The holidays are a wonderful time for parents to engage their children in learning opportunities through art projects and other activities. Parents of young toddlers, particularly children between the ages of one and three years, may wonder what they can do with their little ones to help them celebrate the Thanksgiving season.
Though young toddlers may not yet have the skills to do many projects on their own, there are some activities that parents can do with their children so that they are directly involved without the parent doing everything for them.
Coloring Pages
Coloring is a wonderful way for toddlers to develop fine motor skills, learn colors and just have fun.
There are a number of websites that allow parents to print free coloring pages for their children. Most have thematic categories and parents can get a wealth of Thanksgiving-related pictures that their toddlers will enjoy looking at and scribbling in with crayon.
Coloring pages are a great way for parents to decorate their home for the Thanksgiving season, showing their child they take pride in the coloring work she has done. Taping even the most scribbled on picture to the wall or hanging it on the refrigerator shows the child he has done a good job and encourages him to continue doing so.
Hand Turkey Crafts
While expecting a one or two year-old to be able to glue feathers or macaroni to a piece of paper is not reasonable, there are ways parents can include their toddlers in the creation of Thanksgiving crafts. The hand turkey is one way a child and parent can create a great interactive decoration.
Parents can use the following steps to create a hand turkey:
- Allow the toddler to dip his hand in brown paint or paint the toddler's hand (Parents of young toddlers who might find the temptation to eat the paint overwhelming can use thinned chocolate pudding as a substitute)
- Help the toddler press his hand onto a piece of paper or a paper plate
- Create a turkey from the hand print by gluing feathers, colored noodles or beads to the toddler's painted fingers and get creative in making eyes and beads
The final result will be a cute turkey that toddler and parent made together!
Sing Thanksgiving Songs
Toddlers enjoy being sung to, and songs that involve finger play and numbers can help them learn. There are some Thanksgiving songs parents can sing to or with their toddlers that can be found by searching the internet. One cute song is as follows:
Five little turkeys standing at the door
One waddled off, and then there were four
Four little turkeys sitting near a tree
One waddled off, and then there were three
Three little turkeys with nothing to do
One waddled off, and then there were two
Two little turkeys in the morning sun
One waddled off and then there was one
One little turkey better run away
For soon it will be Thanksgiving Day!
Simple Thanksgiving activities can be fun for even the youngest of toddlers. Doing some easy Thanksgiving activities with a toddler can help make the holiday more exciting for both parent and child.
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