November begins the happy hecticness of gatherings with family and friends, school breaks, and various holidays to celebrate. This week, the Ashland Children’s Department will kick-off November with a celebration of fall and giving thanks.
Stop by the Ashland Library to pick up a leaf to decorate with a word or phrase that signifies something you and your child are grateful for. Return the finished leaf to the library and we’ll include it on our “Gratitude Tree” display! You can decorate your leaves at home or in the library with a variety of fun and creative materials. If you can’t make it to the Ashland library to pick up supplies, I’ve included a leaf template for you to use at home.
You can make your leaf creation out of anything you have on hand, but paper bags and scrap paper are great options for this project. Just keep in mind that you’ll be decorating both sides of the leaf, so try and find something that is blank on the front and the back.
Here’s a list of some other supplies that you might want to have on hand for this project:
Glue stick
Pencil
Scissors
Some kind of paper
Decorative materials
I folded a piece of scrap paper in half and traced my leaf on top of that. When I cut it out, I had two leaves to work with.
I decided to decorate my leaf with tissue paper, colored pencils and newsprint.
I also just ripped up my tissue paper instead of using scissors to cut it. This is a good option for younger children and has the extra bonus of giving them the opportunity to practice their fine motor skills.
With my pile of tissue paper on hand and the rest of my supplies ready and waiting, it was time to work on my leaf creation. I cut out a few words from the newspaper and after I had them glued down, I used the tissue paper and pencil to fill in around the words.
And I remembered to decorate the back of my leaf!
The fun of this project, is that everyone’s leaf will look completely unique. Take, for example, some of the leaves Library Specialist Griffin Harwood created.
Every branch in the library district usually has some craft or activity for you do with your child. Stop in and say “Hi,” and find out what their schedule is for Take and Makes and other programs. In the meantime, check out the Storytime short Bear Says Thanks, and for more books about giving thanks, visit our catalog page and look for the list titled Fostering Gratitude.
*Please note, find the craft project in this Storytime short here.