November Events and Fieldtrips

Heber City's Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Buckaroo Fair, Heber City, Utah
November 6th thru the 11th - 2007
http://www.hebercitycowboypoetry.com/

Dart the Turkey Thanksgiving Celebration, Provo, UT
Nov. 15
http://www.provo.org/parks.events.html

Utah Chocolate Show, Salt Lake City, UT
November 16 - 17, 2007
http://www.utahchocolateshow.com/

Jewish Art and Food Festival, Salt Lake City, UT
November 10 - 11, 2007
http://www.slcjcc.org/

Do your kids love watching sports? Don't forget to check out BYU's sports schedules.
http://www.byucougars.com/

Or support your local high school and go to one of their games. You can talk to the youth in your ward to find out what sports they play and show up to cheer them on at one of their games. Or you can look up the high school's website and find a schedule there.

November Crafts and Activities

It's getting colder, but there are still plenty of nice days to get outdoors. And if its raining or just too cold, try one of the fun indoor activities or crafts.

Outdoors:

Make a weather vane and see where the wind is coming from. Use a an empty plastic container filled with sand or pebbles and then covered with a lid (or anything else that you will be able to securely stand a pencil in). Cut a triangle from a piece of cardboard--snip the point off to make a smaller triangle--this will be the head and tail of your weather vane. Make a slit in each end of a drinking straw and attach the cardboard shapes (slit these also to make it more steady). Push a pushpin through the center of the straw and into the eraser of the pencil and stand the pencil in your container. Mark North, east, south, and west and then use a compass or the sun to line up the directions.
Collect birds nest when all the leaves are gone--you can try to identify them with a bird identification guide that includes pictures of the nests.

Collect pinecones and acorns to decorate your thanksgiving table or for holiday crafts.

Rainy day ideas:

Turkey Hunt-- Have children draw or paste pictures of turkeys on a dozen or so index cards. Mom hides the cards around the room, then everyone goes hunting. The player who "bags" the most turkeys wins.

Make an indoor sand box--using uncooked rice, beans or wheat, fill a box or other flat container and give them sand toys, or measuring cups, bowls, utensils, and let them play. (You might want to lay out a sheet or tarp to make clean up a little easier).

Let them play with water and bubbles--in the sink (they can even help wash the dishes!) or the bathtub.

Festive Thanksgiving crafts--Beyond the handprint turkeys (although these are really fun too!):

Pinecone turkeys--use yellow pipe cleaners for legs and feet, glue tiny circles of felt for eyes and snip pieces of red felt for the wattles.

Leaf Turkeys-- Cut a turkey shape out of brown construction paper and then glue the turkey shapes onto white or yellow construction paper. Let toddlers add eyes with markers and then glue on leaves that they collected to make turkey tails.

Cut vegetable turkeys--you'll need a pear, two zucchini, a carrot, two whole cloves, and a handful of toothpicks. Slice the top off one zucchini for the head. Slice the rest into 1/4" pieces. Cut a 2" piece from the narrow end of he carrot. Slice the rest into 1/4 inch pieces. Sick the cloves into the head for eyes. Attach the head to the neck with half a toothpick (push the toothpick through the carrot or zucchini first, then the pear). Use the carrot and zucchini slices as feathers. Use two toothpicks for legs with a carrot slice on each for the feet. You may need a toothpick in the back to steady the turkey.

Turkey sandwiches (no, not a way to use your thanksgiving leftovers--these are shaped like turkeys)--circles cut of bread for head on square bread (body) with bell peppers as tail feathers, bits for eyes, beak.

Thanksgiving placemat--give your kids old magazines and let them cut out pictures of what they are thankful for. Make a collage on a piece of construction paper and then laminate or cover with clear contact paper.

Or, make a thanksgiving can--put all the cut up pictures in a can and when you need a quiet conversation activity, have your child pull one out and talk about the item they are thankful for.

Songs

Let's Be Thankful

(Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

Let's be thankful for this day

For our friends and our play

Let's be thankful; let's be glad

For our food and the things we have

Let's give thanks for you and me

And our home and family.

The Turkey Strut

(tune: "The Hokey-Pokey)

You put your right wing in, you put your right wing out,

You put your right wing in and you shake it all aboutl

You do the turkey strut, and you turn yourself around,

That's what it's all about!

2. You put your left wing in. . .

3. You put your drumstick in. . .

4. You put your stuffing in. . .

5. You put your wattle in . . .

6. You put your tail feather in. . .

7. You put your turkey body in. . .