Deirdre, Author at JDaniel4s Mom

Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog's FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.

Thanksgiving for Kids -Table Setting Ideas

November 21, 2012 By Deirdre

Thanksgiving for Kids - Table Setting for Kids

Are your children looking for ways to help you get ready for Thanksgiving? Are you looking for something for them to do while you are rushing around your house getting ready for guests? Creating Thanksgiving crafts for kids that can be used on your holiday table is a great idea. These three table setting elements are easy to put together and if children are having to make eight or ten of them could take them a little while to make.

The turkey treat cups requires only wiggly eyes, some colored sheets of foam, and a clear plastic cup. Literally all you have to do is cut out feathers and a beak out of foam. Then glue the eyes, feathers, and beak onto the plastic cup. If you have wiggly eyes and foam that have sticky backs you don’t even need glue.

The Mayflower sail straw is just a piece of white foam cut into a sail. A blue straw was laced through holes punched into the sail. If you have straws of various colors, you could have the children create a pattern of straws with sails by having every other cup of the table be the same color.

The napkin ring can be made by wrapping felt around a toilet paper tube that has been cut down. A simple turkey can be created with felt or foam. The turkey is then glued onto the felt wrapped tube. I didn’t add feet to my turkey, but you could. I bet they would look adorable.

If are looking for a more formal look for your Thanksgiving table, you might think about creating a table setting like this for Thanksgiving breakfast or the leftover snack on Thanksgiving evening.

Here some more Thanksgiving for kids activities:

Paper Plate Turkey

Building Thanksgiving Words with Letter Feathers

Lantern Turkeys

Thanksgiving Science -Sink or Float

Thanksgiving for Kids- A Cornucopia of Prayer

November 20, 2012 By Deirdre

Years ago I was taught to pray for the area I lived in, the city and state I lived in, my country and the world. It was a simple prayer exercise that lead me to pray for my family and friends as well as people around the world. My prayers became less self focused and more others focused when I prayed this way. I decided the time before Thanksgiving would be perfect to introduce this method of praying to JDaniel. Thanksgiving is a time of thankfulness and gratitude. It is a time when we spend time with family from faraway and sometimes it is a time when we travel to places beyond our everyday world. This Thanksgiving for kids activity is a great way to explore prayer.

Thanksgiving for Kids Activity

JDaniel and I constructed a cornucopia out of paper plates painted brown as a visual reminder of those prayer areas. We filled the open end of the cornucopia with fruit and vegetables. The fruit stands for fruitful prayer. The vegetables were added just to balance the fruit. I wish I had a deep reason for having them there.

My family and I having been praying from the front of the cornucopia back each night. I think it has helped us each to focus on the world around us and the world beyond us. Our prayers are not as much focused on our family now.We are also trying to keep our eyes open when we are out and about to find prayer needs in our neighborhood, city and state. It has been wonderful to see the world through eyes of prayer. The our local world is filled with blessings we can thank God for and areas of concern we can ask him help with. We world beyond the one we drive around in has been a little bit harder. We can pray for things we hear on the news or global issues like famine and lack of peace. I think we may need to choose areas of the world to focus on and read about to broaden our world view.This has been a wonderful prayer tool for my family.

If you like this Thanksgiving for kids activity, here are a few more that you will like:

Lantern Turkeys

Handprint Turkey Puppets

Turkey with Food Feathers

Turkey Hat

Lunch for Kids- Scarecrow’s Harvest Lunch

November 19, 2012 By Deirdre

Many of us will be eating a special meal on Thursday filled with harvest foods. Why shouldn’t a scarecrow or a special four year old get to have a scarecrow’s harvest lunch too? This scarecrow’s harvest lunch is filled with wonderful foods JDaniel really enjoys. Well, most of the foods in this lunch are foods he really enjoys.His head features a flour tortilla with an orange pepper smile, a cranberry nose, raisin eyes, pineapple hair, a pear hat, and a homemade granola hat band. Yes, I am still trying to get him to like peppers.The top left section holds a butterscotch and chocolate haystack cookie. My sister in law will be bringing peanut butter hay stack cookies when she comes into town on Wednesday for Thanksgiving, but JDaniel avoids peanuts and peanut butter like the plague. We made a batch of cookies that he can eat them instead. (See the recipe below.)

