- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- babies today articles
- babies today q&a
- toddlers today articles
- toddlers today q&a
- breastfeed.com articles
- breastfeed.com q&a
- community & groups
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
From Our Sponsors
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Turkey Fun for Little Turkeys
Games, Activities and Other Ideas for Toddlers
By Beth Hering
Another great way to learn about turkeys and other symbols of Thanksgiving is by reading books. To get things started, you might try A Turkey for Thanksgiving (Clarion, 1995) by award-winning children's author Eve Bunting. The Night Before Thanksgiving (Grosset & Dunlap, 2001) by Natasha Wing puts a new twist on Clement C. Moore's famous Christmas poem, while I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie (Puffin, 2002) by Alison Jackson offers a humorous Thanksgiving-themed rendition of the old lady who swallowed a fly. To help develop your little one's math skills, consider 10 Fat Turkeys (Cartwheel, 2004) by Tony Johnston and This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story (HarperTrophy, 2003) by Laura Krauss Melmed.
For some hands-on practice with geometry, color recognition and listening skills, try this activity suggested by Paulette Braccio, an educator in Illinois for more than 35 years. "Help your child make a 'shape turkey,'" she says. "Using white paper, cut out a large circle (for the body), a small circle (the head), two long rectangles (legs), one short rectangle (neck), three small triangles (a beak and feet) and four ovals (feathers). Tell the child to color all the circles brown, then all the rectangles orange, then all the triangles yellow, then all the ovals green. Help him to assemble, glue and draw in other features to create a unique masterpiece."
Shape turkeys are definitely not the only kind of turkey kids can have fun making. Even the youngest children can literally lend a hand in creating "hand turkeys." Have the child put his hand on a piece of paper – palm-side down with the thumb spread a bit away from the four fingers – and trace. Let your budding artist create a turkey by coloring each finger as a feather and the rest of the area brown. Add an eye, a beak and a wattle to the thumb to make the turkey's head, and draw two legs to complete the bird. The turkey can be cut out and colored in the same way on the other side, or perhaps create a festive scene by leaving the turkey on the original paper and drawing in a sky, farmer or pumpkins. After the holidays, put the hand turkey away for next year; both you and your child will be amazed when it is unpacked at how small his hand used to be!
Want to see more?
Comments
Found 1 comment
Displaying all 1 comments below
|
Post As:
|
||
| Enter your comment below: | ||
| Title | ||
| Comment Text | ||
| CAPTCHA | ||
| Please note that any comments submitted become the property of Disney Family / iParenting and can be edited and posted at our discrection. | ||
Re: Turkey Fun for Little Turkeys by tom on 11/21/2008 10:27AM
Last year we took our son to see a turkey at a local farm before Thanksgiving. We all had a great time and it's something we plan to do again this year. However, just a thought for parents, we decided not to tell him that he was eating turkey during dinner. Went with the "big chicken" approach. :0) He'll learn soon enough...