Play Plymouth Village

Thanksgiving is hands-down my favorite holiday. What could be better than a day devoted to giving thanks for all of God's good gifts? I love the food, the fellowship, and the retelling of the first Thanksgiving.

A Mayflower for a rainy day...

We woke up this morning to rain clouds and snotty noses.

I was supposed to run errands.

She was supposed to attend the Thanksgiving party at preschool.

But we stayed in our jammies, left our hair unbrushed, and opened up the art box.

Cotton balls and glue. Paper and paint.

And the story of believers who left their home for the hope of a new life in a new world.

It's a beautiful day. :)

I'm linking up to:

Thankful Feathers

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving season?

I am thankful for a flexible, part-time job... for a hard-working husband who sacrifices so I can stay home... for two beautiful little girls who help me re-discover the simple joys of childhood...

and for all of you who encourage, share, and support me in this crazy journey of motherhood!

Turkey craft: Crafts for All Seasons

Grateful: A Song of Giving Thanks by John Bucchino

Of course, I'm always thankful for good books! I haven't seen this one yet, but Barnes & Noble currently has it for only $2.68, so I should be receiving it soon. The book is actually a song by John Bucchino, performed by Art Garfunkel on the accompanying CD. Anna-liisa Hakkarainen's illustrations look lovely, and while the lyrics are too mature for preschooler's to fully I understand, there's no harm in exposing young children to good poetry.



I'm linking up to:
- ABC & 123's Show & Tell

Tot School Turkeys!

Our preschool experiment ended in failure on Friday. A (2) is simply not ready for a school environment. I pulled her out and have decided to enjoy homeschooling and maybe try traditional preschool again next year. Wednesdays will be our dedicated Tot School days, starting today with turkeys.

Pluck a Turkey

I printed out a turkey coloring sheet and spread craft feathers across it. Then I handed A some tweezers and asked her to use them to remove the feathers.

The tweezers turned out to be too hard so we tried tongs, but they were also too difficult. I need to find a good pair of toddler-sized tongs. Any suggestions?


Color a Turkey

She's a pro at crayons, so we gave up on the feathers and let her color her turkey page. Here's where I downloaded this pilgrim turkey coloring page.


Tickle a Turkey

I found this great little rhyme from LittleGiraffes.com based on the book If You Meet a Dragon. A wouldn't do it with me, but she enjoyed watching me tickle each part of her colored turkey (and then herself!).

If you meet a turkey,
Tickle his feathers.
Tickle his nose.
Tickle his wattle.
Tickle his toes.
Tickle his tummy.
Tickle his chin.
And that will be
The end of him!








Baste a Turkey

To finish up, we painted coffee filters with an eyedropper and watered-down paint. For the first one, A dribbled paint onto the filter.

The second time, she added paint to the pan and then we placed the coffee filter on top and watched it soak up all the paint.

When the filters were dry, we added footprint bodies, googly eyes, a beak and a waddle. It's such a joy to see her discover her creation on the back door and exclaim, "Mommy! Look what I made!"

Thanksgiving Is for Giving Thanks by Margaret Sutherland

This sweet little Thanksgiving book is perfect for toddlers and young preschoolers. The illustrations are colorful and full of scenes your child will identify with. The narration on each page is short and simple, perfect for holding the attention of little ones. As the title implies, this story celebrates family, friends, and everything for which we are thankful.





I'm linking up to:
- My Delicious Ambiguity's Tot Tuesdays

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

Thanksgiving Crafts & Books

I went crazy with the Thanksgiving crafts last year! Here's a few of my favorite crafts and activities to celebrate my favorite holiday...

A Thanksgiving Tree Centerpiece

Mod-podged leaves labeled with all those things we are most thankful for hang decorated our table for the season.

Turkey Placemats

I made an appliqued hand print turkey for each person in our family. The girls were thrilled to pull them out again this year and see how much their hands have grown.

