Thanksgiving Crafts and Songs

Thanksgiving Turkey Crafts
There are a number of variations of the "thanksgiving turkey" that you can make.

Version #1
Cut out a turkey head and body out of brown construction paper. Cut out "feathers" from orange and yellow construction paper.  Glue the body on a paper plate and write "I'm thankful for". Have the kids glue the feathers around the body.
Ask the kids some of the things they are thankful for.  Write them on the feathers.

 Version #2
Cut out a turkey head and body from brown construction paper. Glue it on a paper plate. Use up that extra halloween candy corn by gluing it around the body as "turkey feathers".

Version #3

Cut out a turkey body and head from brown construction paper. Glue it on a paper plate. Cut out a bunch of hearts shapes from colored construction paper. Have the kids glue the hearts around the turkey body as turkey feathers.

Thanksgiving Song

I taught this song to my kids last year and they did a "thanksgiving show" for the adults by singing it. They picked it up really quickly and learned about the first thanksgiving at the same time!

The First Thanksgiving (Tune:The Muffin Man )

The Pilgrims came to America
America, America.
The Pilgrims came to America
a long, long time ago.

They sailed on the Mayflower
the Mayflower, the Mayflower.
They sailed on the Mayflower
a long, long time ago.

They made friends with the Indians
The Indians, the Indians.
They made friends with the Indians
a long, long time ago.

They planted seeds. The corn grew tall
The corn grew tall. The corn grew tall.
They planted seeds. The corn grew tall
a long, long time ago.

They had a great Thanksgiving feast
Thanksgiving feast, Thanksgiving feast.
They had a great Thanksgiving feast
a long, long time ago.

Here is a link to my kids singing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIXPS6QoXVE

Felt Design-a-jack-o-lantern

Materials needed
orange felt
black felt
white felt
scrap of brown felt
sewing machine or hot glue

Cut out a pumpkin shape in orange felt. Sew or hot glue it to a rectangle of black felt. Cut out a brown felt stem and sew or hot glue it on the pumpkin. Cut out eye, nose, and mouth shapes from black and white felt. The felt pieces stick right to the felt pumpkin. The kids can then design all kind of jack-o-lantern faces. You can either hang up the pumpkin or set it out on the table for play.

Jack-o-Lantern bagels

Color cream cheese orange with yellow and red food coloring. Then add pretzel sticks to make a jack-o-lantern face.

Color cream cheese orange with yellow and red food coloring. Then add a pretzel stick  for the stem and raisins for the face.

Super easy and super fun!

Teacher appreciation

An apple (with a stem) with 2 labels affixed to eachother with a written message and a red ribbon

Pumpkin and Bat bagels

Mini bagel with orange cream cheese (dyed with red and yellow food coloring), raisin features and a pretzel stick stem

And for the non-raisin eaters, a mini bagel with orange cream cheese and pretzel stick features and stem

And for the non-cream cheese eaters, a mini bagel with nutella and goldfish cracker eyes

Leaf Rubbings

For a fun fall activity, you can make leaf rubbings. Go on a nature walk with your children to collect different shaped leaves.
Put the leaf on a table and put a piece of paper over it. Using the side of a crayon with no wrapper, rub over the leaf until the leaf shape comes through.

Fall Flashlight Walk

This is an easy, free, simple, and fun activity that the kids really love. On a warm fall night, after it gets dark, arm your kids with flashlights and go for a "flashlight walk".  You can walk around the block, walk in a park or along a bike trail. We did half in a park and half around the block and visited all of the halloween decorations in peoples' lawns.
It's even more fun if you get together with another family to do it.  All of the kids got such a kick out of walking in the dark and playing with their flashlights!