Handy Turkey and Pilgrims

Trace your hand and make a turkey. This is the traditional Thanksgiving art activity. Mom took it a step further and let us trace our hands to make Indians and Pilgrims as well. This card is pretty self-explanatory and simple.

I remember being given art projects to do to keep us kids busy at Nana's house on Thanksgiving (and Easter) while our moms and Nana fixed the food. I have no memory of what the men were doing.

There are lots of other variations on this theme. Here are a couple I have seen:

Have the children paint the palm of their hand and thumb brown and each of their fingers different colors. Have them press their wet hand on paper, a white paper plate, or on a cut-out wooden hand (like you see above) to make a colorful hand print. Add a beak, eyes, waddle, and feet with markers and you have a turkey hand print.



Here is a cute variant which uses handprints of everyone in the family. Trace each person's hand on a piece of different colored construction paper and cut them out. Layer them with the biggest (probably Dad's) on the bottom up to smallest on top. Add a big circle for a body, a smaller circle for a head, a beak, wattle and eyes.

Halloween Cat

"Hector the Halloween Cat" is a story I remember really well from my childhood. Does anyone else remember Hector? We once had one my mom had made with lots of glitter all over the mask.

After going back and re-reading the actual story this week, I realized that I remember the CAT fondly, but not the story.

Here is the story which officially accompanies the cat: see what your think.

Did you notice the tiny little drawing and the set of directions at the bottom of the story card? Hector is actually made out of four pieces of black posterboard (or, better, the newer black foamcore board if you can cut it) threaded onto a long (hotdog-shaped) balloon.

One sheet of posterboard is sufficient to make one Hector, with one piece of colored paper for the mask. Below are the four shapes you need to make: be sure and blow up your balloon and measure the diameter BEFORE you cut out the holes!

Here is a 50 year old schematic of how to assemble the cat.

Note that you actually have two options with the 'belly' piece. You can have the belly hang down or twist it upward so that Hector is arching his back.

As to the story, I think there is a play on the idea of being a 'scaredy cat' : is Hector fearsome or fearful? But I now rather dislike the scary part of Halloween and am not sure I'd want to teach little kids HOW to be more scary.

So maybe a better use of Hector would be to explain why people are wearing masks and help them be more comfortable with masks by taking off the scary mask to find the friendly cat beneath.

Hector also makes a great table centerpiece. Add a bowl of "catfood" - peanuts, candy corn, or M&Ms. You can also make really cute, individual Hectors by using balloon animal balloons: cut out much smaller body pieces - maybe just 4" x 8" - and only blow up the balloon a short way, leaving the tail long, maybe tying a ribbon on the tail.