November 15, 2010

Thanksgiving Story Beads


I love this beaded craft that helps you teach children the story of the first Thanksgiving.


Not only is it great for fine motor skills and color recognition, but it's a wonderful way to start a conversation about the Pilgrims, Native Americans, religious freedom, and giving thanks.

You'll need a package of multi-colored pony beads as well as ribbon, pipe cleaners, twine, or something else upon which to string the beads. I followed the instructions from LittleGiraffes.com, but I changed some of the colors to fit what I had on hand.

•    1 brown bead (I used black): Pilgrims left England for religious freedom
•    1 white bead: sails on the Mayflower
•    3 blue beads: the long trip over the ocean
•    1 green: land!
•    3 white (or clear glitter): trying to survive the long winter
•    1 green: spring arrives and brings hope
•    1 tan (I used cream): the Native Americans who helped the Pilgrims survive
•    4 beads: foods served at the first Thanksgiving
     - 1 red: cranberries
     - 1 yellow: corn
     - 1 brown (cream): turkey
     - 1 orange: pumpkins


A made a bracelet out of pipe cleaner, while E strung them to make a necklace. I also think these would be great on the end of a bookmark.


I'm linking up to:
- ABC & 123's Show & Tell
- Tot Tuesday @ My Delicious Ambiguity

11 comments:

  1. I remember reading about this somewhere last year, but I forgot about it. Great project!

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  2. What great beading practice! This looks like fun.

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  3. Great learning activity-history and hand-eye coordination! I love it and will definitely be doing this one next year (posted with a link to you)!

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  4. They're beautiful. I'm all about using what you have on hand too!

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  5. Neat story beads! I think my daughter might be really into this since she likes to accessorize AND she like to talk, and talk, and talk. Oh, and our girls have the same shirt (Carter's, I think?).

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  6. Darling IDEA! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!! :)

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  7. Love it! Would be a great tool to keep B's storytelling on track and jog the memory - not to mention fun to string the beads!

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