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Thanksgiving Crafts 2014

It’s November! Which means it’s time for fun turkey activities!

Last year we had lots of fun celebrating Thanksgiving …

1. We made Fall Scented Playdough. Which we used to make cute and fun turkeys!

2. I also made a trip to our local library and checked out a bunch of fall and turkey books! Here is a list of some festive books.

3. Turkey Handprint Plate! I made one for us, that we will use for decor this Thanksgiving and also one for Monte’s grandparents. We had a lot of fun getting messy!

A few days ago, I made my way to Pinterest, of course, to find some new and fun turkey activities we could do this November! Here are some ideas, I hope we will get a chance to do …

1. Toilet paper roll turkeys! These look so easy to make and I have all the supplies. I have been saving toilet paper rolls for arts and crafts. This is the perfect opportunity to get rid of them!

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2. Another super easy turkey craft! Scrapbook paper turkey. This is another project I already have all the supplies for!

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3. Of course, you need a cute and fun festive snack!

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4. A cute craft that you can add to every year and can also be Thanksgiving decor, a turkey table runner.

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These are just a few of the projects and activities I came across. Check out my Thanksgiving Pinterest board for even MORE ideas!

What fun turkey projects and/or activities are you doing this year?

Turkey Plates

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! Is everyone ready to eat lots and lots of turkey?! Monte is ready!

Excuse his snotty nose 🙂

I thought I would post one final Thanksgiving activity before the big day! This project was inspired by Cheap Crafty Mama’s turkey plates.

I was a little nervous making these hand-print, foot-print turkeys not knowing how well Monte would do. He ended up being very cooperative and had lots of fun!

Supplies Needed

1. Porcelain plates for the Dollar Store

2. Acrylic paint various colors

3. Foam Brush

4. Paper plates

5. Googly Eyes

6. Hot glue gun

7. Permanent marker, puffy paint, or acrylic paint pens (something to write with)

Directions 

1. Gather all your supplies before you start! Because once you start, you do not want to be running around gathering more things while paint is at reach with a 2-year old! 🙂

2. Squirt all your paints onto paper plates. Take your foam brush and brush the paint onto the bottom of your little ones foot. Instead of having them step onto the plate, bring the plate to their foot and make a print. Then wash off his foot!

3. Then start with the hand prints! I brushed a color on Monte’s hand, pressed it onto the plate, then immediately washed his hand off before he got paint all over our kitchen. It is helpful to have a bowl of warm water and towel near by.

Monte enjoyed the brushing of the paint because it tickled 🙂

4. After we placed all of our hand prints around the foot, I went back through and filled the hand prints and foot print with paint where there were gaps.

5. Let dry over night.

6. Give your kiddos a bath because they WILL be a mess 🙂

7. The next day, add your googly eyes with a hot glue gun and add your writing.

I plan to save one as a Thanksgiving decoration for years to come and giving one to my in-laws since they will be hosting Thanksgiving this year!

I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Crafts

It’s hard to find Thanksgiving or turkey specific activities to do for a 22 month old. There are a LOT of ideas out there on Pinterest, but nothing I thought Monte would be rrrrrrrrrrrrrreally interested in.

I did come across this post for Fall Scented Play Dough! I am so happy I made this! It smelled yummy and Monte has had so much fun with it. A win-win for the both of us 🙂 I followed her directions and used the Kitchen Aid. I ended up kneading the dough though, so you could probably just mix in a bowl with a spoon and knead if you did not have a huge mixer.

  • Orange – Pumpkin Spice
  • Yellow – Nutmeg
  • Green – Candy Apple
  • Red – Clove
  • Brown – Cinnamon

We defiantly made this into a Thanksgiving activity 🙂

Monte enjoyed trying to make his own turkeys …

AND
mashing it all together 🙂

I also made a trip to our local library (check out the Local tab, I added all of the Des Moines area libraries!) and checked out several turkey and Thanksgiving children books. We have been reading them off and on and looking at all the turkeys!

Here are some titles to look for …

  1. Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano
  2. Thanksgiving is Here! by Diane Goode
  3. Gus, the Pilgrim Turkey by Teresa Bateman
  4. ‘ Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey
  5. I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Allison Jackson
  6. This Is the Turkey by Abby Levine

 

Another fun idea you can do is make a turkey using your kiddos feet and hands! I have to admit we didn’t actually do this at home, but he had fun making them at preschool. I’m not sure how they kept a 22 month old still enough to get this made! I LOVE all these fun ideas to use feet and hands to make various crafts.

Check out my Pinterest Board for more turkey and Thanksgiving ideas!

2013 Holiday Organizer

Yes, it’s that time of year again! Holiday music has been playing on a local radio station, since November 1st! And the stores have had their holiday decorations out since school started! So, pretty much if you have not started organizing and planning for the 2013 holiday season yet, you are way behind! 🙂

Last year,  was my first year to celebrate the holiday season with a kiddo and I created a Holiday Organizer. I must admit, it was VERY helpful! Whether you have a LOT of holiday planning, gifts to buy, things to bake, or just a few things to do; either way a Holiday Organizer will be helpful.

The great thing about creating a Holiday Organizer for yourself is you can determine what check lists, organizers, etc. YOU want to include in it.

This year I looked to Pinterest to get some inspiration and FREE printables to create my Holiday Organizer.

Here are the resources I used to create my 2013 Holiday Organizer:

1. 2013 Christmas Planner

  • Includes a cover page to put on the front of your organizer and LOTS of FREE printables!

 

2. Christmas Gift Tracking Printables

  • Colorful, fun printables to keep track of gifts you need to buy for your loved ones.

 

3. Printable Holiday Planner

  • Includes a 2013 calendar, binder cover, and budget form!

 

4. 2013 Holiday Planning Workbook

  • I printed this whole thing! I love the fun colors and there are a lot of useful sheets to help plan

 

5. Thanksgiving Planner

  • Since the holiday season begins with Thanksgiving, I created my very own planner for Thanksgiving. It includes items I will make for breakfast and what dishes I will be bringing to Thanksgiving dinner.

 

6. Holiday Bucket List

  • The front page of my planner is our 2013 Holiday Bucket List! (which I will be sharing soon). This way I can keep track of all the fun things we have done!

 

What things would you include in your Holiday Organizer?

30 Days of Thankfulness

I cannot believe it’s November already! Halloween has came and went, and now we are all preparing our recipes and turkeys for Thanksgiving!

This time of year it’s easy for everyone to get consumed with shopping, and planning. I will admit I am one of these people! BUT we must not forget the importance of THANKS-giving! It’s time to give thanks for what we have and of course spend time with our wonderful families!

One blog I follow, Des Moines Moms Blog (if you do not follow, I highly recommend following ASAP!) is doing a 30 Days of Thankfulness. Rachel Verzani, one of the bloggers for the Des Moines Moms Blog, wrote the post and has extended out the invitiation for everyone to participate.

Not only is this a great thing to personally take apart in, it will also be a great thing to share with your kiddos. Monte isn’t at the age yet to understand the whole “giving thanks” concept, but for those who have older children, I definitely recommend getting involved!

Each day post on Facebook and/or Twitter one thing you are thankful for. It could be as simple as “being able to enjoy a Starbucks latte” 🙂 OR “thankful for my beautiful home”. Just think of one thing, post it and hashtag #thankfulDMmamas!

Also,  everyday I will post on my Facebook page, what I am thankful for! Go ahead share in the thread and hashtag there #thankfulDMmamas.

Happy November everyone!