November is always a time of year I love! The leaves are falling from the trees, and I get to celebrate my birthday (although the older I get, the less fun that is). If I’m really lucky, my birthday even falls on Thanksgiving, like it does this year! This year since my kids are a little older, I wanted to do some thanksgiving activities for preschoolers (or toddlers) to start teaching them about being thankful! We decided to have a little fun making thankful turkeys, and paired it along with a great book called the Thank You Dish! We read a little bit about being thankful, and then worked on our thanksgiving activities to get a head start on the holiday (and maybe add some colorful decor to the table).
What You Need for Your Thankful Turkey Craft
- 2 toilet paper rolls
- construction paper in brown, orange, yellow, red
- googly eyes
- Glue Stick
- Scissors
Time for FUN
I always start with some craft prep before bringing the kids to the counter to play! This time, my craft prep included cutting the brown construction paper to fit the paper towel rolls for our turkey body, then prepping the feathers, nose and the turkey snood (the little red piece over the beak). I made a pattern feather to begin with so it would be the right size & keep consistency throughout.
I’m always a fan of containing my kids for crafts in their learning tower, so we can craft at the kitchen island. We started with using glue sticks on the brown paper to make the foundation for our turkeys. They needed a little help to get all the edges and get the paper around the roll. Next we stuck on googly eyes (I like self-adhesive so you can use less glue). I helped a little with glue and placement for the small triangle nose and the snood.
Then came the fun part! We had to decide what we were thankful for and get it written on the feathers. We did 1 feather at a time, then I let them go a little wild with the glue stick before helping them stick it on. Before choosing what they were thankful for, we talked about what it means to be thankful, and things that I am thankful for. They came up with some good ones, and really embraced some unique ideas like “Mommy’s car”, “Paw Patrol”, and “Nana’s cookies.”
Let’s Read our Thanksgiving Book!
I love picture books that bring up good manners or behaviors in a fun way that doesn’t include a lecture from me. The Thank You Dish is a little hardcover book that describes how we can expand our gratitude beyond our initial thoughts.
As Grace and her Mama sit down to dinner, Grace gives thanks to everything from Kangaroos, road workers, and even her Mama. She is able to see how we can be thankful for so many things in something as simple as 1 little meal with our family. A great addition to your library to begin the conversation on thankfulness as thanksgiving approaches!
I am thankful that you took the time to read this blog post today. I am thankful to have fun activities and books to keep my kids entertained and learning. I am thankful for a fun book business that makes it all possible.
If you would like to be in the loop for more fun & projects like these thankful activities for preschoolers, check out my VIP group! Pssssst! You can keep the reading going with the newest and not-yet released Usborne Books & More Books in a book box subscription, or a 12 days of Christmas advent calendar countdown. Happy reading!
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