Free Preschool Activities

by Rachel Paxton

Kids are never too young to write thank you notes.  If they are old enough to hold a pencil or crayon, they can help create a thoughtful thank you note to send to friends or relatives for a birthday gift they have received.

People won’t expect a perfect thank you note from a young child, so let your preschooler have fun with this project.  The point isn’t how good the finished product looks, but how much effort and thoughtfulness the child put into it.

Supplies needed:

Blank greeting cards and envelopes
White card stock
Crayons/colored pencils/paints
Paper cutter
Glue stick
“Thank you” rubber stamp
Ink for rubber stamp
Birthday photos of child

Your child’s artwork will decorate the front of the greeting card.  Give your preschooler a blank piece of white card stock and let him draw on the paper.  He can use crayons, colored pencils, or my boys’ favorite, paints.  Paints can be applied with a paint brush or with sponges.

If your child has chosen to use paint, you will have to wait until the paper is completely dry to start the next step.

Using the paper cutter, cut the artwork to fit the front of the greeting card.  Let your child use the glue stick to apply glue to the back of the artwork and glue it to the card.

Next let your child glue a birthday photo of himself in the center of the front of the card.

Open the card and have your child use the rubber stamp to stamp “thank you” in the center of the card.

Have your child sign his name in the card.  If your child is not old enough to write, just have him scribble in the card.  Older children can write their name with your help.  You can write a note in the card thanking the person for the specific gift the child received.

Encourage your children from a young age to be thankful for gifts they have received.  Make it a fun activity, and they will enjoy writing thank you cards.

Photos of thank you card:
http://www.christian-parent.com/preschool/thank-you-cards.shtml

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For resources for the Christian family, including parenting, toddler and preschool activities, homeschooling, family traditions, and more, visit http://www.Christian-Parent.com

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

by Rachel Paxton

Making placemats from fall leaves is a fun activity for kids of all ages. Even toddlers will have fun collecting leaves and creating their own placemat. For this craft you will need:

Roll of contact paper
Fall leaves
Scissors

This activity is very inexpensive. The only item you will have to buy is the contact paper, and you can pick this up for about $5 a roll. One roll will make many placemats.

Have your kids go out in the yard and collect some fall leaves. Have them look for a variety of colors and shapes. If the leaves are dry you can use them right away. If they are wet, let them set on a piece of newspaper to dry before you start the craft project.

Before you sit the kids down cut some pieces of contact paper into the shape of placemats. I used the width of the contact paper for the width of the placemat so I would only have to make one cut for each placemat. You will need two pieces of contact paper for each placemat. You can make the placemats any size you choose.

After the contact paper is ready, sit your kids down at a table and have them spread out the leaves in the center of the table. Give them a piece of contact paper with the backing paper removed. Let them arrange their leaves on the sticky side of the paper. After they are happy with the arrangement of their leaves, take another piece of contact paper and carefully lay it on top of the leaves so that the sticky sides of both pieces of contact paper are together. Carefully use your hands to smooth out any bubbles or wrinkles. You won’t be able to get them all out, but don’t worry, a few wrinkles will not be noticeable when you are done.

When you are finished you can use the scissors to trim around the edges to make sure they are all even and straight. This is an easy project that can be completed in about an hour. Remember the younger the child, the shorter their attention span, so if you are making very many you may end up finishing them yourself! My toddler boys spent about 15 minutes on theirs and they had a great time.

Don’t forget to proudly display your fall leaf placemats on your Thanksgiving table!

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Photos of finished fall leaf placemats: http://www.crafty-moms.com/fall-leaf-placemat.shtml

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com.

This craft is so easy even your toddlers can do it… and it’s so much fun everyone else in your family will want to do it too! This is an activity our family does together every year. We have fun decorating our family room wall with colorful turkeys.

Below you’ll find instructions on how to make the Thanksgiving handprint turkey craft. We do ours a little differently. We use construction paper and make the turkey’s body by tracing our shoes. Then we trace several of our handprints to make the feathers. It’s hilarious to see my teenage son’s size 13 turkey on the wall!

This is a nice craft to hang onto, so you can see how much your children have grown each Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Hand Print Turkey Craft by Rachel Paxton

These hand print turkeys are an easy craft for your kids to make for Thanksgiving.  They are easy enough for toddlers and preschoolers to help make, but even older children will enjoy tracing around their hands to make this fun turkey craft.

Supplies needed:

Brown felt
Colorful craft feathers
Google eye
Red pipe cleaner
Scissors
Black permanent marker
Rubber cement or craft glue

We chose to make our turkeys out of brown felt.  This is just one of many options, you could also use brown craft foam or brown construction paper.

First, use the black permanent marker to trace around your child’s hand on the brown felt.  Next cut out the hand tracing. For younger children, you will have to do these steps for them.

Next turn over the piece of the felt so any permanent marker markings are on the backside of the felt.

The thumb of the handprint will be the turkey’s neck and head, so have your child use a little glue to attach a google eye where the eye should go.

Cut a small piece of red pipe cleaner for the turkey’s beak, approximately 1/2 inch long.  Fold the cut piece in half and have your child glue it beneath the turkey’s eye.

Next have your child brush some glue on each of the other fingers, and then have him press down one feather on each finger.

That’s it!  A quick, easy Thanksgiving craft that will be sure to please your child.  It’s also a great way to preserve your child’s small, adorable hand that will be bigger next year.

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What’s for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For more recipes, gardening, organizing tips, home decorating, holiday hints, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com