Run Turkey, Run!

Gathering Activity: Turkey Hats

We made these adorable turkey hats from Lindsay Blogs.  I love the way they turned out, and as you can tell, so did the kids!  Each hat was unique! You can follow the link to get full directions.   

Circle Time

We read Run, Turkey Run by Diane Mayr.  It is a fun story of a turkey who hides from the farmer on Thanksgiving Day.  After each new hiding place is discovered by the farmer, the children had a wonderful time shouting along with the book "RUN, TURKEY, RUN!"  He finally finds reprieve in a forest of pine trees, until the farmer and his family go to find a Christmas tree.  Of course, he gets away again. 

We also sang one of our favorite Thanksgiving songs, "Mr. Turkey. "

"Said, Mr. Turkey, I want to play. Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble.
But soon it will be Thanksgiving Day. Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble.
Folks all say that means great fun, but I think I'll run, run, run.
And hide until the day is done. Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble."


Art Activities:

1-Popcorn Turkeys 

We were inspired by this fun idea for turkeys at Everything Preschool.   

Materials Needed:

Rubber Glove (Clear)

Small squares of Multicolored Tissue Paper

Popcorn
Googly Eyes
Glue

 

Directions:

For 3 year olds, this is definitely a mom and child activity.  Using a clear rubber glove, the child stuffed the four fingers with colored tissue paper and stuffed the thumb with red, while the moms held open the gloves. 

Then the children filled the palm with popcorn while the moms held open the gloves.

Then Moms tied the bottom, like you would tie a balloon. 

Last step was to add an eye on each side.

We had children stuff turkeys in two different ways.  Some mixed all the colors together, and others kept each finger an individual color.  Both ways turned out cute.

 

2-Turkey Feathers in Playdough

Our next activity was a more open ended activity.  We were inspired by this activity at Teach Preschool.  We handed each of the children  ball of brown playdough and feathers to explore.  They knew just what to do!  

 
A few of you asked what we do with younger siblings.  Here is a great pic showing a little brother joining in our fun. 

Snack:  Apple Turkeys

The children loved making these adorable turkeys.  I made these my very first year teaching, and can't remember exactly where I got the idea from then, so many years ago.  But our children sure loved making and eating these! 
Games:Hide the Turkey Game

“Hide the turkey, hide the turkey,
in the trees, in the trees.
Don’t let farmer find him, don’t let farmer find him.
Hide turkey, hide turkey! “

Materials Needed: 4 boxes with a picture of a tree taped on and a toy turkey.

Directions: Choose one child to be the "hider."  Choose another to be the Farmer.  The farmer leaves the room. Sing the song. The "hider" places the turkey in one of the boxes. 

The farmer returns and searches in each box until she finds turkey.

Then all of the other children yell “RUN TURKEY RUN!”  The person holding the turkey runs around the room back to his spot. 

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!  I am grateful for you and for your support!  Thank you for reading about our adventures each week! 

Cindy Moo

Our activities this week were inspired by the book Cindy Moo by Lori Mortensen. 

Gathering-Cow Spots 
(One to One Correspondence and fine motor skills)

We printed off plain white cow coloring pages for each child, and drew 10 circles on the cow. 

We gave each child 10 black buttons to place in the circles. 

We did not glue down, because we wanted to let them take the buttons off and then do it again. 

Our Circle Time and Book Review

Cindy Moo by Lori Mortensen is a beautifully written and illustrated rhyming book.  It tells the story of a cow who is determined to follow in her ancestor's footsteps, and jump over the moon herself.   She tries and tries again.  Others tell her to give up, but she refuses.  In the end, she finds her own unique solution to her problem and achieves her dream.  I love the life lessons it teaches.  I love the flow of the language.  And I am absolutely IN LOVE with Cindy Moo with her pink bow and her positive attitude.  This is one of those books that the Mommies enjoyed as much as the children.  We checked ours out of the public library, but it is one I would not hesitate to purchase and add to our home library. 

We had learned the poem “Hey Diddle Diddle” previously at Mommy and Me, so we sand this again today. 

Art: Cindy Moo Clothespin Cow Craft 
(artistic exploration, fine motor skills, following directions, literacy connections)

I loved this cute cow craft I found at Busybee Kids Crafts. You can head there for complete directions.  We made our own, and added a pink bow so they would look like Cindy Moo.  