Apple Turkeys

I love these guys so much. I think we'll need to do them again this year.

And of course we read a slew of Thanksgiving-related books...

This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story
by Laura Krauss Melmed

Thanks for Thanksgiving
by Julie Markes

The Very First Thanksgiving Day
by Rhonda Gowler Greene

Cranberry Thanksgiving
by Harry Devlin

Give Thanks! Over the river...

I hope you are all staying safe this Thanksgiving Eve. Living in our hometown, we never have far to travel for Thanksgiving dinner. We'll be making the 4-mile trip to my mom's home tomorrow afternoon for a traditional (and delicious!) dinner with my sisters and their families. There's 16 of us in total, so it's a good thing my parents have a large house.


Ain't it grand? This is what my little Pages think of when you say "grandmother's house"!

The Book - Over the River and Through the Wood

Every child should be exposed to this classic poem/song. There are multiple versions available today, but I linked to the 1970's illustrated version that I grew up with. I remember picking out the notes on our piano and singing the song, envisioning the horse-drawn carriage and merry travelers on their way to Grandmother's house. I'm glad to be able to share it with yet another generation of happy grandchildren!

The Craft - Thank You Thanksgiving Card


As I've mentioned before, my mom is incredible. Since we were little she has worked hard to make holidays magical experiences. I'm afraid she does such a good job, she's stuck doing it forever! Now that we are all grown, we still go to Mom's, bringing our own broods of children and expecting the same magic to take place. And she never disappoints.

So this year, I made a little card, letting her know just how much we appreciate all her hard work. This is such a simple gesture and only takes a few minutes. I googled "thanksgiving picture" and printed out a graphic I liked. Then I glued it onto a couple pieces of scrapbook paper and glued that onto a piece of cardstock. Inside I wrote a message for my mom and will let Little Page decorate around it.

When we arrive tomorrow, we'll be able to bring not only rolls and salad, but a heartfelt note of thanks for the woman who brings so much love into our lives.

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!!!

Give Thanks! A Thanksgiving Tree

I know you've probably already started to deck the halls, but we are still in full Thanksgiving mode in the Page household. This week we'll be focusing on giving thanks to God for all of our blessings!

The Book - Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes

Paired with cute and colorful illustrations, this simple poem makes for a sweet read around Thanksgiving. It begins with "Thanks for Thanksgiving" and moves into fall, school, playdates, dress-up, and eventually reaches our best blessings - family. The darling pictures are what make the book. They show a loving family enjoying together all those things for which they are most thankful. Written on a level toddlers and preschoolers can understand, this book will help inspire their own list of thanks.

The Craft - A Thankfulness Tree


Remember those leaves I pressed? I finally got around to doing something with them! I read that you could mod podge pressed leaves and they would keep for years, so I pulled out my mod podge and attempted not to pass out from the fumes as I coated each leaf.


I had to wait for the first side to dry and then flipped the leaves and coated the back. This ended up being a 3 or 4 hour process, as the glue dried very slowly.


While we were waiting, Little Page sat down to type up her list of thanks. We had twelve leaves, so she came up with twelve things she was thankful for. I was quite impressed as she spelled "food", "hugs" and "turkey" all by herself. (Yes, turkey. Apparently we have done way too many turkey-themed projects this year.)


Next we mod podged the printed list to the leaves. (The leaves, by the way, turn out great after the mod podge dries. They are bright and shiny and supple!)


Thanks to the nor'easter, we have no shortage of branches in our yard. I found one that worked great as a tree and stuck it in some oasis foam in a small terracotta pot I had on hand. Then I wrapped the pot in fabric leftover from my pumpkins and tied it all up with a brown ribbon.


I then threaded string through each leaf and tied to the branch. This picture doesn't show it very clearly, but the tree turned out adorable. It looks just like a fall tree, full of bright leaves displaying all those things for which we are most thankful... even turkeys.