Cookie Sheet Gratitude Tree and Christmas Countdown

I know it's late... November is over!

Here are the activities we did last month.

This first one you can do... for Christmas, then pick up the tree part next year!

I'll start with this... last year we made these countdown trees.

I bought dollar store cookie sheets.  We cut out large triangles from patterned paper and a small rectangle from brown paper.  We punched 24 circles, wrote numbers on them.  We laminated them then put little sticky magnets on the back of them.  We did this part while the Mod Podge was drying.  Attach the tree with glue, then put a coating over it to protect it.  I punched holes at the top with my Crop-a-Dile (the thing is the bomb!), then strung ribbon through. 

So, this year I asked the girls to bring these back, of course I cursed myself for doing this as that meant each of us would have to dive into our piles of Christmas stuff!  Only a couple of us did!  Good thing the pan is only $1!

We turned these over and made gratitude trees in November.

To start we painted our own tree designs on the pan.  I drew one on the chalkboard to give the girls an idea.

While the paint was drying we cut out leaves.  No laminating, no magnets for this tree.  Each year the leaves and what they contain with change so you can stick them on with stick tac. 

After the paint is dry go over it with Mod Podge to seal it.  Use the same holes and the same ribbon and hang this up where everyone can add leaves, with a blessing... until your tree is full!

Our second activity last month was to prepare for Thanksgiving.  We sat and studied about the holiday.  We read and discussed this information...

Then we played a little Jeopardy game to quiz the girls.  We asked them these questions and they each wrote down answers.  If they got them right they got a treat.  We ended up doing multiple choice.  They had a great time and we ALL learned a bunch about this holiday we celebrate.