Last year, when our girls were just shy of three, we talked
a lot about Thanksgiving being a time to give thanks for those things we
value.
On Thanksgiving morning, I cut
out a tree from construction paper, and green, yellow, orange, and red
leaves. I asked the girls what things
they were thankful for, and I wrote one thing on each leaf. I let them glue the leaves on the tree. It was a really fun activity, and I know it
will make me smile to look back at some of the things they cited…like puzzles,
and the neighbor’s dog.
This year, I wanted to introduce some history into their
understanding. B and I went to the
bookstore on Saturday in search of a good book.
We actually bought two…one Curious George book (he’s just so hard to
resist!), and this really great book from Scholastic.
I love that we can now begin to connect the dots about some
of the images we associate with the holiday…and of course that’s going to fuel
some heavy-duty crafting over the next couple of weeks.
I love this Mayflower craft…
…these Pilgrim hats…
...these cornucopias…
…and there are so many turkeys to choose from, I’m sure we’ll
make several.
And as for the Curious George book? It’s much more light-hearted, of course. Part of it talks about watching a big
parade. Would you believe I’m going to
let the girls watch a bit of TV this Thanksgiving? As long as they understand it’s a once-a-year
occurrence, I think we’ll be OK. ;)
And of course we'll continue to talk about the things we're thankful for. Who knows...we might even fashion a new tree.
I'm so very thankful for my baby girls, and for the opportunity to celebrate holidays together as a family of four.
2 comments:
We love that book too! Another great (super little-kid-friendly) one is 'Off to Plymouth Rock" by Dandi Daley Mackall.
I used to do some fun Mayflower activities - one of which I would tell them that the mayflower was actually smaller than our classroom - only 90 ft by 25 feet! And that they were rationed food. So I would tape off a tiny area and make the kids eat their 'snack rations' - one saltine cracker and one piece of beef jerky in that tiny area. Gave them a new appreciation for what those pilgrims went through to get to America!
I'm doing baby book club tomorrow - too many cute books to choose!!!
Mandy, read "Thank you Sarah" by Laurie Halse Anderson, it's a wonderful book about Thanksgiving, maybe a bit too old right now but it's never too early, and it's really fun!
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