Thanksgiving

Pilgram hat:

1. Cut a large rectangle strip long enough to fit around the child's head, staple it into a loop. Make snips all the way around at the bottom of the hat.

2. Trace the resulting circle shape. Draw a circle 3" bigger than this on the outside.

3. Cut out along the outer circle and inner circle (you now have a ring).

4. Apply glue to the tabs created in step 1, and attach the hat band to the brim.

5. Make a buckle by cutting out a rectangle, fold in half and cut a small rectangle out of it. Glue it on.

6. wear it!

Handprint painting

Use non-toxic kid friendly paint to paint your child's hand, and have them print onto paper. Let it dry and then cut it out and add details (scraps of paper, googly eyes, glitter, decorate with markers....). The finished handprint can be glued to colored paper for a nice background. This one is a turkey which I glued to cardstock, and put a slit in the bottom with another peice of cardstock to make it stand up!

See what other ideas you can come up with... a bunny for easter, a raindeer for christmas, ghosts for halloween, or just a plain ol' handprint for grandma. These make great gifts and can easily be made into holiday cards or thank you cards as well, perfect for little ones who cant yet write but want to make something special!

Pumpkins - a sensory experience

Sensory activities encourage exploration, and pumpkin guts are a great sensory experience!

Levi was totally grossed out (see the pic for the face he made!) when we first opened the pumpkin, he didn't know what to think of the mess he discovered inside. At first he was reluctant to touch anything, and just used a spoon to scoop the seeds out (which we later toasted, and are still eating them!). Later he decided it would be fun to ‘jump in guts’, but he never did want to use his hands.

He also smelled the pumpkin - 'it smells yucky!' according to Levi.

And later he tasted the pumpkin, one was cooked and made into pumpkin muffins - those he loved!

Halloween Ghosts

Materials:
kid friendly paint - I put it in empty elmers glue bottles, you could also put it in bowls and use a spoon to put it on the paper
paper - in this case we used dark colors
google eyes, glitter or other decoration

What to do:
1. Fold paper in half
2. drizzle paint all over - you can do more than one color too!
3. fold in half along the previous fold line, smush and rub with your hands
4. Open to see your creation! Add other decorations if you want!


This activity doesnt have to be ghost themed, you can use any colors of paint/paper you want.

Levi and I also made some of these in halloween colors, then when the paper was dry we cut it into strips to make garlands. It would also make great wrapping paper in holiday colors, or even thank you cards.