Don't you love our cute herd?  

Snack: Cow jumped over the moon snack & milk

We were inspired by this cute idea at Meet the Dubiens and created our own with tortillas, meat, and cheese! 

Activities

1-Jumping Over the Moon: 
(Gross motor skills, jumping, balancing, taking turns, cooperation)

I have a large white exercise ball and we allowed the children to take turns jumping over the pretend moon.  

2-Milking a Glove Activity
(fine motor skills, real life connections, sensory development)

This was one of my favorite activities when I taught kindergarten, and my little Mommy and Me friends loved it, too!  

We used white paint and a latex glove.  We poked small holes in each fingertip of the glove.

 We had three children share each glove and squirt the paint onto a plate.  It was messy and fun!

Pouch!

 This week's activities were inspired by the book Pouch by David Ezra Stein.  

Gathering Activity- Kangaroo Pouches
 
We made these adorable Kangaroo Pouches that I found at Brilliant Beginnings Preschool Utah.

 

Instead of writing the letter K on each pouch, we helped the children write their names.   Lacing the pouch together provided excellent fine motor skill practice!  

It was definitely a parent and child activity.  That is one of the reasons I really enjoy Mommy and Me Book Club.  We have a one-to-one ration.  (Though this craft could be done in a center with a small group of preschoolers).


Circle Time
 

POUCH! by David Ezra Stein is the delightful story of a shy little Kangaroo who timidly ventures out of his mommy's pouch, one hop at a time.  Each time he encounters a new animal friend, he runs back to his mom, crying "POUCH!" The illustrations are fabulous.  The children and mommies laughed aloud at Joey.  But, even with its humorous moments, it teaches a sweet story about feeling a little shy. 

We Sang a little Kangaroo Song
(sung to This Old Man)
Jump, jump, jump,
kangaroo,
I thought there was one
Now I see two!
It's a mommy and her baby
With his head popping out.
He holds on tight
As they jump about.
Author Unknown

Art-Paper Plate Joey Craft 
We were inspired by an adorable Kangaroo Plate Craft we saw at Danielle's Place.  Although, I do love her site, unfortunately I do not have a subscription for the printables.  One of my little friends has a big brother who kindly drew the heads, tails, and feet for us, and we created our own version.

We used paper clips to hold the pieces on until the glue dried.

Snack - Pita Pouches
How could we not have pita pockets filled with peanut butter and  bananas for snack.   We served them with milk, because that’s what joeys drink. 

 

Games
 
1-Guess What’s in my pouch?  

One of the moms wore a long apron with a large pouch.

Inside of the pouch, she placed several different shapes of varying colors.  

We  let the children each take out a shape and name the shape and color. 

 Then they placed it inside their own pouches we made at the gathering activity. This was a very fun game.


2-Kangaroo Hop Freeze Dance-  

We played music while the children danced and jumped up and down like a joey.  

Then, when the music stopped, everyone stopped dancing and ran back to their mommies (like in the story) yelling "POUCH!"   

When the music started again, they went back to dance and hop.    Isn't it funny how the simplest ideas are usually the best?  The children loved pretending to be Joey!  They loved yelling "POUCH!" as loud as they could, and of course they loved snuggling with their mommies!  

 
I am excited to announce that this week we are beginning a new adventure.  We are participating with a few other blogs in a weekly project called The Children's Bookshelf.  

Mommy and Me Book Club will be participating 3 Mondays each month.  (The exception will be the 3rd Monday of each month when we co-host the Virtual Book Club).   So, three weeks a month, I will ask you to share ANY book-inspired activities you would like to share!   Then once a month we will all share activities on the same book!  (Make sense)? 



So, now, it is your turn to share with us with all of your kid lit inspired posts this week. Please link up any children's book posts below and don't forget to follow The Children's Bookshelf on Pinterest or visit TCB's co-hosts: What Do We Do All Day?, No Twiddle Twaddle, Smiling Like Sunshine, Mommy and Me Book Club, My Little Bookcase and Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.

By linking up you are giving permission for any of the co-hosts to pin and/or feature a your photo on a future The Children's Bookshelf post.