Thanksgiving {Pilgrims & Indians} Day

• Read “Thanksgiving Mice!” by Bethany Roberts … I was in the mood for a fun, light Thanksgiving book and this was it. Not the most informative but fun rhymes and cute illustrations.

• Thankful Feathers
  1. Cut out several colorful feathers.
  2. Ask the kids what they are thankful for.
  3. Write their response on each feather. You could definitely take the time to have them write themselves or trace your writing (write in a lighter color and they trace with a darker color) but I decided just to talk about it and write it for them today.
  4. Save the feathers for the next project!

• Pattern Headbands … simple & traditional. My girls loved wearing these!
  1. Cut 2 long strips (I did 3” wide) from brown paper. Tape together to form a long headband.
  2. Cut 1” strips from several colors (I used 3).
  3. Let the kids cut their strips of paper in squares. Or into any shape you want, like my 2-year-old above
  4. Glue the paper squares to the headband in a pattern.
  5. Tape the feathers onto the headband.

• Noodle Necklaces {Sort & Patterns} … again, simple & traditional, but they loved it.
  1. Dye noodles several colors. I just wanted a small batch of each color, so this is what I did:

     Prep: Insert a ziploc baggie into an empty cup and fold over the lip of the cup. Trust me, it just makes things easier! Add 1 Tbls. white vinegar. Add 7 drops food coloring into the vinegar. Fill the baggie with noodles (about 1 cup). Zip the baggie closed and gently toss to coat all the noodles. Spread the noodles onto paper towels to dry overnight.

  2. Mix up all of the colors.
  3. Let the kids sort the noodles into bowls.
  4. String the noodles onto a piece of plastic cording. Help them make a pattern with their noodles if they want!

• Teepee Lunch … with our feather headbands and our noodle necklaces we were all decked out and ready for a fancy lunch in our homemade teepee.
  1. Tie 4 long poles together at the top (ours were about 6’ tall 2x2s)
  2. Cover with a large blanket.
  3. I used a couple of thumbtacks to hold the blanket at the “door”. Worked great.
  4. ADD A FIRE! Oh boy, was this a hit. I used a battery-operated flicker light (thank you Halloween pumpkins). Cut yellow and orange paper into flames. Tape together in a tube and place the flicker candle inside. It looks like a glowing fire!
  5. Enjoy lunch inside the teepee. We had pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, blueberries, sugared almonds and cubed cheese.

 

• Hunting for ABC Fish … we talked about how the Native Americans taught the pilgrims how to hunt and fish and plant food. So after lunch, we went hunting for ABCs.
1. Print this great ABC fish printable from Making Learning Fun. Click here.
2. Hide ABCs all around the room. I used some simple paint chip ABC cards I made (felt letter stickers on paint chips). You could use ABC flashcards or even ABC magnets. You could even cut the paint chips into fish shapes!
3. Have the kids go hunting for ABCs.
4. When they find one, have them color in (or trace) the matching fish on their page. My 4-year-old traced each letter. My 2-year-old scribbled her page every time they found one

• Thanksgiving Photo Fun … My kids think it’s great when I change up their photos on the wall. Can you spy the little Thanksgiving surprise I left for them to notice?!
  1. Add a small brown paper headband.
  2. Add a couple of small feathers (in their favorite colors, of course.)
  3. We even made one of them a turkey for the day

Insect Fun!

• Dig for Insects
  1. Fill a large tub with uncooked rice.
  2. Hide several plastic insects in the rice and let the kids dig for them.
  3. They can even sort and count the bugs as they find them.

      

• Insect Sorting & Counting Jars … these are perfect sorting mats created by PreKinders!
  1. Use the Backyard Bug counters available from Amazon here.
  2. Print and laminate the sorting jars here. PreKinders offers colors, counting and types-of-bugs jars.

