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I love Thanksgiving! I love everything about it, from the cooking, the place settings, the timeless traditions, to the smell of pumpkin spice. Yes. ALL THE PUMPKIN SPICE. But the one thing I love more than anything is the opportunity to remind my kids {and myself} how very much we have to be thankful for. We always do some kind of Thankful Tree, and this year we found a new fun and special way to talk about thankfulness, a grateful heart, and our blessings!
I am not a paint person. I mean I really, really dislike paint. But kids seem to just love it so I found myself today with two 2-year-olds, a 5-year-old and a 4th grader all wanting to make some super fun and messy Thanksgiving craft. I nearly relented and pulled out the aprons… and then I got a better idea.
In just a few, quick steps we all had our own Thankful Tree and -here’s the best part- nobody was messy! 🙂
This craft is so easy and basic I didn’t even have to plan for it, it just kind of happened as all I needed were basic school supplies I already had on hand.
All you need is a few pieces of paper (2 per child), fall-colored crayons and tape, glue-sticks or some other kind of paper adhesive. (I stayed away from the glue-sticks and used a scrapbooking tape dispenser.)
First, lay the child’s hand on the paper so that the majority of their forearm can be traced for the tree trunk, and have them spread their fingers out wide for the branches. Trace their arm and hand and then have them color it in.
Next, I gave them a separate piece of paper and leaf-colored crayons and had them color the whole page. I then cut the leaves out of the page they had colored.
Then we taped/glued the leaves to the end of the fingers (branches).
Lastly, I interviewed them each individually, prompting a bit as needed, to find out several things they were thankful for and wrote them on the leaves.
And there you have it! So simple, so easy and quick, and absolutely adorable. They loved being involved for -almost- every step of the process, and were so proud to show off their Thankful Trees in our homeschool corner! (See photo below.)
As for me, I’m thankful for all of these beautiful blessings, their sweet hearts and kind, loving personalities.
I’m also thankful for my free spirit who decorated my Give Thanks chalkboard sign. She’s an artist in the making and I’m proud to display one of her first masterpieces! 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
JOY FOR MOM 