Thanksgiving Day Blessings: Hand Print Turkeys

Today I am thankful for little Hands and Feet. After yesterday’s post, I am feeling a little shell-shocked at how much my girls have grown. They are getting so tall and their hands and feet aren’t “baby-like” anymore. It seems like they grow out of their shoes in no time now. I went through their drawers last night to clean out summer clothes, and as I put away little shorts and bathing suits, I realized that next summer these would go in the yard sale or storage bins for another little girl baby. My girls won’t be wearing that little giraffe bathing suit or cute little polka dot “shortie skirt (skort)” again. Even though this makes me extremely sad, I am in awe at how smart they are and how much they are growing in mind, body, and spirit. I’m amazed at my growing girls and those little feet that are learning to passe pointe and shuffle step and those little hands that are writing whole names and numbers and drawing figures that actually look like people.

As I’ve said a million times before, I love hand print and footprint art. The girls and I made a little Halloween project with their tootsies, so I decided that for Thanksgiving, we would make Hand print Turkeys. I know that pretty soon those fingers are going to be too big for these type of projects, so I’m soaking them up as long as I can. I found a few pins that I loved on Pinterest. Some involve hand prints and some do not, but I wanted to link up all of them as craft ideas for your little ones:

Pin: Leaf Turkey Project

Website: Little Fingers Big Art

Pin: Felt Turkey Puzzle

Website: Sunny Day Family

Pin: Flower Pot Turkey

Website: From ABCs to ACTs

I loved all of those pins, but I decided to use the following pin as a guide for our project:

Pin: Hand print Turkey

Website: Meet the Dubiens

 

I painted the girls hands and helped them transfer their prints onto the paper (I used card stock, I think it is better for paint projects than construction paper). I used an old washcloth to wash their hands in between colors. To make the feathers, I used their whole hands. For the body of the turkey, I used just the palm. Once dry, I painted eyes, a beak, and legs on the turkey. It turned out great even if L’s was a little crooked.

They are like me and are super ready for Christmas, and this seemed to remind them that there is actually a holiday between Trick-or-Treating and Santa. I also took down the Halloween decorations in exchange for Thanksgiving ones today, and they loved seeing the leaves and new decor. Still I’m chomping at the bits to put up my tree. It will be a miracle if I can wait until post-Turkey day.

 

In other news around the U.S., it’s Election Day. I’m not going to plug a candidate or anything, but I am going to say just this: our ancestors and Founding Fathers gave their lives and gave up so much to form this country to give us the opportunity to vote. Women battled during the Suffrage Movement so that we could cast our ballot. And our troops fight daily, every second, to ensure that we are free to live a life we choose to live. Vote because you can, and billions before you couldn’t. You may think your vote doesn’t matter but it does. I also make sure that my children know that I voted and that it is their right and privilege as well. Go vote and pass on the tradition to your children.