Confessions of a Not So Crafty Momma.

November is half way over! Thanksgiving will be here soon. Last week, we shared a paper turkey that is great for little ones. Today, we want to share a writing craftivity that is perfect for older kids from ages six to twelve. Since we do not have a child in that age range, my toddler helped me create a sample turkey, but this activity is designed for older children. This activity would likely work best in a classroom or after school program setting, but can definitely be done at home as well.

Materials Needed

• Construction Paper (We used brown for the body, orange for the feet, and I let my toddler pick out the background color and the feather colors.)
• Glue
• Scissors
• A Marker or Colored Pencil

The prep work for this is pretty easy. First draw feathers and then two turkey feet like shapes to be cut out.

Once those are cut out, ask the child or children to think about what they are thankful for. Next, have them write it on the brown paper. If you are working with a child or children who has not mastered writing small, you will want to have them write the words first and then cut out a turkey-ish shape around the words. For children who are towards the older end of the suggested age of this activity, you can have them cut out a turkey shape and then write on it afterwards.

Next, it is time to assemble the turkey! We started by gluing on the body, then the feathers. After that was done, we flipped it over and glued on the feet.

This craftivity will only take about 15 minutes, but it is a wonderful Thanksgiving activity for children that are too old for the toddler and preschool crafts that we often share. If you’d like to go one step further, you could also laminate this so that it could be used as a Thanksgiving day placemat!

If you like this craftivity, please share it with a friend!

Thanksgiving is less than a month away and today, we did our first turkey themed craft of the year! This paper turkey is perfect for little ones under five!

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Materials Needed

• Construction Paper (We used brown for the turkey’s body and feet, orange for the beak, and red for the wattle. I let my toddler pick out the colors she wanted for the feathers. We glued everything on a piece of white paper).
• Markers or Crayons
• Glue
• Scissors

I started by cutting out a beak, the wattle, and two feet like shapes. Next, I traced my toddler’s foot on the brown paper and her hands on several colors of construction paper. After I was done tracing, I cut it all out. If your child is an older preschooler, you can let them do the cutting!

Next, I helped my toddler glue the cut out hand prints onto the white paper. If your child is under a year old, you can do the gluing for them. They won’t have as much fun as a toddler or preschooler would have with this, but it will be a great keepsake for you to look back on!

After the handprints were glued on, I gave my toddler the footprint to glue on. Once that was on, I gave her the wattle, beak, and feet.

Lastly, I gave her a marker to draw eyes on her turkey. You could also use googly eyes, but for this turkey, we decided to keep it simple!

Book Suggestions

If you’d like to pair this art project with a book, we have a few suggestions!

If you like this art project, please share it with a friend!

I know Halloween was only a few days ago, but I feel like October flew by and I know that November will go fast as well. This holiday season, we hope to make a few new traditions. One new tradition that we’d like to start is building a gingerbread house together. Today, I want to share a few gingerbread house ideas.

**This post may contain affiliate links. We may get a small commission, at no additional cost to you, for purchases made from our links. Any price mentioned is the price on the date that this post was originally published.**

Gluten Free Gingerbread House

Cardamom Cookie Gingerbread House

“Hot Glue” & Gingerbread

Gingerbread House from Scratch

No Bake Gingerbread House

Book Suggestions

If you want to end your day of holiday fun with a children’s book, here are some suggestions! We know that the holidays are already expensive, so all the books on this list are under $7.

I hope these ideas can inspire you to add gingerbread house building into your holiday traditions this year! If you’ve built one in the past, please leave us a few tips in the comments below!

Halloween is almost here! We have been busy with Halloween and fall festivities, but we did take a little bit of time today to paint a paper plate jack o’lantern. This art project is perfect for kids from two to four and even though it is a bit messy, can be done in a classroom or home environment.

**This post contains affiliate links. We may get a small commission, at no additional cost to you, for all purchases made from our links. All opinions expressed are our own**

Materials Needed

• Paper Plate
• Orange Paint
• Scissors
• Black Construction Paper
• Brown Construction Paper
• Paint Brush (Optional. We did not use one)
• Glue

I started by giving my daughter orange paint to paint the paper plate. She used her hands, but a paint brush or even a sponge would also work.

