Thankful Classroom or Home Activity

I decided to make a fun little gift that could be given during a Thanksgiving party or right before break.

Seems like we sometimes jump right from Halloween to Christmas, and Thanksgiving doesn’t always get its due.

This idea could be done by the teacher as a gift for herself or himself to display, it could be a fun party activity that is led by a parent and then given to the teacher, a family activity for Thanksgiving Day, or it could even be a fun idea for a homeschool family to be done at home!

I originally made this with cardstock and vinyl. And it was pretty cute!

But – we don’t all have access to a cutting machine.

Or if you’re like me, you might have a love/hate relationship with the one you do have. I spend so much time trying to figure out how to make it do what I want it to do, it doesn’t really save me any time at all. Haha!

So, I also created the printable below that you could also use instead of a cutting machine.

Simply download the freebies below and print on what color cardstock you like.

Next, I used regular paint and dipped fingers in the paint an onto the page to make the leaves.

You could choose to use all one color leaves – or even write the kids’ names on or next to their fingerprints when they dried if you really want to remember which one belonged to which student. Maybe even have the students all sign the back side of the paper?

After it dries, place it into a cheap dollar store frame, set it on your desk, or wrap it up as a gift!

I know I would LOVE a truly thankful gift like this at Thanksgiving just to be reminded of the blessings we have in our classroom each and every day. This would be so neat to have every year to display – almost like a class picture.

Or send home the template and have students do it at home with their own families. In lieu of the fingerprints, each family member could just write on the paper what they are thankful for and then use colored pencil to color it in as a leaf.

The year could also be added in at the bottom.

It really is a fun and easy activity!

I was done in less than an hour by using my handy hair drier to dry the paint.

Download your templates below.