Play School: I Am Grateful

In honor of Thanksgiving, this week in Play School we learned about being grateful.

Concepts: what it means to be thankful, things we are thankful for

Art/Game/Activity: For our first activity, we went around the circle and took turns saying things that we are thankful for; I wrote them on pieces of cardstock I had cut into the shape of leaves, and then hung them on our "Thankful Tree" (which you might remember from Tanya's baby shower). Some of the answers were pretty cute! Big B was grateful for his lizards and rattlesnakes (?) and Little B said he was grateful for his family and Tempe... aww! So sweet!

We also made Thankful Handprint Turkeys. The kids did handprints on pieces of cardstock, and once the paint had dried they used crayons to add feet, feathers, beaks, and faces to their turkeys. When they were finished, I wrote this little poem that I found on a preschool website next to the turkey: "This turkey is a part of me--It is made from my hand you see. I have so much to be thankful for, like my family and so much more. It is time to say: Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY!"

Songs/nursery rhymes: If you're grateful and you know it, clap your hands... stomp your feet... twirl around...

(to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star") Thank you for the sun so bright.

Thank you for the moon at night.

Thank you for my family.

Thanks for friends who play with me.

Thanks for everything I see!

I am thankful, yes siree.

Books: Again, the two-book cap on holiday books at our library really makes it hard to choose books for Joy School. We read The Berenstain Bears Count Their Blessings by Stan and Jan Berenstain.

Snack: Pumpkin-chocolate-chip cheesecake pudding: the kids helped me make instant cheesecake pudding before we started our art project. We did the project while the pudding set up, then I let the kids mix in chocolate chips and solid pack pumpkin to make pumpkin-chocolate-chip pudding. It was yummy!