Friday, November 11, 2011

Gratitude Lesson and Activity

This past week I home made some fall color crayons (idea from My Magic Mom) by recycling yellow, green, brown, red, and orange broken crayons in a mini muffin pan and preserved some colorful leaves for a cute fall decoration craft.
Fall  Recycled Crayons
Supplies: 
Crayons such as yellow, green, brown, red, and orange colors,  mini muffin pan, X-Acto Knife, Butcher Knife, and cutting board.
Directions: 
We used a X-Acto knife to peel the crayon wrapper off.  Then I used a butcher knife to chop the crayons into small pieces. Bake at 250 degrees for 6-8 minutes.  Allow them to cool on a baking rake then transfer the pan into the freezer for 30 minutes.  Use a knife to carefully remove the crayons from the pan.
Colorful Leaves Strand 
Supplies: 
Modge Podge, paint brush, brown twine, mini clothes pins, and  an assortment of colorful fall leaves.
Directions:
 I tied both ends of the twine and hung them up with a tack.  Then I coated the leaves with a layer of modge podge.  They dried by clipping the mini clothes pins on the twine!  
For the lesson on gratitude, I discussed Helen Keller because even though she was lacking her eye sight and hearing that she had enhanced sense of smell and touch.  She taught us to appreciate the beauty all around us!  I found a wonderful lesson LDS Family Fun, which I shared with the girls.  For a craft, I printed out a thankful tree and some leaves for my girls.  They colored the tree and then colored their leaves with the groovy homemade crayons.   We also placed a leaf behind the paper to stencil the texture of the leaves.  The girls enjoyed that the most! Lastly, they wrote down some things that they are grateful for and shared them with the group.
Stenciling Leaves!
I made Turkey Pop Treats for our "thankful treat"!  They were rice krispy balls, dipped in chocolate, and candy corn as the feathers, beak, and eyes!  They were delicious and cute!
What a yummy treat!