Now that Halloween is just about behind us, we seem to jump right into Christmas. Many forget about my favorite holiday in-between; Thanksgiving! Most families with little ones have started the tradition of The Elf on the Shelf. Well in our house last year we started a new tradition in between the Ghosts and the Elf, we did a Thankful Tree. This activity starts November 1st and goes until Thanksgiving Day. If you want to start this tradition with your family here are the simple steps and materials needed.
Materials:
- Brown kraft paper- you can buy this by the roll at almost any store for a good price
- Construction paper
- Tape
The Thankful Tree
Thanks to my dad’s drawing skills he drew the tree on a roll of brown wrapping paper while my niece and I made the leaves.
Using construction paper and an image of our favorite leaves we found online, we made red, green, yellow and orange leaves that were scattered near the trunk of the tree. Every morning when my niece woke up she put a new leaf on the tree saying what she is thankful for (some mornings the answers were hilarious so prepare yourself).
Tom the Thankful Turkey
This year we are doing things a little differently. Starting November 1st Tom the Turkey will start to grow some colorful feathers.
Again thanks to my dad’s art skills (trust me if he didn’t fix the turkey that I made, you would be asking why does that stomach have feathers!) I present to you Tom our featherless turkey!
Tom was made the same way our tree was, with brown wrapping paper and construction paper for the feathers. This is a fun way to talk with your children and a great activity to fill in the month of November. The day the last feather makes its way onto Tom, the following morning their Elf comes back for his daily visits.
We would LOVE to hear about and see your families’ thankful activity so post in the comments or share a photo using hashtag #SavingByDesign on instagram!
Can’t wait to see the answers your family gives you!
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