Thanksgiving Tree Idea and Template

I’ve been seeing a lot of Thanksgiving ideas online lately, so I thought I’d go ahead and share what we are planning to do this year… and hopefully every year from now on! 

A couple of weeks ago I had a whole day to myself while my husband took M to his family farm and they picked apples in the orchard.  So what did I do with my free time?  Why, I made something of course.  I can not stop myself…

We plan to do a Jesse Tree for Advent this year.  We did one last year and it was a lot of fun for M, plus a great way to sneak in a lot of quick Bible stories – one per evening. I’ll write more about the Jesse tree in November.  Anyway, I drew a tree with bare branches and then realized it would be perfect for Thanksgiving too.  I always love something that has more than one use. :)

In fact, I’m guessing there could be a lot more uses for this – like a seasonal tree to decorate with felt ornaments.  Maybe snowflakes in winter, flowers in spring, green leaves in summer, red and orange leaves in fall…

So, I uploaded the template I made, enlarged it, then printed it and cut it from some brown flannel.  Here’s the paper pinned to the fabric:  It ended up being about 24 inches long and maybe 15 to 18 inches wide (my estimation powers are not great so don’t hold me to that!).

I made another flannel board for it (foam core board and flannel) and attached it with some gold-colored tacks so the branches would not be floppy.  I plan to cut leaves from some fall-patterned scrapbook paper and we will each write one thing for which we are thankful on a leaf each evening of the week before Thanksgiving.  We’ll attach them to the tree with more tacks.  :)

I’m really excited about this idea, I think it’s going to look nice!  I’m so pleased with how the tree turned out.   And it’s going to be nice to have our focus on what we are thankful for instead of just how are we ever going to stuff all that food into ourselves.  ;)

If you are interested in making one like this, feel free to use my template.  You can download it here.  Be warned that the cutting can be a little tricky in some places.  You can find the original small version here if you need a visual to help you out while you are cutting.  This is my original drawing, so please link back here if you make this and post about it. 

Have a beautiful day! :)

Color Mixing with Play-dough

Wednesday we were stuck at home with cold, rainy weather and feeling a little cabin-feverish.  Thank goodness it’s no longer snowing, but still… we would love a little nice, sunny, beautiful autumn weather before winter really comes.  I’ve gone outside just to be outside one time so far this fall. 

Anyway, since M coughed, breathed, and just generally snotted (Check-spell is telling me that’s not a word.  Hmph.  It doesn’t know my kid.) all over his play-dough a couple of weeks ago when he was sick, it had to be thrown out.  And today we made a new batch.  :)

I love making play-dough at home – it’s all nice and warm when you knead it and the colors can be so vibrant!

We made two batches actually – one yellow, one blue: Then we took a little chunk of yellow, and a little chunk of blue and kept squeezing them together and mixing them up.I asked M what color he thought they would make.  He alternated between “dark blue” and “kinda brown”.  He always says this, no matter what colors we are mixing.  Anyway, if you are wondering – they made…. GREEN!  Just amazing, isn’t it? ;)

(Thanks to whisperingwhispers at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn for this idea in an email!)

Then he played.  2 hours straight.  I’m not kidding.  He even skipped lunch. 

Here’s the best play-dough recipe I’ve come across.  I don’t even remember where I first saw it (it was at least 3 years ago).  We’ve tried lots of others, but always come back to this one:

1 Cup white flour

1/4 Cup salt

2 Tbs cream of tartar

1 Cup water

1 tsp food coloring

1 Tbs vegetable oil

Mix flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a medium-sized pot.  Add water, food coloring, and oil.  Cook and stir over medium heat 3 – 5 minutes.  When it forms a ball in center of pot, turn out and knead on lightly floured surface.  Store in airtight container or plastic bag. 

It lasts several weeks!

Have a beautiful day! :)