The Turkey Project

My daughter has a family homework project to create a turkey for her Kindergarten class, something that will ultimately be used as a table decoration during the reception that will follow the Kindergarten Thanksgiving program. We made our turkey from a coffee can.

I think he turned out pretty cute!

To make a turkey like ours, you'll need a small coffee can,
masking tape, shoe polish, feathers, googly eyes, a pipe
cleaner, and construction paper.

First, use the masking tape to tape some feathers on one
side of the can for tail feathers. Then continue to cover
the entire can with strips of masking tape.

Use the shoe polish to color all of the tape and give
your turkey a nice brown color.

Add wing feathers and a second layer of tail feathers with more tape,
and stain the new tape with more shoe polish.

We used brown construction paper for a turkey head, yellow
for a beak, and red for the waddle. Then added
googly eyes.

We cut two identical pieces from the brown to make the head and glued them together with a pipe cleaner between them to give the head some stability. Then we folded back each side on the neck to make flaps to tape the head to the can with more masking tape, again staining the tape with shoe polish. We put some shoe polish on his neck and head as well, to give a little extra texture look to the plain paper.

The best part... I only had to purchase feathers. The rest we already had in the house.

This is not a project new to our family. We also made a turkey when our older daughter was in Kindergarten. We made her turkey with a clay pot, paper feathers, and modeling clay. I still have it and use it as a Thanksgiving decoration with fall flowers inside the pot.

Her feathers are made with double paper and a pipe cleaner
with a piece of burlap around the pot to hide the bottom of the
feathers and create the body.

The head and neck was created with modeling clay, bead eyes,
an almond, and pipe cleaner shaped into a waddle.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. Psalm 100:4

Sewing Craft Activity: Felted Flowers

I was tooling around Pinterest looking for a fun activity that would also teach my daughter a little sewing, including the sewing on of a button. I came across a blog where flower shapes of different sizes were cut from a variety of felt colors, stacked on top of one another, and sewn together with a button center.

Cute. But I wanted more... so I added scraps of patterned fabric and stitching to bring these flowers to life. And my 8 year-old daughter absolutely LOVED this project.

Materials needed for this project are scrap pieces of various patterned fabric, complementary colors of felt fabric, embroidery thread, and a button.

I used 3 flower shaped patterns that I made and used for a previous project - the largest flower is about 3-1/4 inches wide, medium is about 2-3/4 inches, and smallest is about 2-1/4 inches. You can find flower shapes on the web to print and use as a pattern, or hand-draw your own flower shapes.

To make one 3-tier stacked flower, choose 3 pieces of different
pattern fabric and cut a flower from each piece
so that you will have one large flower,
one medium, and one small. Also cut one of each size
flower from the felt in a coordinating color as the flower of that size.

For one layer of the flower, place the pattern flower cut-out on top of the
same-size felt flower and stitch them together with several strands of a
contrasting color embroidery thread, using a whipstitch.

Do the same with the other two flower sizes.
The felt gives each layer a bit of stability and thickness.

Stack the three flowers on top of one another with the
largest on the bottom and the smallest on the top, and sew them
together with a button at the center.

I used this project to teach my daughter how to use a pattern to cut fabric, pin two pieces of fabric together, thread a needle, make stitches, and sew a button. It didn't go without a few tears of frustration and plenty of knots, but as she learned, it got easier for her, and she was ready to make a few more.

Finished flowers can be attached to a hair clip or to a pin to adorn a backpack, hat or jacket.

My daughter put her flower on a pin and
attached it to her backpack.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.  Ecclesiastes 3:1,7 

Name Bugs Art Activity

Oh my! Has it been that long since I've written? I guess it's been that crazy busy around here and the girls and I have not had time to stop and be crafty. That. Must. Change.

One thing that keeps me on my toes is teaching my Sunday School class. I have 1st-3rd graders this year and last week we talked about names and what they mean. In Old Testament times, the meaning of a name was very important and often told about the character of that person.

I had my computer in class, and the children each loved finding out what their name means, and then we worked on a little art project and created Name Bugs.

Because of time constraints and the fact that the majority of my class have not learned to write in cursive, I prepared the first part of this activity ahead of time. An older child who can write their name in cursive could do this start to finish without help.

Begin by folding a piece of paper in half longways and create
a crease in the paper. Then open it back up and write the name
in cursive along the crease using a black crayon. Make sure
to press heavy to make it good and bold.

Then refold the paper and rub along all parts of the name
to transfer wax to the other side of the paper and create
a mirror image. Trace the transfer lines with your
black crayon.

Add color. Lots of color.

Get creative and add other designs and decorations to the page...

even polka-dots.

Love their finished artwork!

So, if you have paper and crayons, then you have all the ingredients for name bugs. An alternative idea would be to use water colors. Write the name in crayon on water color paper, and then use water color paint for the rest of the activity.







A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. Proverbs 22:1