Top right section contains a chicken salad. There are apple pumpkins, a scattering of cranberries, and chucks of baked chicken covered in Vidalia onion salad dressing and bread crumbs. A crow on a toothpick was placed in the salad with hopes he will use it as a pick.My scarecrow looks very serious about his job. I wonder if he know that the crow is going to help his chicken salad to disappear. I am crossing my fingers that the whole meal will disappear. JDaniel is going to take this Bento to school for lunch. I won’t know until he gets home what parts of the meal he has eaten.

Here are some more fun Bento lunches for kids:

Apple Chicken Salad Bento Lunch

Lunch Ideas with LEGO

Minion Lunch with Blueberry Overalls

You will find more bento lunch ideas on my Food Creations board on Pinterest.

Gus, the Pilgrim Turkey- Read.Explore.Learn.

November 16, 2012 By Deirdre

Gus, the Pilgrim Turkey loves each and everyday to the fullest. Everyday is an adventure until he finds out that he won’t be celebrating New Year’s Eve. The animals on his farm share with him all about Thanksgiving. He hears about its history and how it is celebrated today.

Gus decided he needs to head south just as the geese do. Gus isn’t able to fly South. He has to walk.On his journey south he goes through Mexico and continues all the way to the tip of Chile. When he arrives in Chile, he stows away on boat that will take him further south.

When he is found he jumps ship and ends up with penguins. Guess what the penguins announce he is just like the pilgrims. He was looking for a new land that would give him freedom.

What did we do to explore Gus, the Pilgrim Turkey?

Gus Walking Finger Puppet

Gus, the Pilgrim Turkey- Read.Explore.Learn.

Gus needs to run away in the story to keep safe. We made a turkey finger puppet that can run away too. You just put your fingers through the back of the puppet so you can bend your fingers out the front of the turkey and make him run.

The puppet shape was cut out of an old pizza box and painted brown.

Then we added feathers, a center circle and a head with beak to the puppet to finish it up. A few black marker dots gave the turkey eyes. Then he was ready to run.

Here are some of my favorite posts from last week:

Fantastic Fun and Learning created a wonderful soldier craft after reading the book Hero Dad.

Helping Little Hands created an wonderful sculpture to go with the book The Scarecrow’s Dance. I just love it.How have you explored books this week?

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

I Am Thankful For….Bento Lunch

November 15, 2012 By Deirdre

I am so thankful to be a part of the group called Bento Bloggers & Friends. They are hosting a bento lunch hop today featuring lunches displaying things that we are thankful for. We were not supposed to feature a turkey in the lunch so, I featured one beside it.

We have so much in my family to be thankful for. The cornucopia of our life is filled with wonderful blessings.

What do we have to be thankful for? We have good food like homemade granola to eat. JDaniel and I made an autumn granola with apple butter, maple syrup, applesauce, oats, a variety of cereals and dried fruit. It is delicious!We have a home to live in. After seeing so many people recently lose there home, we so thankful that ours is safe. The cheese house represents our house including our cozy kitchen.We have amazing friends and family people in our lives. The apple people represent all the people we love.We have two cars that are over tens years old, but they both run. One stopped running temporarily last week due to the need for a new battery. We are thankful that is has a new one and now both of the cars are in great shape. The oddly shaped cheese with windows represents our cars.Cars looked that way ten years ago didn’t they?

We have wonderful church to go to and can teach our little man freely about God. The cheese cross represents that they gratitude we have for being able to do that.

