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Thanksgiving IdeasSongs and FingerplaysTurkey Pokey We Are Thankful If You're Thankful Follow this with a list of what each child is thankful for. You can substitute the hand clapping with other body movements (e.g., jumping, hopping, shouting) to provide physical education as well. Another option is to sing: If you're thankful and you know it shout your praise. If you're thankful and you know it shout your praise. If you're thankful and you know it then your voice is sure to show it. If you're thankful and you know it shout your praise. Follow with "shouting" out what you're thankful for. Little Turkey
Before Thanksgiving Day
The cranberry ran away, before Thanksgiving day,
The turkey ran away, before Thanksgiving day, The Turkey Rhyme:
FIVE FAT TURKEYS
MY TURKEY
Mr. Turkey
Mr. Turkey
The Farmer in the Dell A Baby Turkey
The older chick goes, kee-kee-kee,
The turkey hen calls, yelp, yelp, yelp,
The frightened bird cries, turc,turc,turc,
the strutting tom goes, chuck, chunk, chunk,
Thanksgiving day is coming
Turkey Strut
My Turkey
Gobble Gobble Have your children watch as you toss a feather up into the air and let it float to the ground. Then let your children pretend to be feathers. Play appropriate music and have them float slowly around and around as they gently sink to the floor. Found a Feather
Picked it up, picked it up,
Found a feather, found a feather
Ten Fat Turkeys Crafts
Turkeys on Top! A ssist the children in making turkey placemats for Thanksgiving. Provide each child with a sheet of manila paper and fingerpaints . The children can dip their hands in the paint and press them on the manila paper. After the placemats have dried the child may wish to decorate the handprint to resemble a turkey. Label with the child's name and cover with clear contact paper. Encourage the children to make their own turkey pictures using chalk and construction paper dampened with liquid starch. The children can brush on the starch with paint brushes and then use chalk to create their pictures. After the chalk dries, spray the pictures with hair spray to keep them from smearing. Make turkey puppets using lunch bags and paper plates. They can draw feathers on the plates before assembling. Assist the children in gluing the paper plates to the backs of the paper bags. They can also add facial features to the front of the bag. Have the children design a collage of things they are thankful for and things they like. Provide magazines and old photos, construction paper, glue and scissors. Label the items, directing the children's attention to the words that correspond to the pictures. Have the children create designs using dried corn. Make tie-dyed napkins by boiling cranberries in water. Dip squares of white material, that has been tied into knots into the water. Let dry! Give the children a large sheet and squeeze bottles full of tempera paint. Have them paint all over, for a Thanksgiving table cloth. Make Native American headbands or drums using empty shortening cans Potato Turkey You need: white paper markers, crayons, or paint To make: Trace child's hand on the white paper, keeping fingers spread apart. Use the markers to draw an eye, beak and waddle on the outside part of the thumb. Draw legs under turkey. Colour as desired. Conversely, dip the child's hand in paint and place it on the paper. Dip a finger in paint and add a head beside the thumb. Add legs with a marker. Construction Paper Turkey Glove Turkey Fall Harvest Wreath The following poems are nice for home made cards:
Albuquerque is a turkey Create a tree trunk out of brown paper and add branches. Have the children trace their hands onto the different colored paper. Cut out. Each day have them think of something that they are thankful for, and write it onto the hand/leaf. Glue the leaf onto a tree branch. Above the tree, put the words "We Are Thankful For..." Cut out a complete turkey body (from the side). Glue it onto another piece of paper. Add the eyes and feet. Take the fallen leaves and glue them on the back of the turkey to form the tail feathers and wing. Cut out many leaf cutouts using many fall colors. Have the child decorate with markers and crayons. Laminate the leaves (optional), then punch a hole in the stems and give the child some string or yarn, and have them thread them on. Add some beads for extra color! In a sink or a water table, wet one side of a large sheet of white construction paper. Use paintbrushes to drop yellow, green and red tempera paint around on the wet side of the paper. Tip the paper back and forth so that the colors run together, you may want to add a little more water to get an all over effect. Let it dry on some paper towels. Place several collected leaves on the large sheet of black construction paper (do not glue). Trace around the leaves. Remove the leaves. Carefully cut out the leaves. When the color swirled paper is dry, glue the black paper on top of it so that the colors show through the leaf cut out shapes. This is a great effect. You can add a decorative edge to the placemat. When done, place clear contact paper over the mat, or laminate.
