Work with your child to create an acrostic poem like the one below. Consider using alternative words, such as leaf or pumpkin.
Thankful for my family
Happy for pumpkins
Apple picking is the best
New friends to make
Kicking around a football
Spending lots of time outside
Ask your child to draw turkeys using their hands. Have your child place a hand on a white sheet of paper and trace around the hand, fingers and thumb. Then count the names on your Thanksgiving guest list, and have your child create a corresponding number of hand-drawn turkeys. Ask your child to color them using crayons and imagination. Once they finish, take the pieces of paper to your nearest office supply store to be laminated. You now have adorable placemats for your Thanksgiving dinner.
Use the colorful leaves of fall to create a lion’s mane. Gather a bunch of leaves with your child. If you live somewhere without changing seasons, you can get fake leaves at a craft store. If they’re real leaves, make sure they’re dry and bug-free! Next, take the real leaves and put them in an old book for a few hours to help press and preserve them. Using a paper plate, help your child glue the leaves around the rim. Once you’ve covered the entire rim, let it dry. Finally, encourage your child to draw a lion’s face on the paper plate.
Create a tree using buttons. Gather old or new buttons. Talk to your children about fall colors and have them choose the buttons that they want to use for this activity. Then, encourage your little ones to draw a tree trunk and branches. Finally, guide your children in gluing the buttons onto where leaves should appear. During this project, talk with your children about how trees grow.
Ask your children what they are thankful for. Instead of having them write it on a piece of paper, have them make a turkey craft out of it. Get a paper plate and an assortment of colored construction paper. Help them cut out feathered shapes from the construction paper to glue on the plate as the turkey’s feathers. Once the glue dries, ask your children to write something that they are thankful for on each feather. Assist them with the writing if necessary.
