Code:

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Fall and Thanksgiving Crafts

Leaves Falling Down

This was a messy project...I don't think it had to be, but it's more fun when things get messy!  We painted with paint brushes and with pom-poms.  Paint was....everywhere!    

First I drew a spiral on a piece of paper and the boys painted it.  We set that aside and they painted all different shapes of leaves that I had drawn on construction paper.





When the leaves and spiral were dry I cut them out and we used double-sided tape to attach the leaves to the spiral.
We thought the perfect place for our leaves to hang was over our kitchen table.  This stayed over our table until after Thanksgiving; it made our kitchen feel so Fall-like!


Thankful Chain
Sometime in mid-November we started a Thankful Chain. I found the idea on the silverbox blog, and I decided to make it more kid friendly. In the evenings, after dinner was done and cleaned up, we spent some time talking about what we were thankful for.  I had the paper pre-cut so all we had to do was grab a marker and start writing.  Greg and I wrote for the boys and they drew a picture. Oliver just loves writing with markers right now - when he wants to draw he says, "E, E, E, E" (I think this is because he always hears Elliott saying, "E" when he writes his name).  This time was also a good chance for Elliott to practice writing his name.  We didn't add a chain every night - some nights we just forgot, but the nights we did were great opportunities to discuss being grateful with boys, and I love the family time this activity provided.  Here are some pictures...


This first picture is all four of us working on our chain.  This particular night we made homemade hot chocolate!


These pictures below are of the boys showing off our chain.  It was one of the crafts that I would have loved to keep....but it would've taken up too much space.  For that reason, I'm thankful for cameras!



Paper Plate Turkeys
This craft was so simple, but fun and festive!  Originally we were supposed to have a friend over to make these turkeys with us and play, however Elliott woke up that day with a yucky cough so we had to cancel.  
 



Apple Turkeys
These turkeys were really fun to make, and I thought they would make a yummy snack for the boys.  Funny thing is, the boys didn't end up eating them!  I found the idea over at I Can Teach My Child.
She used marshmallows for the feathers, but Oliver can't eat marshmallows (because they contain corn), so I had the idea to use peppers.  It was just as colorful! 
 Here's Elliott putting his feathers on his apple.

Here's Oliver with his turkey!

And here's Elliott with his turkey!
 

Making Letters with Feathers
Elliott used feathers to make letters that I had written on a marker board.  After he made the letter, he used the feather to trace it.  I found this idea at I Can Teach My Child.
So fun!



 

Homemade Fall Leaves
For this activity I filled up an ice-cube tray with water and added some drops of food coloring.  The boys used medicine droppers to squirt water onto the coffee filters.  This was an art project, but it also included science as the boys mixed colors, and we even tied in some math skills as we talked about which cubes had the most/least water and we counted the leaves.  The leaves didn't actually look like Fall leaves when they dried - they weren't very dark colors - but it was still a great experience.  




Handprint Turkeys
I found this idea at Meet the Dubiens 
Our neighbor friend, Sutton, was over playing at our house, and the boys look liked they were interested in a craft!!  I didn't grab a picture of Sutton's before he went home, but here are Elliott and Oliver's!  I think they're just adorable! Elliott was getting a little goofy (happens a lot when Sutton is here, haha!) and he put an extra handprint at the bottom.     

Rolling Pumpkins
This activity was 100% play inspired.  The boys started it and it turned out to be a great learning opportunity.  They were playing with our left-over gourds and small pumpkins and rolling them down the slide.  It was great to talk about which ones rolled the farthest and why, and which ones bounced down the slide instead of rolled, etc...  We had a fun time having a contest to see which ones rolled the farthest!








 November was a great month!  I'm getting excited about what December will bring!  I love this precious time with my boys!
 

No comments:

Post a Comment