Thanksgiving Review

We hope that you and your family are preparing for a meaningful Thanksgiving!  If you're looking for some more Thanksgiving books to read, here are some that we reviewed last year:

Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks

T is for Turkey

Five Silly Turkeys

The Littlest Pilgrim

Also remember it's a fun time to collect memories by videoing your children re-telling the Thanksgiving story in their own words.  You can create some great memories by doing this and showing them to your children and extended family members each year.  
Happy Thanksgiving!

Fisher Price Little People Thanksgiving Celebration

We love having items/toys in our home that promote retelling of stories.  Retelling is a great way for children to make stories become their own stories.  We like to tell the story initially, let play times happen with the items, and then see if the stories will be told.  If they’re not, then we give prompts.  Usually, though, children start retelling stories they’ve heard. 

A Fisher Price set we’ve used for several years is the Little People Thanksgiving Celebration.  It’s much like the Christmas set that we use to retell the Nativity story.  This set comes with two Native American figures and two Pilgrim figures along with a table, benches, food (turkey, of course!), scenery, and a donkey with a wagon.

It’s so much fun to hear a child’s perspective on the First Thanksgiving!  Another fun way to collect memories is to record your child retelling the story, especially recording it as part of your Thanksgiving tradition.  We hope you enjoy this set as much as we have and make your own family memories with it!

Collecting Memories, Part 2

I love to scrapbook with Project Life, and I’ve found that our daughter also loves having her own photos of favorite events.  At first, I put pictures for her in a small 4 by 6 photo album.  This made it easy for her to carry and handle.  However, as she has developed more writing skills we’ve begun using a larger photo album that has space for writing beside each photo.  This has been a great way for her to label her photos as she goes back and looks at pictures of friends, family, and events.  Labeling the pictures with names has become very important to her.  We think it’s a great way for her to develop writing skills while she collects memories.  For another way we collect memories, check here.  


Do you have a way to for your children to collect their memories?  We’d love to hear about them!

Ideas for Photo Albums with Children:

*Let children pick from a variety of photos.

*Photos don't need to be in chronological order.

*Ask young children what they'd like to write about the photo.

*We label some photos with names only and others with dates, places, and other information.

*Leave space to add to the collection.  We like to do a few at a time so it's not overwhelming, but still remains fun.

*Ask children what photos they would like to take/have parents take at new events.

*Keep things fun!  Use colored pencils, stickers, etc. to add creativity to the writing spaces.

Collecting Memories, Part I

Summer is an especially great time to be making memories with your children.  Because of the changes in daily schedules, it can often be hard to capture those special memories.  One activity we’ve added to our routine is using journaling to record favorite child-chosen memories.  We’re using the Mead Primary Journal because it has lined paper with space at the top to draw pictures.  It’s such a great way for early writers to collect memories with pictures and writing. 

If you have a younger child who is not yet writing, you can use this journal for their drawings and have an adult record the child’s dictation to you.  If your child is a beginning writer, it’s a great tool to combine pictures and writing.  We’ve also used it to collect and share memories when a parent is out of town.  We labeled the days and then had our child draw pictures of various daily events.

Children love to read their own writing so this journal is often re-read which helps them form memories.  We hope you are having a great summer full of good memories too!

Collecting Memories Ideas:

*We use colored pencils or crayons to draw the pictures.   Markers have a tendency to bleed through to other pages.

*Spelling is not important.  We strive to write sentences, but lists are fine for some memories.

*To reinforce the importance of journaling, parents may want to write in their journals while children are completing their journal entries.

*Pictures and/or postcards from travel can be affixed in the space at the top.

*Enjoy collecting memories with your children!