November’s preschool theme was Early American History or as I told Z: Thanksgiving. Between the holiday schedule and seasonal colds and flus , we were only able to get together for preschool twice and our field trip, well it’s going to be Thanksgiving with our families (sometimes holiday months need lower expectations).

The time we did get to spent together was great! The first week we played with fake fall leaves separating the ones that had letters from those that did not.

We made “mayflower” boats out of egg cartons, straws, and paper. The boys loved putting them in the water and testing out their sails by blowing on them to create wind. They even shook the pool to create waves as well.

After this, we let the little guys make “cranberry soup” using cranberries, star anise, and mint leaves with water in a large bowl.

 

Meanwhile playing I helped older brother make cranberry sauce from scratch which was enjoyed at snack time.

I read one of our thanksgiving books that talks about how the native Americans taught the pilgrims how to grown corn and squash.

After this, we made popcorn and I brought out another book that talks about corn and how it grows and can become popcorn.

At our next preschool get-together, the boys practiced moving feathers with turkey basters but found the air pump much more fun.

Z loved dot painting pilgrim hats and painting hand turkeys. Since it was cold out, they still seemed interested in staying in the kitchen, so we gave them candy corn pumpkins and toothpicks to build with.

We asked how many pumpkins they needed to make different shapes like three for a triangle and four for a square.  Then for snack they had all the building supplies to make log houses: pretzels, graham cracker, wheat chex, and cream cheese.

The little guys were more interested in snacking then building but big brother had a great time making his own pilgrim settler home and so did I.

On our non-preschool days, Z and I read harvest and thanksgiving books and played with a scarecrow/pilgrim window panel.

While running errands around town we collected colorful leaves which I kept in a Ziploc bag . We took them out several times to color between pages with crayons and see their outlines.

I choose to keep the dried corn feed from the previous month’s sensory bin but added in gourds and play food items-all the ingredients that would make a great thanksgiving meal. Z and I also categorized and talked about the texture, shape, and color of the gourds.

For only a few weeks it was a great preschool fun. How are you wrapping up this fall season?