While the painting dried, we talked about parts of a jack o’lantern. I asked my toddler to pick what shapes she wanted for the eyes and nose. Then I asked her to decide if she wanted a scary face, a happy face, or a silly face. After she made her choices, I cut out the parts from the black construction paper. I also cut out a small rectangle from the brown construction paper. If you are working with a group of children, it may be easier to pre-cut the shapes and then let each child just grab when they’d like.

Once the painted plate was completely dry, I helped my toddler glue on the jack o’lantern parts.

Next, we flipped it over and glued on the brown rectangle.

The end result is a unique little jack o’lantern that is perfect for little hands to make!

Book Suggestions

Little learners often enjoy having a book and a craft paired together! Here are some book suggestions.

If you like this craft, please share it with a friend!

While I love to share amazing recipes from other bloggers, I have never before shared a recipe that I have created myself. Today, I’m going to invite you on a dysfunctional journey as I adventure into my first food related blog post. We did not grill any over the summer, but when we got the SUMPRI Barbecue Grill Basket, I decided to try it out and share what I made!

**I was given a significant discount on the grill basket in order to share it with all of you. All options expressed are my own**

The SUMPRI Grill Basket is a portable stainless steel basket that features a removable handle. It can be used for meat or veggies, but I decided to use it to make grilled sweet potatoes.

For this recipe, I used two medium sized sweet potatoes, some olive oil, and brown sugar.

I started by cutting up the sweet potato into thin slices.

Next, I headed out to my grill with all of the ingredients and my new grill basket. I was impressed with how sturdy, but still super light, the basket was. It was super easy to carry and if we were traveling with it, it wouldn’t take up much room.

Next, I put the sweet potatoes into the grill basket, drizzled olive oil over both sides and cooked them about five minutes on each side.

This SUMPRI grill basket set also includes heat resistant grilling gloves and a brush to apply sauce or oil. The wooden handle of the grill basket doesn’t get hot, but the gloves will still come in handy while you are grilling! After the potatoes cooked for about 5 minutes on each side, I sprinkled some brown sugar over them and cooked them for an additional two to three minutes on each side.

Once they were finished, the grill basket made it easy to just dump them onto a plate. The last thing I did was sprinkle a bit of extra brown sugar over them. This is optional, but we really love brown sugar in our house!

The SUMPRI grilling basket made making this recipe so easy! It was easy to clean afterwards and the quality was great! If you want to try it for yourself, you can get it here.

We would love to hear from you! Do enjoy grilling in the fall? What is your favorite thing to grill?

Halloween is less than two weeks away and we have been slacking big time on the Halloween crafts! Today, we want to share a simple and mess free black cat!

**This post contains affiliate links. We may get a small commission, at no additional cost to you, for purchase made through our links. All opinions expressed are our own. Any prices given are current as of the time this post was originally written. Prices are subject to change.**

Materials Needed

• Construction Paper (We used two pieces of white, black, and pink)
• Glue
• Scissors
• Black Paint
• Plastic Sandwich Bag
• Googly Eyes

I started by slightly folding one piece of white paper so it would fit into the sandwich bag. Next, I put paint on the paper and slid it into the bag. After that, I gave it to my toddler so she could spread around the paint. We use this method of painting often because there is no mess to clean up!

This painting took awhile to dry. While it dried, I cut out two triangles and several long rectangles from the black construction paper. I also cut out two pink triangles slightly smaller than the black triangles and one more small pink triangle. Once the painting was completely dry, I cut out around the outline of the painted area.

Next, I helped my toddler glue the cat’s head onto the other piece of white paper. After that, she glued on the eyes, ears, nose, and whiskers. When we do art projects, I always try to offer as little guidance as possible.

The end result is an adorable black cat that won’t leave you cleaning up paint!

Book Suggestions

Little learners often learn the best when you pair up a book and a craft or activity! All of these books are under $10.

If you like this craft, please take a moment to share it!