Thanksgiving Activites For Kids | Part 2

Thanksgiving is only a few days away and I am so excited. Keeping up with my part 1 of Thanksgiving activities for kids, here is my part 2. Let's just get right to it. Don't forget to check out my part 1.

Thanksgiving Activities For Kids | Part 2

Before I get into more activities I wanted to share this fun activity I was sent by Timberdoodle. This cute little donkey is fun to build and even more fun to paint. My 10yr old and 6yr old did this activity. After the donkey was built I had each of them take turns and paint a side of it. It worked out very well and they loved the opportunity to paint and be creative. This activity comes with everything you need aside from paint. I went to WalMart and had the kids pick out a few different colors of the .50 cent paints. You can find this cute UGears 4Kids Donkey and Cart here.

4 More Thanksgiving Activities 

• Writing or coloring a list of things the kids are thankful for is always a wonderful activity. I love reading what they have to be thankful for. 
• Playing with playdough and making their own little Thanksgiving dinner is so fun for kids. You can kick it up a notch and make your own pumpkin or apple playdough. You can do a fast search on Google and find lots of recipes. 
• Print off some Thanksgiving color pages. You can find tons of free color pages on Google.
• Turkey's handprints are a beloved activity in our home. It's simple and something you can keep for years to come.
  
  
  I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving with your families.
  
  

Thanksgiving Activities For Kids | Part 1

If you regularly follow me it should be no surprise to you that I'm a mom of 5. Being a mom of so many it is always so much easier for us to have Thanksgiving at our house. I enjoy everything about Thanksgiving even if I am the only one who cooks. Over the years I have found that I need to keep my kids busy so I can get all the cooking and prep work done. If you are like me you are baking pies the day before Thanksgiving. I decided I would write up a 2 part blog on different Thanksgiving activities kids can do. These blogs will also include 2 featured reviews from my beloved Timberdoodle. Let's get into it.

Featured Item: Plus-Plus Turkey

What kid doesn't love to build things? I know my kids love things like legos and these plus-plus blocks we've had for some years now. When I was given the opportunity to review this cute turkey I jumped on it because I knew my son would love it. I wasn't wrong.

This tube comes with the pieces you need and also the instructions. My son has been playing with these blocks for years so he knows how to use them and had a pretty easy time putting this together. I will say that ours did not come with the exact colors as shown in the instructions but it was easy enough to improvise using other colors. It still turned out very cute and my son had fun. He also built other things with these like the Mayflower. All in all we enjoyed these and this will keep a kid busy for a while. You can find this kit on the Timberdoodle website.

Thanksgiving Ideas For Kids

In addition to the turkey plus-plus blocks, here are a few other activity ideas for kids this Thanksgiving.

• Using brown paper as a table cloth will keep kids busy because you can have them decorate it by coloring and drawing on it. 
• My kids enjoy making up plays. One year they dressed Haddy up as a turkey and used a paper bag to make her costume. It was very cute. 
• Make a special tradition. One thing my kids look forward to is eating their pumpkin pop tarts watching the Macy parade. 
• Make butter. This was something I did as a child and my kids love it. It's so easy to make this, All you need is a jar with a lid and heavy whipping cream. You can also add in salt if you would like. Have the kids all take turns shaking the heavy cream in the jar until you have homemade butter. 

I hope you enjoyed these ideas and make sure you come back tomorrow for part 2! 

 

My Toddler's Favorite Books

I have a 2yr old and she loves her books. We started out reading to her when she was only a few months old. Since then her book collection has grown a lot. She has lots of different types of books but she has a book series that is currently her favorite. Timberdoodle graciously sent me this Find It book series in exchange for a review.

What's Included 

You'll receive 4 Find It board books. The titles are

• Find It Farm
• Find It Bedtime
• Find It Things That Go
• Find It Animals

 When you open the books there will be one side with the pictures to find and the other side will have a brightly illustrated scene. The pictures are eye-catching with not a lot of busy art going on making it easier for a toddler to find the items in the scene.

My Thought

These books are wonderful quality and hold up very well to my 2yr old. I love that the pictures are bright and simple enough for a toddler to search out and find. Reading these books has helped to grow her vocabulary. She really enjoys the animal and bedtime books. You can find these books on the Timberdoodle website. This book series is also part of the Tiny Tots curriculum kit.

Chroma Cube

I love logic games for my kids. I do my best to make sure they each have a fun new game when we start the school year. I love these games, even more, when they can be played alone. I was gifted this Chroma Cube set from Timberdoodle in exchange for a review. This might be my favorite item I have been given by Timberdoodle.

What Is Chroma Cube

Chroma cube is a logic puzzle game that will challenge its players to use detective skills in order to solve each puzzle. The game uses 12 wooden multi-colored cubes and a wooden board. The player will need to place the 12 cubes on the board using only the clues given on the game card. The answers for each puzzle are on the back of the cards. The blocks can be arranged in 479,001,600 different ways so there may be more than 1 correct way to arrange the blocks.

What's Included With The Game

• 12 wooden blocks
• plywood try that holds the blocks and stores the cards under the try
•  25 puzzle cards

My Thoughts

This game truly is fantastic. My friend and I solved some puzzles with each other and had so much fun. She is planning to purchase one for her office at work. I like how challenging the clues are. I also adore how cute this game looks as an interactive decorative piece. This game would be great in any home on a coffee table. My teenager daughters also enjoyed this game and even took it with us when we went to the cabin for the weekend. Both of them enjoyed working together on the puzzle as much as they enjoyed working alone. This game will get played a lot in our home.

