The Fine Motor Turkey idea comes from www.two-daloo.com
First, I dug out half of a styrofoam ball leftover from an octopus activity from our ocean unit. Ignore the big holes…they were made for octopus legs 
I also found five very skinny colorful dowel rods in a package of assorted rods that I bought at Walmart (also used in our “fine motor fun with a cardboard box” post).
I also found five very skinny colorful dowel rods in a package of assorted rods that I bought at Walmart (also used in our “fine motor fun with a cardboard box” post).
I stuck the rods across the ball at regular intervals to form the turkey’s tail feathers. Later on (after learning the hard way) I went back and added a drop of hot glue to secure each one.
Next, I used a couple of spare brown paper lunch sacks to cover the ball and act as the rest of the turkey’s feathers.
For the turkey’s head, I settled on this brown seed pod from some fall potpourri that happened to be on my counter in a bowl. You could really use anything you wanted here, it isn’t central to the activity.
I glued on some google eyes, a red wattle made of a scrap of craft foam, and a felt mouth, and my turkey came to life!
Here is how he looked so far. His feathers are a little sad, huh?
This was the fun part! I grabbed my two snotty, droopy-eyed babies, a bowl of colorful wooden beads left over from a recent project, and a healthy handful of kleenex, and let them have at it!
I loved watching the twins try to master this activity. Threading the beads onto the wooden dowels was just difficult enough for them to really work hard at it, but not too hard that they totally gave up.
Mimi is staying with us since my husband is out of town, and she helped the babies with their first few beads. All they needed was a little encouragement and to be shown how to find the holes and position the beads so they would slide over the dowels.
After Syd practiced with Mimi a few times, she took a big breath, said “O-Kay!” very importantly, and proceeded to do the rest herself. So grown up!
And here is the finished turkey!
This list of Thanksgiving books is from kidsactivityblog.com
Thanksgiving Books
The Night before Thanksgiving, by Natasha Wing. One of our family’s favorite things to do each Thanksgiving is to bake a bunch of different pies. It is fun to read a book that has cute illustrations and mentions so many of the Thanksgiving traditions, from baking pies to watching the parades, and of course lots of family feasting.
The Littlest Pilgrim, by Brandi Dougherty. I am sure my youngest children can relate with this story. They often want to “help” in the preparation of our Thanksgiving festivities – and too often they get in the way or make a mess. This is a cute book about a girl who has similar struggles and learns to have a friend through the process.
Turkey Trouble, by Wendy Silvano. Ever think about Thanksgiving from the perspective of a turkey? This book is super silly. It had my kids giggling as the turkey dresses up to avoid being “caught”. It’s illustrated by one of my favorites, Lee Harper. We like his other book, Emperor’s Cool Clothes.
10 Fat Turkey’s, by Tony Johnson. This is a rendition of the 10 Little Indians, only it’s Turkeys, sitting on a fence. One thing I love about this book is that it helps early readers with repetitive words and rhyming.
Thanksgiving on Thursday, by Mary Pope Osborne. We have several dozen of the Magic Treehouse series of books. They are great for kids who are just starting chapter books. This story follows Jack and Annie as they travel back and relive the first Thanksgiving.
Cranberry Thanksgiving, by Wende Devlin. This is a re-release of a classic story of a Grandma and her granddaughter. Each Thanksgiving they invite someone who is lonely and/or poor over to share dinner with them. This year Grandma almost looses her secret recipe for Cranberry bread.
Thanks for Thanksgiving, by Julie Markes. Being thankful for the little things is a great trait to have. This story focuses on all the blessing that we have. The pictures are great for opening discussions of the things your child is thankful for, and there are blank pages so you and your child can list the things you are thankful for. THis could be a cute tradition, to add more items you are grateful for to the book each year.
If You Were at the First Thanksgiving, by Anne Kamma. Are your kids past storybooks but not quite ready for chapter books? This is a great resource non-fiction book for your shelves. It is part history book, part pretend-inspiration for a dramatic child. The book asks what your life would be like if you lives in the era of the first Thanksgiving feast.
No comments:
Post a Comment