We tend to get a little obsessed with food at our house during Thanksgiving, so a little focus on the ‘Thanks’ is necessary.
You need:
- Construction paper
- Cutout of a tree
- Cutouts of leaves
- Glue
- Colouring materials/pencils
We talked about thanksgiving and what being thankful is. We began to list all the things Daisy is thankful for (all the people or things) she is happy to have in her life.
As I am writing this I am thinking about how we will discuss this further, talking about the opportunities she has; being able to play soccer, play with her sister, dance, learn. The list could go on and on, as could the discussion. Teaching children to have a ‘cup half full” attitude is a wonderful skill to carry through life. Being able to find the positive in most situations makes life easier and often more fulfilling.
When we had a list Daisy was happy with, we started work on our tree. We glued the tree onto construction paper.
What time of day we start a craft, often influences the amount of energy Daisy can give to a project. This activity was started after 2pm and she was lacking enthusiasm so I wrote the ‘Thanks’ on the leaves. If we had done this in the morning Daisy would have been able to write some of the leaves herself. With younger children, the leaves would need to be bigger and photos and magazines could be used for a collage. I wrote on the leaves for her.
We drew leaves on card stock and cut them out. The leaves with all their edges were a bit hard for the kids to cut out, so I helped them with that part. I would recommend having this part done before the activity starts.
Daisy wrote her name on a little sign and her Thanksgiving Tree was finished. It is proudly displayed near our dinner table.
(This craft idea was taken from The Preschooler’s Busy Book).