'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

Image from Amazon.com

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving, written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey, begins the day before Thanksgiving as a group of eight students embarks on a field trip to a turkey farm. All is fine and dandy until the children discover what is to become of Farmer Mack Nuggett's turkeys later that night...they will become turkey dinner. Children ages 3-8 will love this cute story told with the same shell as the original 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. Don't worry there's a happy ending for all, well except maybe Farmer Mack Nuggett. It received two thumbs up from my four year old as he exclaimed, "Read it again! Read it again!"

10 Activities for Thanksgiving Break

Being a teacher, I am more than looking forward to five full days of visiting family and hanging out with my children and husband. However, after two or three days entertaining the kiddos may prove to be a challenge. Here are some great ideas to keep them busy and off the couch.

1. Make a Noodle Necklace

Soak different kinds of pasta in rubbing alcohol with food coloring to achieve colored beads. Simply place dry pasta in a plastic container and put in enough rubbing alcohol to fully cover the pasta. Add liquid food coloring into the rubbing alcohol (I used 6 drops) and let sit overnight. The next day, drain your pasta and place on a towel for 2 hours to dry. Then string your new beads on some ribbon (or yarn, but yarn is itchy on little necks) to make a noodle necklace. This is great for fine motor growth and practicing patterns. My little guy created this "red, green, wagon wheel" pattern all by himself!

2. Paper Bag Puppets

Create paper bag Native American and Pilgrim puppets using feathers and construction paper and act out the story of the First Thanksgiving prior to your Thanksgiving feast.

3. Native American Vest

Begin by cutting along one of the sides of a brown paper grocery bag. Once you reach the bottom of the bag cute the bottom off. Fold the remaining strip of a bag in half and cut a semi-circle out for the head. Draw a fancy belt and let your child color it in using an AB pattern. Your child can also decorate the vest with Native American symbols or picture writing. Add your noodle necklace and make a headband with feathers and you will have your own little Native American.

4. Picture Writing

Native Americans used picture symbols to record stories and events instead of having an alphabet and words like we use. You can use pictures to create your own story or just draw symbols for fun. My son drew a bear claw, arrow, river and mountains to tell a story about hunting a bear with a bow and arrow, hmmm, retelling of the Disney movie Brave perhaps? If you do a google search for Native American picture symbols you will find a ton of symbols along with their meanings. We wrote on a paper bag because Native Americans had animal hide to write on instead of paper for a more authentic experience.

5. Weave A Placemat

Need placemats for the kids table? These are very festive and great for little fingers. Fold a brown piece of construction paper in half and make vertical cuts about an inch apart until you reach almost the end of the paper. Then weave 1 inch strips of construction paper over and under the cuts you made. Vary the over and under pattern with each new strip until you reach the end of the cuts. My four year old son loved this!

6. Draw A Turkey

Follow the steps above to have your child draw his/her own turkey. My son painted his turkey when he finished drawing, for a nice colorful picture.

7. Read A Thanksgiving Book

Image from Amazon.com

One of my favorite things to do when I have extra time with my kids is read. This book is a definite Thanksgiving favorite, but I also love Turk and Runt by Lisa Wheeler. Check out more of my favorite books in the Recommended Reads section of my web-site.

8. Make A Pumpkin Smoothie

It tastes like frozen pumpkin pie. I used The Pioneer Woman's recipe for Pumpkin Smoothies, with a few minor tweaks (I just couldn't help myself). I added honey because it wasn't very sweet when I made it with just frozen pumpkin puree, milk and vanilla flavored yogurt. I bet it would taste even better if you substituted vanilla ice cream for the yogurt and added a dollop of whipped cream on top? I didn't do that, I'm just saying I bet it would be delicious.

9. Stuff A Turkey

Follow the instructions on my Stuff A Turkey post to create this cute little guy complete with feather hands.

10. Dance Like A Turkey and Sing a Turkey Song

Get a little silly after your Thanksgiving Feast, flap your wings, strut around and gobble, gobble, gobble. You can also sing a turkey rhyme. My favorite turkey rhyme to date is "I'm Glad I'm Not A Turkey." My son came home singing it last week and I had to look up the words. It had me chuckling out loud.

