Thanksgiving: Giving Thanks While Taking Part In a Toddler Friendly Craft

For Thanksgiving as part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias®  I made a toddler friendly craft to take to our annual family celebration.

In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated October 14, a whole month-and-a-half earlier than our southern neighbours. Thanksgiving for a Canadian, or at least for a Montrealer, signifies the changing of the seasons which can be seen through our amazing fall foliage. Gone are the nice sunny days of summer and the chilly fall weather begins to prepare us for the frigid winter.

For me Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks to my wonderful family. I am lucky to have a big family and each year we get together at the same place we have since I can remember, my grandparents’ house. I grew up down the block from them, so Thanksgiving always reminds me of the precious memories I am thankful to have of my grandparents. 

Thanksgiving is a great holiday to integrate with the weekly crafting I do with my 2-year-old daughter, Ava. Being a toddler, makes it that crafting is not always the easiest thing for her, so the activity can’t be too complicated and needs to capture her attention. I chose to do the classic Hand Gobbler craft with her this week. It’s super easy to do if your toddler is willing.

Hand Gobbler

Supplies

• Construction paper (Bristol board for sturdier Gobblers)
• Small or Medium Googly Eyes
• Feathers
• Craft Glue
• Clothes Pins
• Scissors
• Pencil or Pen
• Ribbon if you would like to cover the pegs

I picked up the supplies at our local Michaels store and the cost was reasonable. This craft is self-explanatory and you can use the pictures I attached as a reference.  Be sure to remember that this Thanksgiving craft is supposed to be fun. If your child is not interested in one part of the craft then let him/her sit back and watch.  Ava was less than thrilled about the hand tracing, but loved attaching the features to the paper fingers.

Ava loves birds, so she was excited with the finished gobbler. We will be taking the three Hand Gobblers to my grandparent’s house next week. Not only are the gobblers perfect to decorate the table with, but Ava will be contributing to the celebration in her own way.

What does your family do for Thanksgiving? Do you have any special traditions?