Talk with child about what is means to be thankful. For my 3-year-old, I explained to him that being thankful means saying "thank-you" for things that are important to us or that we are grateful for/love. I started to list some of the things I'm thankful for {family, home, clothes, food, etc.} Then, I asked him to tell me some of the things he's thankful for. When that didn't really produce too many answers, I asked him to tell me all the things he really likes. Once we started a pretty good list, I started writing down his answers of some "leaves" I cut out of construction paper and left over fall painting craft projects.
Some of my favorite answers: Santa Claus, hugs, ice cream cones, chocolate, hawks, toys, rainbows.
We then used the leaves to make a thankful swag. I used some of the fall leaves and berries we collected on our nature walk, some floral wire, and the thankful leaves and paper clipped them onto the wire. I made a swag because we'd already made a wreath and because I don't have a mantel, but if I did, I would probably turn this same idea into a fall mantel decoration.
It would be cool to start with just a few and add one each day until Thanksgiving or for the whole month of November. I may even keep a few from this year, label them with 2010 on the back, and pull them out each year to remember some of Kyle's unique answers from year to year!
No comments:
Post a Comment