We are so thankful that Jesus’ birthday is drawing near. The Chinese noodle stable with an apple manger represents how thankful we are that Christmas is so much closer than it was when JDaniel started his Christmas list last February. He has started asking almost everyday about the number of days until Christmas.

Finally we are thankful that our little night owl has adjusted to the time change finally. He spent several nights howling at the moon way past when his parents were ready to go to sleep.

As you can see we have big and little things to be thankful for. How blessed we are!

The next blog in this wonderful I Am Thankful For.. Bento Hop is BentoDays! Please stop by and check out her lunch.

Here are some more fun Bento lunches for kids:

Apple Chicken Salad Bento Lunch

Lunch Ideas with LEGO

Minion Lunch with Blueberry Overalls

What are your thankful for?

21 Days of Gratitude- Thankful for My Kitchen

November 14, 2012 By Deirdre

Yesterday I mentioned to you the 21 Days of Gratitude Challenge List. Well, during November there are bloggers sharing each day on one of the ideas or items on the list. When I signed up to participate in this project, I didn’t look at what I was signing up to share my thankfulness about. Instead I picked a day that worked best for me. Only later did I look at the topic I was going to share about. By then it was too late to change to a different day.

Did I want to change my day to something else?

Yes! I would like something easier. I can jump up and down and say that I am thankful for it.
Am I not thankful for what was on my assigned day of the Days of Gratitude challenge? Well, I am thankful, but I don’t always express my gratitude for it.What is it I am to share thanks for? The thankfulness is supposed to be for something in my kitchen.

My Focus During the 21 Days of Gratitude

Ever since I walked in the kitchen in the house my husband had built many years ago, I have wanted to change it. It is not a bad kitchen. He chose wonderful cabinets and pretty tile for the room. He had curtains made that are nicer than one I would have picked out. It is a pretty room, but it is tiny.

The house I owned before we got married had a wider kitchen with a wonderful island in the middle. It was easy to move around. One person could prep food on the island while another person got things out of the oven. You could open the dishwasher and the refrigerator at the same time if you wanted to.

We have a one butt kitchen. Only one person can be working in the main areas of the kitchen at a time. Whether it be cooking, washing dishes, opening a door or drawer. It is tight and it seems to get tighter when JDaniel wants to jump in and help.Our kitchen gets super crowded when more than four people try to eat in it too. Literally the person sitting with their back to the backyard has to ask for things to be fetched for them once they have sat down and they have to drink very little. It can be challenge to get around the table and get to the bathroom.

So, I pulled out my bible and I read about thanks.

Thinking about their losses has left me with many things to be thankful for.I am thankful for…
1 Chronicles 16:34 O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His loving kindness is everlasting.Psalm 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Then prayed for God to show me things in my kitchen to be thankful for and do you know what happened? I turned on the news and saw victims of Sandy sharing about how they had lost everything. Maybe even their one butt kitchens.

Thinking about their losses has left me with many things to be thankful for.

I am thankful for…

A refrigerator that has lasted eighteen years along with the oven and dishwasher that arrived when the fridge did.
I am thankful for new counter that God provided for last year.
The tile floor that has been so easy to clean up after JDaniel’s spills.
The small distance I have to walk to catch a milk cup falling to the ground while I am trying to get dinner ready.

21 Days of Gratitude- Thankful for My Kitchen

The space that was just the right size to fit my hutch.
The fact that I have a place to have friends and family come and share a meal.I can honesty say I don’t love my kitchen, but now I can say that I am very thankful for it.

What about your kitchen are you most thankful for?

Have you joined the 21 Days of Gratitude Challenge hosted by Inspired by Family and many other fabulous bloggers? Join us and take time to count your blessings and read their how they met their Day of Gratitude challenge!

Thanksgiving Kids- Gratitude Turkey

November 13, 2012 By Deirdre

This past Sunday I was teaching a lesson on gratitude and thankfulness to my Sunday school class of kindergartners. We were looking at how filled with thanks giving the Israelites were for all that had been given by God.

