flashing back to 2009

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a variation on a common theme.

we used cinnamon scented cones, natural feathers, a low temp glue gun, an old cereal box, scraps of construction paper, and a marker.

make sure you sing this song while you hold your little turkey:

i’m a little turkey short and fat,
here are my feathers, here is my hat.
when it is thanksgiving, you will hear:
gobble, gobble, gobble in your ear!

it always feels like an assembly line when we do “crafts” like this.  these are activities where the product is what we’re working towards (unlike most projects we do).

i try to make the process worth something.  like letting the children put both hands in the tub of feathers, letting them cut the extra scraps of paper while i use the glue gun, letting them break off little pieces of some pinecones to use for the beaks (plus quite a few extra).

and the children go home with something “cute” to decorate the home with.

{we did lots of cutting, lots of painting, lots of thanking}

{orange paint + pumpkin pie spice}

{later we cut into pie shapes with a dollop of cotton ball whipped cream}

{we cut a lot of circular shapes and a lot of smaller snips for our turkeys}

{happy thanksgiving, friends!}

 

old glue (glue so old it had separated) + all the odds and ends we could gather = massive glue sculpture

and after 4 days of drying, it seemed dry enough to lean up against the wall.  after an hour or so, there was a pool of glue under it…oops.  so we decided to let it dry and peel it off.  we’ll see if that really works.

 

we’ve been graced with gourds in our classroom.  thank you, families.

they’ve been bought and sold and cooked and carted around and hidden and found…

we even humanized them and took care of gourd babies.

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crayon coloring on a gourd line paper is perfect for a wash of liquid watercolor.

it was discovered that cutting out damp paper is a lot harder than dry paper.  i think that was the first time some children made that realization…not something i’d thought of.

g-g-g-g-gourd!

 

we were invited to participate in bethel college’s “love wall” by giving drawings/messages of what love means to us.

with complete respect for the wisdom that young children can offer, i simply invited them to give ideas of what love is, what they love, what message about god they want people to know.

…main street • hot chocolate and french fries • god doesn’t want anyone to hate anyone else • my family • rainbows • the forest • everyone will get to go the heaven with the angels • twinkle stars • beds • eating • music…

really, these messages of love are stronger than any message of hate.  i have to believe that. i chose not to discuss any theological differences in regards to heaven and god’s love. my job at preschool is to create a space of safety and when children’s words increase the peace, i’m okay with it.