When we were Children’s Pastors in Birmingham, I wrote a two week lesson about Thanksgiving. It was entitled, “Thanks and Giving”. I have no idea what it entailed. But the title always stuck with me. (Did I make that title up? Or did I steal it? I hope I made it up. It’s catchy.) I want my Thanksgiving season to be filled with THANKS and GIVING.

So, this year, I am trying to do the same with Lydia. Last week we did GIVING. Our church collected 12 tons of canned food for a local charity. We gave about 8 of those cans. We made a very big deal about collecting and giving those cans to the people that needed it. (You can see the pics here.) Lydia was so excited and proud to bring her canned veggies to church!

This week is THANKS. So, to help Lydia focus on being thankful, we made a Thankful Countdown Turkey. Creative title, huh? And it just so happens to be a great craft to link up with the Fall Impressions carnival Leigh and I are hosting over at our blog, Impress Your Kids! (Was that a great commercial or what?!)

First I cut a huge piece of brown craft paper. (That was the best purchase ever. It’s like 300 yards long. I’m going to have it forever!) Then a little bowling pin shaped turkey body.  I let Lydia cut out the beak and I cut out the gobble. We glued on some wiggly eyes and our turkey was ready!

Then, I cut out fourteen feathers from assorted colored construction paper.

But we didn’t glue ANY of the feathers to our turkey. We chose one feather and I asked Lydia, “What are you thankful for? What do you really like that you could say thank you for?” She said, “I like flowers.”

So, I wrote flowers. She drew some great flowers..er, uhm some colored lines.

Then we attached it to our turkey and then hung the whole thing up on the wall.

Over the next 13 days, we’re going to pick a feather each day and write down something we’re thankful for on each one. By the time Thanksgiving arrives, our little turkey will be sporting some beautful feathers and we’ll have documented everything we’re thankful for!

Hopefully, Lydia gets the gist of it. I’m excited to see our little turkey and it’s thankful feathers grow!

(To see more fun Thanksgiving-ish crafts, visit Impress Your Kids. And if you’ve got a cool craft to share, link up!)

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don’t forget about my giveaways: tummy time safari, $50 to bn.com, anthropologie s&p shakers and a shutterfly print pack.
I’m going to announce the winners on Saturday…or Sunday…soon.

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