Thanksgiving Thankful Place mats
I love to turn craft projects into special memories. It is fun to teach your children and grandchildren to express their feelings through creative outlets.
Thanksgiving is a great holiday to take the opportunity to do that. Thankfulness is an emotion that can be turned into a fun craft project.
My grandchildren will be spending Thanksgiving Eve with me. I'll share with you one of the projects we will be creating to prepare for a decoration and memory maker.
I feel it is my role as a grandmother to teach my grand kids to honor their mother, father and other family members. This year we are making special place mats for their parents, siblings, and grandparents. It is an easy project and I'm sure will be mean a lot to the recipients.
You can make your border two ways. You can cut 1 or 2 inch strips from a contrasting color or you can glue an 8 x 10 inch piece of construction paper onto a larger piece of construction paper. You can trim the larger piece to the size you desire.
Write 'We Are or I Am Thankful For You' on the border of the place mat with marker, crayon or glitter glue pen.
Take a coordinating color of construction paper and have your child list the reasons they are thankful for the person who will be getting the place mat. We will be keeping our list short since we are using pictures to illustrate the list. If you are using an 8" x 10" sheet of construction paper then you may want to type the list on the computer with a small font and then glue it on the coordinating color of paper.
The next step is going to use your child's and your imagination. We are illustrating the list from photo that I will print off from the computer.
There are several other fun techniques to use.
- Cut out photos from magazines.
- Have the child draw pictures.
- Type stories your child tells you that they remember that illustrate the lists. (Example-One day I fell down and Mommy put a spider man band aid on my booboo.) Then paste the stories on different color pieces of construction paper.
- Use photos
Once you have everything finished you can place them on the place mat and move them around until you feel you have them in the best location. Then glue them in place. You can let the child decorate the place mat on the borders if you wish. Let them dry.
Cut two pieces of clear contact paper big enough to cover the front and back of the place mat and carefully apply them on the top and back of the mat. I put my place mats under a heavy object overnight so that they lay flat. When it is time to set the table for Thanksgiving then let the child place the mats at each place setting and get ready for a lot of thankful recipients.
Have a wonderful and crafty Thanksgiving,
Grace
.gif "Blessed Elements bluehost banner ad")