Painting with Feathers Cut out small cardboard donuts. Glue pinecones, silk or plastic leaves or real leaves that are still a little pliable, acorns, twigs. Throw in small nests or little birds or indian corn or tiny pumpkins as decorations. Add a candle for the center (don't have to light it!) Make salt dough and use small cookie cutters to cut out leaves/pumpkins/fall things....use a straw to pop a hole in the top to hang later. Dry in oven, paint and strig with fall colored ribbon. Plaster of Paris a twig into a recycled can of some sort. Hang your little treasures after the can is decorated. Carve out the inside if a mini pumpkin and let dry. Clear shellac it. Use as a tall candle holder and lay some fall leaves down around the table underneath.
HAND TURKEY THANKSGIVING CARD
THANKFUL TURKEY DECORATION
This isn't just a turkey, as anyone can see. She painted the kids hands with the palm brown, the thumb red, and each finger a different color. Printed them at the bottom of the paper and made a turkey out of it (thumb was the turkey's head). Covered them with clear contact paper and sent them home. Here is a neat idea for your family thanksgiving dinner. .
APPLE TURKEY
Cracker Turkeys Some Other Turkeys Using the same turkey shape, cut out the shape from brown construction paper. Then cut out the center so that it resembles a frame. Get Thanksgiving confetti (available at party goods store). Press the turkey frame on one piece of contact paper. Have the children fill the frame with the confetti. Cover with second piece of contact paper, punch hole and thread with yarn. Hang in window for stained glass effect. Styro Turkey
Cognitive Activities Provide cards with matching pairs of Thanksgiving-related pictures or stickers for the children to match. Place two lines of dried corn kernels on the table. Make sure both lines have the same amount of kernels, but spread one line out so it is longer than the other. Ask the children if one line has more kernels, then count with the child. Match different colors of teepees to their corresponding colored teepee. Make patterns using different colors of beads. Have the children to create a Thanksgiving menu. Assist them by choosing the foods by voting. Give the children a Native American, pilgrim or turkey cutout and a box. Have the children place the cutout on, under, beside, the box.
Dramatic Play Activities Construct a teepee using a sheet and poles tied at the top with rope.
Fine Motor Activities String beads, macaroni or straw pieces and make Native American necklaces. Cut out or tear food pictures from magazines and paste to paper plates.Encourage the children to string cranberries.
Gross Motor Activities Run a relay race using an ear of Indian corn.
Group Activities Hold a treasure hunt using items related to Thanksgiving. Explain how children long ago didn't have TV, so they played or danced. Have the children play musical freeze, the Hokey Pokey, etc.
Science Activities Sequence feathers by size or sort by color. Provide raw and cooked cranberries or potatoes for the children to examine. Put grass, sticks and stones in a box for examination. Put a pan of water in the area for children to see which items sink and which float. Use cranberries, bark, corn, stones, grass and sticks. Have bark available for examination. Make Pilgrim log houses - Glue pretzel sticks onto milk cartons. Make Indian teepees - Cut 12 inch circles from construction paper, decorate, cut slit from one edge to center, roll into cone, staple, cut flap. Indian shakers - put beans inside two decorated paper plates and staple together. Indian drums - decorate construction paper with Indian symbols, wrap and glue around cylindrical oatmeal containers. String fruit loops, Cheerios, or painted macaroni to make an Indian necklace.