You can find this game on the Timberdoodle website here. The Chroma Cube is also included in Timberdoodles 11th grade curriculum kit found here.

Acorn Sensory Bin

I love sensory bins for toddlers. I think they are a great way to keep little ones busy while also being beneficial for them for a number of different ways. Lately, I haven't made a sensory bin. I have so many ideas but they require me to go to the store and buy the things I need. While outside the other day I was inspired to collect acorns for the kids and decided later that the actions would make a great sensory activity for my 2yr old.

 

 What You Need

• Acorns
• soapy water
• tin foil
• baking sheet
• container for the acorns

 

How To Prep Acorns

 I grabbed a basket and started to collect the acorns from the ground. I made sure to also collect the tops of them since most of the acorns didn't have their tops anymore. My 6yr old joined me outside and helped to collect acorns.

After I had a good amount I headed inside to prep them. I preheated my oven to 200*F and filled up the sink with warm soapy water. I added the acorns into the water and gave them a little wash and rinsed them afterward. I then got out a baking sheet and lined it with tin foil before putting the acorns on it. After I had all the acorns on the baking sheet I spread them as much as I could making sure I only had 1 layer. I then placed the baking sheet into the oven for 3 hours. I did this in the evening and when they finished baking I turned the oven off and left the acorns in the oven overnight to cool.

Time To Play

I put the acorns in a big bowl and added in some leaves. I also gave my toddler some measuring cups she could use to play with. This kept her busy for about 2 hours. She had so much fun and my other kids would also stop and play with the acorns alongside her. Later on, I did hot glue the caps on to the acorns because I plan to use these for a craft. This is totally optional.

I hope you enjoyed this easy and very natural sensory activity. If you get the chance to make this I'd love to see pictures. You can tag
me on Instagram or Facebook @joyfulwifelife
Thanks for reading!

Morning Chore Madness

In the mornings after breakfast, the kids and I run around the house getting some chores done. I have the older 3 kids help in this so that things get done a little faster. We sweep, load the dishwasher, tidy up the living room, get a load of laundry in, and wipe down counters. During this madness yesterday I lost track of the baby (2yr old) and Haddy (6yr old) Typically Haddy doesn't help with morning chores because I find it easier for her not to. Anyway, I was searching through the house trying to find those two and I ended up finding them in my bathroom. Haddy had Raegan in her lap and she was brushing her hair. Haddy told me she wanted to help out so she decided to get Raegan's hair brushed out for me. She is such a sweet girl.

Missing The Picture

In the rush to get chores completed I'm missing out in other important things like allowing my 6yr old to help out. She desperately wants to be a helper and often finds her own little ways of helping. Sometimes she makes her bed and wants me to come look, she has even attempted to make my bed. I love her so much and don't have the heart to fix the bed after she made it. In my chaos of morning chores and trying to stick to a 9am sharp school start time, I am snuffing out Haddy's willingness to help out.

What Now

 We have a large family with 5 kids. It's essential to my survival that my kids help out with chores. I usually start them off at 9yrs old in doing chores when I should really be starting them so much sooner. The sense of accomplishment Haddy felt when helping out yesterday was so evident on her face when she smiled up at me to proudly tell me she was helping out with the baby. This really made me rethink everything. There really isn't any reason why I shouldn't be letting her help out. Haddy prides herself on being a big sister, she has ever since she found out she was going to be one. So, instead of worrying about a schedule I want to keep I now plan to include Haddy in the morning chore madness. Her new job is to brush out Raegan's hair and she couldn't possibly be more excited to do so.

What About You

At what age do your kids start doing chores and what do they do? I plan to add some evening chores for Haddy and even Raegan. Raegan loves to help get the laundry out of the dryer.

How I Teach About 9/11

Do You Remember

Chances are you remember the exact moment when you heard about 9/11. I was in middle school and I remember being so confused about the event wondering why it happened and who was doing it. I wasn't necessarily afraid for myself but I was afraid for those who lived in New York.

Here we are years later and I am no longer that middle school-aged girl. I'm a mother of 5 and I still take a moment on 9/11 to remember the event. As a mother, I believe it is important that we teach our children about those events no matter how scary it is. It's our responsibility to teach our children about these events that have affected our nation right to the core. We need to be teaching about this wether or not you are a homeschooler. I'm sure schools teach about 9/11 but it will mean so much more to your kids if they learn this from you.

How I Teach About 9/11

My kids are all different ages from 2yrs old to 15yrs old. Of course my 2yr old has no idea what I am talking about but my other 4 kids do. This year they are 6, 10, 13, and 15. Last year was the first time I sat with the 4 kids and showed them the videos of the Today Show. That is what I watched all those years ago and I want my kids to see what we all saw.

After we watch the video clips on YouTube I take time to explain what happened. I tell them about the hijackers, the buildings collapsing, and all the people who lose their lives including the children. I take time to listen to what my kids have to say and answer their questions. We take a moment to be silent in remembrance of all the lives lost.

Once we have finished with that I start to tell them about the heroes. I tell them about the firefighters, the police officers, and the volunteers who all worked together to help save lives. I explain to my kids how some of those brave people lost their own lives trying to help save others.

I wrap it all up with a quote by Fred Rogers, When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

Reality

Teaching our kids about these emotional topics is never easy. No parent wants their kid to feel afraid or sad. These events have to be taught and they need to be taught by parents not just the school. The reality of it all is that there are horrible things that happened in the world and our kids need to be exposed to those things. I'm not saying you need to show your child videos of people jumping out of the windows, but we do at the very least need to discuss topics like this and keep it age-appropriate. I would love to hear how you teach your kids about 9/11 below in the comments. Thanks for reading.