Toddler and Preschooler Activities for Thanksgiving: Gratitude Turkey

Well, my due date is coming up in about 2 weeks...so I'm trying to squeeze in as many Thanksgiving activities as possible with my girls before baby #3 comes along. Unfortunately, I'm cleaning and painting and "nesting" like crazy, so I haven't been as consistent as I'd wish. Anyway, here's a fun activity that doubles as a homemade centerpiece for your table.
Materials: styrofoam ball markers foam paper toothpicks hot glue stickers
Step One: Color your styrofoam ball brown OR if you have the energy, have your toddler paint it brown. You could also cut out brown feathers with your foam paper. He just needs to be brown!

You can tell we weren't aiming for perfection here. Step Two: Give your turkey two feet and a tail. This will allow him to stand on his own. I taped the toothpicks to the foam paper in this picture, but later glued them with hot glue because it was stronger. Step Three: Using the foam paper, cut out several feathers of varying colors for your toddler to decorate. They can draw, use stickers, or write what they are grateful for on each feather. The one my daughter is holding in the picture above is supposed to say "smiles."
Step Four: Make your turkey's head. I cut out the head from black foam paper and made the eyes out of sticky felt. You could also use googly eyes.

This feather was a favorite of mine. My one year old found a sticker that put it simply: I'm grateful for "u."



Ta-da! A gratitude turkey that can sit on your table and remind you of the little things that matter most.
This year, I'm grateful for girls. I love that I get three of them all to myself.