 

• Insect Action Cards … created by Oopsey Daisy
  1. You can download an entire I is for Insect packet from Oopsey Daisy. She has done a great job on these and offers them for free!
  2. I love these action cards included in the packet. Just print them, cut them out, choose one and act it out!
  3. Click here to get the I is for Insect packet.
• Paint a LO-O-O-O-O-O-ONG caterpillar
  1. Use a long strip of paper.
  2. Pour several colors of paint in individual dishes.
  3. Use the lip of a cup dipped in the paint (one cup for each color) to make a caterpillar as long as you want.
  4. Add googly eyes and antennae and feet with a crayon

• Insect Anatomy Song … use the simple diagram above found here as you learn this song.

(to the tune: London Bridges Falling Down)

Head and thorax, abdomen. Abdomen, abdomen.

Head and thorax, abdomen. That’s an insect.

Every insect has six legs, has six legs, has six legs.

Every insect has six legs. That’s an insect.

Antennae to feel their way, feel their way, feel their way.

Antennae to feel their way. That’s an insect.

 

• Make a Glowing FireFly! … Wow! A simple project to delight the kids (and adults!) from Ohdeedoh.
  1. Insert a battery-operated flameless tealight candle into a plastic Easter egg.
  2. Poke 6 holes with a thumbtack and insert pipe cleaners to make legs.
  3. Draw a face on the front.
  4. Add duct tape wings and wah-lah … a glowing firefly!
• Caterpillar Pretzel Snack
  1. Lace several colorful Fruit Loops into a pretzel stick.
  2. Place a mini marshmallow on the end for a head.

Pilgrims & Indians

With I week landing early in November, it’s perfect to start getting ready for Thanksgiving with some fun activities with Pilgrims and Indians (of course, you can explain the term Native Americans, too).

 

• Read “The Story of Thanksgiving” by Nancy J. Skarmeas … I love these books. There are several of them. They’re simple and do a great job explaining on a kid’s level.

• Simple Indian Headband
  1. Place a long piece of colorful duct tape sticky side up on the table.
  2. Give the kids several colorful craft feathers to choose from.
  3. Place the quill (stem?!) of the feathers on the sticky tape.
  4. Top with another long piece of duct tape … sticky side down.
  5. Measure around your preschooler’s head and use one more piece of matching duct tape to secure the headband at the right size!
• Learning to Plant Corn … also a Treat!
  1. Read a simple book about Squanto, a friend to the pilgrims, who showed the Indians how to plant corn and other seeds, by adding a fish to the hole (as the fish rotted, it became natural compost adding nutrients to the soil … great for the seeds to grow!)
  2. Mix up a batch of chocolate pudding and pour into individual serving bowls.
  3. Crumble chocolate graham crackers and spread on top of the pudding for dirt.
  4. Use the end of a wooden spoon to make a hole in the “dirt.”
  5. Drop in a candy corn (corn seed) and a swedish fish or goldfish cracker. Cover the hole with “dirt.”
  6. Enjoy your planted corn treat

• A Thanksgiving Tale with Puppets
  1. Use this fun short story from Scholastic.com
  2. Cut out the circles with each of the four children. Attach each to a popsicle stick.
  3. Introduce the pilgrim & Wampanoag children (John, Sarah, Strong Bear and Little Doe) to your preschooler.
  4. As you tell the story, have them hold up the characters talking in the story.
  5. You could also make up actions to go along with the story (run when they run to their friends, pretend to shoot a bow and arrow, plucking birds, gathering firewood…)

• Indian Corn … what a cute, colorful craft from Musings of Me!
  • Cut out a simple corn shape from yellow cardstock
  • Squeeze glue into a small bowl and use a Q-tip to dab glue onto the corn.
  • Add colorful Fruit Loops to make the Indian corn.
  • Back with a green paper husk, just larger than the corn.
• Mini Teepee Printable … a great ready-to-color teepee from Danielle’s Place. Click the link, then scroll about halfway down.
  1. Print the blank teepee here.
  2. Color in the fun designs. The kids can write their names in the blank area and use as a place card for dinner!
  3. Cut out and tape or glue.
  4. NOTE: You can also add 3 toothpicks to the top to look more like a real teepee!

Insects (or Bugs)

• Sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"
  1. Make your own spider to help sing the song.
  2. Roll some playdoh into a ball.
  3. Cut 2 pipe cleaners into 4 pieces each (8 total). Stick these into the playdoh for legs.
  4. Press 2 googly eyes into the playdoh.
  5. Insert a popsicle stick into the bottom of the spider to hold while singing the song!