The Turkey With The Terrible Temper Once there was a little BROWN TURKEY who had a TERRIBLE TEMPER. He often flew into rages and ranted around until he was a nuisance in the farm yard. One day he lost his temper about some little thing and got so angry he flew into a rage and went RED as a beet. The other turkeys laughed at him and said: You're RED, RED RED as a BEET: RED from your head To the tip of your feet. Tom Turkey didn't like anyone or anything so he ran away and hid. He sat and sulked for a long time. When he calmed down and came out of his hiding place he was really RED all over. His head was RED and his neck was RED- he was RED from head to his feet.He hurried to the edge of the farm to visit Dr. Owl how was wise and knew all the answers to everything. "You will have to learn to control that temper of yours!" hooted Dr. Owl. " If you don't remember in time you will end up being a very sorry turkey." The next morning Tom Turkey was brown again except that he had a red feather in his tail. He was very glad to be brown again, but he still thought it was everybody else's fault that he gotten so angry the day before. Tom's mother called him to help with the Monday wash. But Tom got the BLUES as soon as he started working. He moaned and groaned until his mother said he was acting like a baby. You can guess what happened next- he lost his temper again. This time he went BLUE ALL OVER! As he was running away to hide all the other turkeys yelled: You're BLUE, BLUE From your head to your toe, BLUE all over wherever you go. This time Tom Turkey sat and sulked and blamed his mother for losing his temper. By morning he was BROWN again but now he had a blue feather next to the red one in his tail. You can guess what happened the rest of the week. On Tuesday Tom didn't want to clean up the yard. He said he hated cleaning up with a PURPLE passion. Just as soon he had said he was in a rage he turned PURPLE all over. The Turkeys shouted: You're PURPLE, PURPLE That's all we can see, You'd better go hide Under your favorite tree. Of course Tom Turkey sat and sulked and blamed everything onto to everyone else. On Wednesday morning he was BROWN again but he had a PURPLE tail feather added to his the RED and BLUE one. He was beginning to feel ashamed that he couldn't control himself when he wanted to. He went out for a walk when he saw a big ear of corn that his turkey friend was eating. Tom was GREEN with envy. He thought the farmer had no right to give someone else the cob of corn. And before he knew it he had turned GREEN all over, and was in another terrible temper tantrum. The turkeys all turned on him and yelled: You're GREEN, GREEN GREEN as the grass Why don't you get wise And stop all the sass. And of course again, Tom Turkey went to his hiding place to sulk and feel sorry for himself. On Thursday morning he was BROWN again but now he had a GREEN feather amongst the other brightly colored tail feathers. But something was happening to Tom Turkey. He was really beginning to want to change. He wanted to keep his temper. He didn't feel like being ashamed of himself. He was determined to try hard and do just that. Of course all the turkeys liked to tease Tom and while they were playing a game of Gobble and Waddle someone called Tom a coward. Before Tom started to think he had flown into another tantrum. This time his face turned YELLOW and his neck was YELLOW and the turkeys were saying he had a YELLOW streak down his back. They yelled: You're YELLOW, turkey. Just like we said Why don't you go home and hide under the bed? Tom Turkey had turned YELLOW all over because he had forgotten to control his temper. But this time he sat under a tree and thought a long time about everything. He had only himself to blame for his mistakes. He was beginning to realize that he was the only one who could make things better. When he awoke in the morning he was brown again with a new yellow feather in his tail. He didn't say a word to anyone, he just went about his business and said to himself: " I can do it, if I try hard enough !" Mother Turkey asked Tom to keep an eye on the little turkeys when she went to the store on Friday. While she was gone all the baby turkeys ran through the house with muddy feet. When Tom saw what they had done, Tom almost lost his temper. But this time he just held his breath as long as he could. He turned as pale as a ghost , but he didn't lose his temper. The turkeys yelled: You're WHITE, WHITE But your temper didn't show Maybe you're changing We really hope so. All Saturday and Sunday he kept calm and was tickled PINK to think he had gone two days without a terrible temper tantrum. He was still a little BROWN turkey , and a very happy one too. He reported back to Dr. Owl on Monday and Tom Turkey thanked him for his help. Dr. Owl told Tom he had earned the right to wear the brightly colored tail and that he should show it off proudly from now on. So when you go to the farm and see the turkey with his fan shaped tail all unfolded, remember this story about the turkey with the terrible temper. ( Extension to Above Story: Take a clear jar and tape feathers and a little turkey face to the jar. Fill the jar half way full of water. As you tell the story, add a few drops of that color food coloring. When you finish he is quite brown. On the last verse, you omit the part of his finally becoming brown. Instead, you fill the jar up with bleach and the children see him turn white(clear) right before their very eyes!!! They think it is just amazing..."do it again." is always the response!! Site Map
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