Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving! Although Thanksgiving will be a bit smaller for many of us this year, I hope your family can still find a fun way to celebrate today. Even though we won’t get to share our meal with grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins, we still defrosted a behemoth turkey and will be making all the sides because… Thanksgiving leftovers are so delicious and I look forward to kicking back and just reheating food for the next three days!
Today, I have a simple craft as well as two free printable activities to share. I have two kids in virtual school and they have been learning a bit about the history of Thanksgiving. To reinforce what they have learned and to also encourage some fun imaginative play, we constructed a simple Mayflower out of a toilet paper roll, two popsicle sticks, and pieces of scrap white printer paper.
Simply cut a diagonal line off the ends of a toilet paper roll, cut one opening on top for the passengers, and two small slits at the sides on top to insert your popsicle stick sails in. For a more finished look, you can also have your child paint their boats or glue on decorations. My kids had fun adding flags and different passengers… because of course dinosaurs also wanted religious freedom.
I also created some free Thanksgiving coloring pages that say Happy Thanksgiving and also one where your child can write what they are thankful for on the turkey feather and body. After all, even though 2020 has been a bit rough, there are still many things I am sure we can all appreciate and still be grateful for. These pages can also be laminated to create placemats.
Lastly I made a turkey template you can use to make freezer stencil turkey tees with your kids. I have a Cricut Maker and although I enjoy making things out of heat transfer vinyl, I still find making tees with freezer paper to be fun… plus it allows the kids to be more involved in the process. When they are more involved, they tend to wear their work more frequently and with greater pride. Simply trace the template onto some freezer paper (waxy side down), cut, iron the stencil onto a white tee (also waxy side down), and have your child paint with fabric paint or decorate with fabric markers. When the paint dries, remove the freezer paper. These make great photo ops and help me to capture how old my kids are on holidays.
Your child may also be interested in:
Free Happy Thanksgiving Acorn Banner and Thanksgiving Tree Craft
Football Player Paper Puppet Craft
I create more printable activities for kids here with the goal of helping to grow kids who love to learn.
If you use these printables in your home or classroom, I would love to see it! Please use #sodangfun on social media, tag me @sodangfun on Instagram, or post to my Facebook page.
Hoping you and your family enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving today!