When I was brainstorming about how to help the children bring home the concepts I was teaching, the wonderful list of 21 Days of Contagious Gratitude on Inspired By Family Magazine came to mind. The list is filled with everyday items and concepts that children or anyone can be thankful for.

Why I thought couldn’t I create a turkey with feathers displaying each of the concepts covered on the list?

I created paper plate turkey head and placed it on a clothes pin to clip to the front of a basket. Then I gathered together construction paper, clothes pins, and markers to create the feathers.On each feather I wrote one of the concepts on the 21 Days of Contagious Gratitude. I change a few of the terms of their list to words I thought the kindergartners would know. Emotion was changed to feeling for example.When the children arrived in class, we talked about Thanksgiving and what it meant to us. We then talked about the story of the week on gratefulness and I pulled out our gratitude or thanks giving turkey. The thanks giving feathers were spread on floor and the children were invited to come up one at a time to select a feather and tell what they were thankful for.

They nodded their heads in agreement for most things as other children shared. They all agreed that the time of day they were thankful for wasn’t bedtime and the new baby giraffe at the zoo was everyone’s favorite animal. It was fun to hear their answers.

I can’t wait to do this with another group of students. Maybe JDaniel’s preschool teacher will let me share the activity with the class.

Until then I will be putting this thanksgiving or gratitude turkey out on our kitchen table. We will be giving thanks for each of the concepts covered on the feathers. Maybe my husband, JDaniel, and I can pick a feather each night to add to the turkey basket turkey.

The link below is an affiliate link. It was put there for your convenience.

Thanksgiving Kids Book

I love the tie children’s book to activities that we do. I can across a wonderful book to tie to this lesson called Thanks for Thanksgiving. This amazing book by Julie Markes points out that we have things everyday to be thankful for. What a wonderful lesson to share with kids at Thanksgiving time or any other time during the year.

Warning: This isn’t a story as much a a wonderful book that shares reasons for gratitude.It is just a great Thanksgiving kids book.

Teaching Kids- What is Veterans Day?

November 11, 2012 By Deirdre

Every year I take JDaniel to the memorial for veterans in our town. We bring a snack or lunch to eat as we sit on one of the granite benches before the flag memorial and talk about Veterans Day and why we celebrate it. I want him to know “What is Veterans Day ?”

When he was two and a half, I told him the people whose names were on the brick pathway were people who had tried to aid people in faraway lands that needed someone to help them and didn’t get to come back home.

When he was three and a half, we talked about how the memorial celebrates those people from our town and wanted to help others and didn’t make it home. They ended up dying where they were helping. I didn’t talk a lot about death although he understood that what death meant that year. JDaniel’s GranDan died the winter before and he really wanted to see him. I explained to him that while he might want to come see him he wasn’t able too.

This year JDaniel asked me a lot of questions about the soldiers remembered by the memorial. He wanted to know why they died, who they were, and did their families come here too. What is Veterans Day has become more than just a time to visit the memorial for him!

As we started down the path on the memorial grounds to check out all the flags that had been set out, we found someone who could answers some of his questions.

If you look closely, you will see an man down by the tree with rust leaves. We caught up to him and talked to him. He fought in the Vietnam War and had recently moved into our town from Kansas.

He told JDaniel he didn’t know any of the people that are remembered at this memorial. He came because being here helped him remember the friends he had lost in a faraway land. He told him that our country had sent him to help others and that was just what he had tried to do.

JDaniel seemed to understand a little more about why the memorial is important after that. For awhile he just walked down the path by the flags. There were hundreds scattered all across the lawn on both sides of the path.

Eventually he decided walking on the slope of rocks that leads up to the train track on the edge of the memorial was more fun and he was no longer quiet. He giggled and scurried up and down the slope. For a few moments though he took in all that we had told him.

I think our town just decided to put out as many flags as they could. The flags didn’t have a particular soldier’s names on them that had served. But I know that we could probably have covered the lawns up and down our towns main street with flags of those from around the United States that have not made it back.

