Turkey Story Hour and Easy Thanksgiving Place Card Holders

I hosted a fun Thanksgiving story hour at our favorite local coffee shop.  The theme was turkeys!  We read two turkey books:

• 10 Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston - a fun rhyming and countdown book about ten silly turkeys on a fence
• Setting the Turkeys Free by W. Nikola-Lisa and Ken Wilson-Max - a young boy's handprint turkeys take on a life of their own and he has to save them from Foxy the fox

Usually, we just read books and make something fun, but this month I added a few turkey songs that I found at 1+1+1=1.  There is also a printable there for this super funny turkey with feathers that can be added to his back.

I printed it out, laminated the turkey and the feathers, and then hot glued clothespins to the back of the feathers.  I gave each  child a feather and when I said the color of the feather he or she was holding, he or she came up and clipped on the feather.  The kids really seemed to enjoy that.

Our craft was a turkey place card holder.  To make one, you need:

• one coffee filter
• washable markers
• spray bottle with water
• one clothespin
• a tiny bit of red craft foam

Directions:

1. First, use markers to color the coffee filter.  Just scribbling is fine and you want to leave some areas uncolored.  Also, using different colors will create prettier turkey feathers.
2. Once you are done coloring, spray the coffee filter so that it is damp.  This will make the colors run - so pretty!  Lay it on paper towels to let it dry.
3. On the end of the clothespin that clips, draw eyes and a beak.  (You could use googly eyes, but you need the really tiny ones and we only had the big ones.)  It's important that you draw the face on the end of the clothespin that clips so that it can hold your card!!!!
4. Cut a snood out of the red craft foam and glue it onto the clothespin.  You could use construction paper.
5. When the coffee filter is dry, fold it in half.  Now you have the turkey's feathers.  Glue your clothespin turkey to the feathers.  You want the clothespin to stand up, so position it so that the coffee filter is even with or a tiny bit above the bottom of the clothespin.  
6. I folded index cards in half and stuck them in the clip part.  You can write names on the cards for place card holders, or just make one and write "Happy Thanksgiving" or draw a thumb's up like R did. 

I forgot my camera (grrrrr...) so I didn't take any cute pictures of my story hour friends this month!  My friend, Robin, was kind enough to take a few pics of the kids but because I wasn't taking pictures, I forgot to get permission from the other moms to post them.  (Scatterbrain this month!)  So, I only have two photos that I have permission to post.   

Thank you to all of the moms and children who attended story hour, and super big thanks to Cuppers Cafe for providing a great space and free hot chocolate for all of the kiddos!

I am linking this to stArt at A Mommy's Adventures, Read.Explore.Learn at JDaniel4's Mom, and What My Child is Reading at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.