"I'm Glad I'm Not a Turkey"

(tune: Did You Ever See A Lassie?)

I'm glad I'm not a turkey, a turkey, a turkey.

I'm glad I'm not a turkey on Thanksgiving Day.

They'll cook you and baste you.

And then they'll all taste you.

I'm glad I'm not a turkey on Thanksgiving Day!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Chewy Chocolate Candy Cookies

Being that my name is Mrs. Fields and that I live with two mini-cookie monsters, I am always on the hunt for a good cookie recipe. I'm pretty selective with my cookie making, so when I see a cookie recipe it has to A) look amazing and B) not be too complicated. I'm busy so I simply don't have time to make bad or super involved cookies. I usually find my cookies of choice while watching my favorite Food Network stars, so you can imagine my surprise when I was flipping through one of the latest issues of People magazine and came across M&M's Ultimate Chocolate Cookies (yes, I like to catch up on celebrity gossip every now and again). When the cookie jar was empty this weekend, I knew that these were the next cookies to fill it up. Plus I had lots of leftover M&M's from Halloween that I really needed to get rid of.

I told you! I love chocolate, but I've had enough candy to last me until next Halloween I think, and my kids have all but forgotten that it exists, well, that is until they see it. When I asked my four year old son to empty out all of the packets of M&M's to put into cookies, he said, "Dis is fancaskick!"

Of course, while he was emptying them he popped a few in his mouth and said, "I'm just tastin dese to see what dey taste like." I'm sure he had forgotten, right? While he was emptying the packets, I got the rest of the ingredients together. I only made a couple of improvements to the actual recipe.

You need all of the usual suspects: butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, baking soda and salt. Plus a few extras: cocoa powder and M&M's. Then, follow your typical cookie recipe. Cream the butter and sugars.

Then add the eggs and vanilla.

Next, mix the dry ingredients together (flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt). Recipes, including this one always say sift, but I never sift, my little sous chef whisks and the cookies always turn out tasty.

After whisking, slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until combined.

Now, comes the fun. Add the M&M's. The recipe actually calls for 1 3/4 cup of MINI M&M's but I used regular M&M's because that's what I had. Plus I honestly thought the picture had regular M&M's in it. They looked full sized to me. I would imagine that you could use other small candies (Reese's pieces, Heath or Snickers bar crumbles, etc).

I decided to stir in the M&M's so they wouldn't get mashed up by the mixer. My son wanted to sprinkle them into the dough, which did take a while. After adding the M&M's you have to chill the dough for at least an hour. I think we made it that long? Then bake at 350 degrees for precisely 11 minutes.

I really recommend eating them straight out of the oven while they are still warm, with a large glass of milk of course.

M&M's Chocolate Cookies

2 sticks Butter

1 cup Granulated Sugar

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

2 large Eggs

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

2 1/4 cup All-purpose Flour

1/3 cup Cocoa Powder

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 3/4 cup M&M's or other Candy

1. Cream butter and both sugars until well blended.

2. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix to combine.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together. Then slowly add these ingredients into the butter mixture and mix to combine.

4. Fold in M&M's or other candy.

5. Chill dough 1 hour or overnight.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.

7. Enjoy warm with a large glass of milk!

Turk and Runt

Turk and Runt written by Lisa Wheeler and illustrated by Frank Ansley, is a Thanksgiving story told from the side of the turkey. Turk is a large talented turkey, with hopes of being chosen for a lead part in swan lake or on the Thanksgiving Day football team. However, his smarter, much smaller brother Runt knows how the holiday works. He outsmarts several turkey buyers and keeps his brother safe, until a little old lady spies a perfect little turkey that's just her size. Will Runt's family figure out the truth about Thanksgiving before it's too late for poor little Runt? This is a great picture book for young children who will just think it's a cute story to older children who will understand the humor of the situation. It may even have you thinking like my four year old son, "But why doesn't the turkey want to be eaten?" Very good question.

Image from Amazon.com