• Play with "Cootie Bugs" Amazon sells them here.
• Make inchworms or insects
  1. Cut an egg carton in half lengthwise (so you have 3 bumps).
  2. Use popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, paint or anything else to create insects
• Go outside and look for insects (under rocks!)

• Read "Old Black Fly" by Jim Aylesworth.

• Before you read … 
  1. Make your own annoying fly by gluing a paper fly (or plastic fly) to a popsicle stick or skewer. Click the image above to print!
  2. As you sing the ABC song, "fly" the pesky fly around the room, making buzzing noises and tapping kids on their shoulder.
  3. Have the kids tell how the fly bugged them during the song.
  4. Tell the kids this book is about another pesky fly.
• After you read …
  1. Cut out the first letter of each child's name.
  2. Dip a paintbrush in paint and flick over a piece of paper to create the splattered art used in the book.
  3. Repeat with several colors. Glue the letter to a page (& add a plastic fly if you'd like).

Snack Idea: Edible Insects ... push 6 stick pretzels into half a banana. Add raisin eyes with a dab of honey glue.

Easiest Ice Cream Sandwiches

We usually make a yummy treat on Friday nights. Today, I had my 3-year-old help me make these Yummy Ice Cream Sandwiches. I’m all about simple, so with a cake mix for the cookies, these were fast and delicious!

I used our Oreo Cookie recipe for the cookies, then cookies and cream ice cream for the filling.

Oreo Cookie Recipe:

2 boxes Devils Food cake mix

1 1/2 cups shortening

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients together. Roll into balls (or use a cookie scoop). Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Don’t flatten! Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. *I always take these out before they look done. When they cool,  they are soft and perfect, otherwise they’re hard and crunchy.

Let the cookies cool completely.

Add a scoop of ice cream to one cookie and sandwich with another. I used a butter knife to quickly smooth out the edges of the ice cream. Keep frozen until ready to eat!

 

I Spy Shakers (Eyes)

My daughter came out of her nursery class at church yesterday with this little “I Spy” shaker that they had made. I thought it was such a great idea and when her older brothers both wanted a turn, I decided to try to make one. SO SIMPLE! My daughter’s class was using it to talk about EYES but I love it because you can use it for any letter week, any theme, any holiday. Just change up what you put inside to spy!

 

You can probably figure out how to make them, but here’s a quick tutorial and a couple of tips…

You’ll need:

• a clear plastic water bottle
• about 2 cups of rice (or small pasta noodles or popcorn kernels)
• glue
• several small objects to “SPY” inside

*this is where you can get creative … ex: all buttons of different colors for B week, everything red, white & blue for the 4th of July, all things starting with R for R week. You get the idea

1. Empty the water bottle.
2. Remove the label.
3. Let it dry completely inside.

4.    Use a small funnel. Or if you don’t have one like me, roll up a scrap piece of paper into a cone and tape it!

5.  Fill the bottle 1/4 full with rice.
6.  Drop several of the small objects inside

7.  Fill about 1/2 full and add more of the small objects.
8.  Fill about 3/4 full and add the rest of the small objects.
TIP! I found that it’s easier to shake and find the objects if it’s not completely full to the top with rice. Leave an inch or two of empty space at the top.




9. Seal the lid on by putting a thin ring of glue around the inside of the lid, then screw it on the bottle tightly. You don’t want the kids opening it and dumping the rice out!







10.  Make a label for your “I SPY” shaker and include a list of everything to look for inside. It would look even better printed out, but I was in a hurry with this one.
TIP! Make a list of all the items going inside before you put them inside
TIP! Take a picture of the items before putting them inside and put that on the label to make it a picture list for younger kids to “read” themselves.




11.  Tape the label around the bottle and secure with a long strip of packing tape all the way around (kind of laminates the label)

YOU’RE DONE!
It was easy enough for me to make so I’m excited to let my preschooler help make a few others to go along with our different letter themes throughout the year! Usually the making part is the most fun and the best learning experience