Storytime - Thanksgiving

Toddler

Books: My First Thanksgiving by Tomie dePaola and This is Thanksgiving by Deborah Zemke.

Songs / Rhymes: “Good Morning”, “Hello, How Are You?”, “Open, Shut Them”, “Did You Ever See a Turkey”, “Turkey Feathers” on the felt board, and “The More We Get Together”.

Turkey Feathers

Sung to: “Are You Sleeping?”

--from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz and Dick Wilmes. Elgin, IL: Building Blocks, 1997.

*I handed each toddler a turkey feather. We sang the song, and at the end of each verse, I said a color of feather. Those toddlers with that color in their hand brought it to the front and placed it on the felt board.

Did You Ever See A Turkey?

Sung to: “Did You Ever See a Lassie?"
Did you ever see a turkey, a turkey, a turkey?
Did you ever see a turkey go this way and that?
Go this way and that way, and this way and that way,
Did you ever see a turkey go this way and that?

--PreschoolEducation.com

Craft: Build Your Own Turkey. Materials: Die cut brown construction paper circles, die cut feathers, full sheet of green construction paper, yellow construction paper beaks, googly eyes, crayons, glue, and tape. The toddlers glued their turkey pieces to the green paper and colored them in.

Preschool

Books: The Thankful Book by Todd Parr and I Know an Old

Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson on the felt board (the felt board template came from Lil Country Kindergarten).

Songs / Rhymes: “Welcome to the Library”, “Hello, How Are You?”, “Hi There, So Glad You Came”, “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, “Open, Shut Them”, “Did You Ever See a Turkey”, and “The More We Get Together”. 

Craft: Thankful Chains. Materials: Construction paper strips in five colors, crayons, glue, and tape. The preschoolers wrote one thing they were thankful for on each strip of paper. They used the strips to form a chain. When they were done, I went around the room and asked the children what they had written. One child wrote that she was thankful for the library!