So many have passed away serving our country though out the years.

I am so thankful to all who have served and to their families. Having loved one possibly in harm’s way has to be a real challenge.

JDaniel and I also talked with a lady who had stopped by the memorial to take a picture to send to her husband in Kuwait on our way to the car. Her husband will be serving there until just after Christmas. She said he would be thrilled to see how their hometown remembered its veterans. She also said she can’t wait for him to get home.

My sister Kate’s husband is heading to Afghanistan right after Thanksgiving for six months. This isn’t the first time a member of their family has been to the Middle East. My sister Kate has been there twice. I prayed for often while she was away. I worried about her often while she was serving overseas although she was on bases both times

If you have would remember to hold my sister and her family in your prayers while he is gone, I would be so grateful.

How will you be celebrating Veterans Day?

Turkey Trouble- Read.Explore.Learn

November 9, 2012 By Deirdre

The turkey in Turkey Trouble realizes that he is in trouble and decides to disguise himself as other animals on the farm. Every time he thinks he has found a winning costume a different farm animal recognizes him. He then tries to pretend he is one of them.His disguises work for him in the end! What is he at the end of the story? He is a pizza delivery man. Thank goodness the family likes pizza.

I love the turkey’s disguises. He uses upcycled costumes to keep him off the table.

Turkey Hat

We glued a set of yellow turkey legs, a turkey head with face, and a bunch of turkey feathers to a brown band of construction paper and made the cutest turkey hat.

Paper Bag Turkey

We gathered together newspaper, construction paper feathers, wiggly eyes, a turkey head and facial features made of construction paper, a paper bag, and a bread tag to make the paper bag turkey.

Then we stuffed the bag with newspaper and closed the bag with the bread tie.

The feathers were attached next to the back of the bag just above the bread tag. The opening of the bag spread out made a great support for the feathers.

JDaniel added the eyes and beak to the turkey’s head before I attached it to the front of the bag.

We ended the craft by adding his feet. I think he came out really cute.

If you like the Turkey Trouble crafts, here are some more wonderful turkey themed activities you will like:

Lantern Turkeys

Building Words with Turkey Feathers

Paper Plate Turkey Crafts

Thanksgiving Themed Sink and Float Activity

Thanksgiving for Kids- Homemade Table Settings

Cornucopia of Prayer- Craft and Activity

Science Kids- Exploring Turkey Basters

Gratitude Turkey- Each Feather Shares a Blessing

Please link your book exploration posts below.

Yes, Giving Benefits The Giver!

November 8, 2012 By Deirdre

All week long I have written about giving and yes I am writing about giving for one last time this week.

I started the week my asking you to leave comments on my posts. Each comment would be added to all the others left during the week. The total number of comments will be translated into monetary donation to Samaritan’s Purse’s effort to help the survivors of Sandy. You can read more about it in my post called Doing Something about Sandy! Helping Others.

On Monday I wrote about all the All Stars that have helped and are continuing to help the survivors of Sandy. I shared a tribute bento lunch I had made in that post.Yesterday I wrote about another Samaritan’s Purse project called Operation Christmas Child and the fun we had in putting a special box of treasures for a little boy to have a Christmas time.

How does all this giving benefit the my family and other givers?

Seven Ways Giving Benefits the Giver

Giving open our hearts up to others and their needs.
Giving allow us to see all the treasures we have been given in our lives as we shift through them looking for items that you can give to others.
Giving allow us to bestow some of our treasures on others.
Giving leads you to pray for those who will be receiving the items we are giving.
Giving shows our children that their wants can fulfill others needs.
Giving takes our everyday worries and sets them aside while we think of others.
Giving changes our hearts and allows us to see the world as a place you want to make better and not just take from.I know you are givers! I am blessed by you everyday. I hope that when you give you remember the seven things I have listed above. Realizing them as really blessed my life.
This post is linked to Alphabe Thursday!