12 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 10

Days of Thanksgiving

I've always loved these ideas that extend through multiple days to celebrate the holiday seasons (did you catch my 13 Days of Halloween posts?). This year I found ideas for the 12 Days of Thanksgiving and I couldn't resist sharing them with you. The ideas in this post came from a very vintage magazine called Copycat Press from 1990 (which just doesn't feel like it should be labeled very vintage, but I suppose that's because I am very vintage myself!) 

The ideas are centered around using the poetry from It's Thanksgiving by Jack Prelutsky. I didn't have this book in our Club library, but I did find a few versions of read alouds online. Here's the one that includes the entire book (which is helpful since you'll use different poems each day).

Tenth Day of Thanksgiving
Remember the anticipation you felt as you made a wish and pulled as hard as you could on the turkey wishbone? There's a little bit of a dreamer in all of us. Focus on this when you read "The Wishbone." Reproduce the wishbone pattern below [from the original publication from Copycat Press]. Ask members to make a wish and explain why they would like this wish and explanation inside the wishbone reproducible. Challenge the group to think of non-material wishes... for their family, for the environment, or for the world! Cut out the wishbones and glue them to a piece of construction paper. Display them on a bulletin board with the title "MAY ALL YOUR WISHES COME TRUE!"

Click on the image above to be taken to a larger image of the reproducible. You're welcome to use this in your Clubs, classrooms, or any kind of after school program. If you share it with others, please share my blog as well. Thank you!

Additional Idea: After you have read "The Wishbone" ask children to share their experiences with wishing on wishbones. Afterward, invite them to make these wishbone booklets to share with their families. First have members color and cut out several copies of the wishbone booklet (image above). Ask them to write or draw about a Thanksgiving wish on the back of each page. To make a front cover, have members cut out only the wishbone from the booklet page and glue it onto a 9-inch paper plate and title the cover "My Thanksgiving Wishes." Finally have them stack and staple their pages between the front cover and another paper plate.