Our First Thanksgiving In Our Own Home

Well, we went to GA to visit family for a week and decided to go ahead and celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas while we were there.  Addi had been enjoying her lessons so much that while we were gone she would ask each day, "Mommy can we do lessons today." I thought this was just the sweetest thing.  In fact, one morning she told me, "But mommy I NEEEEEED lessons."  I couldn't help but just to laugh at her adorable pouty little face.

So, when we got back in town I had not prepared my letter of the week curriculum for that week, but I knew there would be plenty of Thanksgiving ideas avail be online through different blogs I follow or even by researching Pinterest.  This was the first year that we were going to be in our own home for Thanksgiving.  We decided to decorate and make the house look super special for this occasion, especially since we had invited several other families to join us for dinner in our home on Thanksgiving Day.  Our first project was to make turkey napkin holders for all the kids who were going to be eating with us.  We used paper towel rolls, construction paper, pom poms, felt and googly eyes.

For the adults we made Pilgrams and Indians.  I think the adults ended up liking theirs more than the kids liked their turkeys.  Funny how that worked out, hun?

     

   

On Thanksgiving Day we set the Pilgrams and Indians on the table along with the finger print turkey place cards and the other art work we had done.

Just for fun we made Pilgrams out of plastic spoons.

My favorite Thanksgiving Decoration was our "Give Thanks" sign we made from acorns, twigs, and leaves we collected on our nature walk with Daddy.  He had gotten off work early one day and it was such a sweet time for us during such a busy season just to get out and go for a walk as a family.

We had a great lesson all about the Pilgrams, Indians, and the first Thanksgiving feast.  I tried to repeat it over and over again all week long.  We did sequencing cards (which I actually never took pictures of) and a few other activities and by Thanksgiving Day I think she actually understood a small portion of what was actually going on.  Here was our attempt at making an Indian teepee from a sugar cone, icing, and M&Ms.

This is also our construction paper cornucopia with fresh vegetables.  Pretty sad looking cornucopia if you ask me.  Ha ha.

But not any more sad than our melon and fruit turkey we made as an appetizer.  This guy looked pitiful, but we had fun making it either way.

I wish I had taken a picture of all the food we made.  We had everything from turkey and gravy, corn, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, crockpot macaroni and cheese, rolls, sweet potato casserole, corn stuffing, glazed carrots, sausage cheese balls, deviled eggs, pumpkin dip and crackers, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, apple pie, oreo layer dessert, better than sex cake, a jello dessert, and more the I can't even remember.  IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!  Here is a picture just of the desserts!

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Fall, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Themed Busy Bag Swap

We recently had a Fall/Thanksgiving/Christmas Busy Bag Swap.  However, this time instead of having a swapping party, everyone dropped off their bags at my house through out the week and I was able to deliver all of them one Sunday at church.  It actually worked really well and I think is a great alternative during busier seasons.

First, we have a fall leaf matching memory game.  I love these memory games because if your child is pretty young they can match the cards with the pictures face up and then grow into using the game as a memory game.

Next, we have fall themed lacing cards.

Then, we have these really neat cards that show the child what eight different kinds of trees look like.  If you flip over the card there is an outline of one of the leaves from that particular tree.  The child can then match the leaves with their outline.  So fun!

Next, we have a felt Thanksgiving turkey board.  The child can make many other scenes from the felt shapes provided, but I gave Addilyn a picture of the Turkey scene and asked if she could make it on her own.

Another Thanksgiving felt activity focuses on Pilgrims.  I think this is so neat because you dress the person in the boy pilgrim or girl pilgrim clothes.  I thought about make some felt Indian clothes to to add to the bag.  We will see if that actually happens before Thanksgiving.

Next, we have two size sorting activities; one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas.  The Thanksgiving set includes a small, medium, and large set of 2 different types of leaves, pumpkins, and Pilgrim hats.  The Christmas set includes a small, medium, and large set of ice skates, snowflakes, scarves, Christmas trees, and sleds.  I haven’t let Addi play with this one yet since it’s only October, but all she will have to do is put the appropriate size object in the correct foam window.

Then, we have some fun snowball counting made from cotton balls and paper cups.   I like games like this where is a piece goes missing you can easily replace it.

We also have a few Christmas themed lacing cards.

Now, this one is a fun one.  With lots of foam shapes we can make all sorts of Christmas symbols.  There are several pattern cards for younger kiddos.

And, last, but not least, we have a felt Christmas Tree button game.  The stars have the numbers 1-20 on them.  You place a star on top of the tree and your child can place that number of buttons on the tree as if they are ornaments.  I just thought this was the cutest idea.

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