Help your children to keep the meaning of Thanksgiving with this simple project! This fun, interactive activity will cause all to pause, reflect, and remember the blessings we’ve been given. Be sure to invite others to join in – all family members, friends – anyone who visits during the Thanksgiving season!
What you need:
- Fallen wood branches from out of doors
- A decorative jar or flower pot to stand them in
- Rocks or glass bobbles or other decorative material to stabilize the branches
- Decorative paper like construction paper or metallic paper for colorful leaves
- One-hole punch
- Colorful yarn, string, or twine for attaching leaves cut into 3” strips
- Scissors
- Leaf template or cookie cutter for tracing
- Decorative pens, pencils, crayons to write sentiment
- 4” x 6” picture frame
Optional supplies:
- Colorful pre-cut leaves
- Glitter
What to do:
Place bundles of fallen branches in a sturdy, tall vase, or flower pot. You may want to glue a little glitter to the branches just for added bling. Stabilize the branches with colorful glass bobbles or rocks. Spread out the branches so there’s plenty of room for leaves to be hung on the branches.
Your children can trace and hand cut the leaves using an assortment of beautiful papers, or many stores sell pre-cut leaves. Punch a hole near the end of each stem. Place the collection of colorful leaves and twine or yarn along with a selection of colorful pens, crayons or colored pens in a decorative dish or tray near the tree.
Ask your children to create a pretty invitation to introduce family and guests to the purpose of the tree. Once your children select their favorite paper, cut it to 4” x 6”. After the paper is the correct size ask your children to create a special note to your guests asking them to write what they are thankful for. Place the note in a 4″ x 6″ frame in front of the tree.
When guests arrive, show them the tree, leaves and pens, and invite them to participate by writing something they are thankful for. Allow them to get creative when expressing their special messages of thanks. Once they are finished writing, ask them to tie their leaves onto the tree so everyone can enjoy them.
Before the meal, invite family and friends to enjoy all the notes of thanks by reading them aloud and reflecting on what each person is thankful for. Make this a new tradition! Your children will look forward to preparing for Thanksgiving and remembering how many blessings they have in their lives.
Enjoy!
