share-and-Tell"
Make a special time during the day when you share something that has happened and tell why you are thankful.  Even in hard times or difficult circumstances, you can teach your child to be grateful.  Passionate Homemaking has a wonderful article about giving thanks and includes a story from the life of Matthew Henry.  He had this to say after being robbed: 

“Let me be thankful, first, because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because, although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed!”

Keep a Record of Your Thanks
There are many ways to do this, but the point is to have a written record of thanks you can reflect upon next year and the year after that and so on.  Tomorrow, I will share a simple notebook we made.

Give Thanks in Prayer
It is easy for prayer to become selfish.  I noticed one day as we were praying, my children's prayers were all about asking for things and not about thanking God for His blessings.  Now, we brainstorm and discuss what we are thankful for before we pray.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.  Colossians 3:17

Cultivating Thankfulness in Preschoolers: Part 1

In these busy months, when we are busy preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas, it is so easy to get caught up in the materialism of the season.  I'm spending some time pondering this question:  How do I cultivate gratitude in my children?

While I definitely do not have all the answers, I've thought of a few ideas:

Examine your own attitude
Are you too busy?  Are you pushy?  Do you want what you want right now?  Do you have an ever-expanding list of wants?  If we aren't thankful and do not have a grateful attitude, we can't expect it from our children!  When I see an ungrateful attitude pop-up in my child, I try to step back and evaluate myself.  Unfortunately, I can often figure out where it came from!  (Don't despair!  Thankfully, God has lavished His grace upon us!  Read about it in Ephesians 1:8) 

Serve someone else
The quickest way to combat selfishness is to serve someone other than ourselves!  There are so many ways to get involved.  Consider including your child in these simple activities:

• Operation Christmas Child:  Fill a shoebox for a needy child.

• Toys for Tots:  Buy a toy for someone else.

• Adopt a family:  Find a family in your community and share with them.

• Visit a nursing home:  Make a craft, play a game, read a book, or simply share a conversation with someone.

It's easy to come up with an idea to serve someone, but it can be much harder to actually do it.  Take a step of faith and serve!!

Find Part 2 of this series here.

Paint Sample Turkey Craft

Looking for a unique turkey craft?  My inspiration came from painting our house last week and all the paint samples I found!

You need:

Plastic bottle

Brown paint

Paint samples

Wiggly eyes

Foam sheets

Glue

1)  Put several squirts of brown paint in a plastic bottle (we used a Fuze bottle).  Add a small amount (start with 1/2 tsp) of water, replace the cap, and shake!  Don't use too much water or the paint won't stick very well to the inside of the bottle!

2)  Glue 8-10 paint samples in a fan shape.  Allow to dry.  Use a hot glue gun to attach the paint samples to the bottle (for feathers).

3)  Use a hot glue gun to glue on wiggly eyes.  Use foam sheets for the beak, waddle, and feet.

I had some heart fun foam shapes.  We used two for the beak (a small and medium heart), one for the waddle, and two for the feet.

Linking up to ABC and 123 Show-and-Tell

Fruit & Nut Stuffed Pumpkin

This is a delicious way to use any whole pumpkins you may have from Halloween or Thanksgiving.

You need:

Small/medium pumpkin

Raisins

Cranberries

Chopped apples

Walnuts

Sweetener (Sugar, Agave Nectar, Sucanat, etc.)

Cinnamon

Baking dish (something with sides because juices will spill out)

1)  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Remove the top and scoop out the pumpkin.  Reserve seeds if you want to toast them in the oven!

2)  Combine raisins, nuts, cranberries, diced apples, and sweetener in a bowl (Quantities of each ingredient are up to you!  Use more or less depending on your family's tastes and the size of the pumpkin).  Mix.

3)  Place the pumpkin in a baking pan and stuff with the mixture.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Place the top back on the pumpkin (wet the stem to keep it from drying out in the oven).  Cook for 1.5 hours (or until pumpkin is soft).

Include small chunks of pumpkin to enhance the flavor when serving!  Yummy!!

Textured Pumpkins

I know Halloween is over, but pumpkins are still viable through Thanksgiving, right?!!  These make a fun decoration for your windows or maybe even your Thanksgiving table!

You need:

Shaving cream

Orange paint

Orange construction paper

Scissors

Green marker

1)  Put shaving cream and orange paint on the paper (the cheap, non-mentholated shaving cream works the best, but I used what I had)!

2)  Smear on the paper to create various shades of orange and texture.  Allow to dry.

3)  Cut-out pumpkin shapes and color a stem.

We enjoyed a few books about pumpkins after our project (And after clean-up!  This one is a little messy!).

Linking up to Homeschool Creations:  Preschool Corner!