A Fun Book (Series) & Glow-in-the-Dark Turkey Art!
After reading Natasha Wing’s “The Night Before Thanksgiving” we decided to create some Glow-in-the-Dark Turkey Art! Actually it started off as cranberry “marble” art then became something even better when my daughter chose glow-in-the-dark paint! I’m excited to walk you through how we made this simple turkey art, so let’s get started…
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Summary of “The Night Before Thanksgiving”
“The Night Before Thanksgiving” is one of the books in a lovely series of “The Night Before…” books written by Natasha Wing. This one is illustrated by Tammie Lyon. There is one for just about every holiday, and we love them all. They are all written in the melodic nature of the original “The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore.
A cheerful depiction of holidays and the traditions that usually go with them, they are a great read for kids of all ages. This one goes over what you would expect to see when celebrating Thanksgiving; pies, the parade on tv, family, turkey, etc… Definitely recommended.
How We Made Glow-in-the-Dark Turkey Art…
We tend to keep the activities as simple as possible around here. We’re not interested in complicated or costly. We are also all about fostering independence. For this activity we used cranberries to “marble” paint. Because it was cold outside we did this inside. But that made me quite anxious as I know how many “marbles” usually end up flying off the tray since we have always done it outside carefree.
Therefore, I decided it would be best to do it in the bathroom over the bathtub! Worked out brilliantly, highly recommended. My daughter chose glow in the dark paint & hot pink and not only did it come out pretty cool, it did in fact glow! While her artwork dried, she ended up taking a cranberry bath.
A Cranberry Bath?
Several painted cranberries had fallen into the tub while making this art, so we turned on the bath water and it turned into a pretty cool Thanksgiving themed bath time. We added nesting cups, a turkey baster, tongs, a scoop, and the rest of the cranberries! She had a blast measuring, pouring, scooping, collecting cranberries, etc…
We typically save our process art for other art projects, such as collages. But my daughter made a turkey using the artwork as the feathers. First, she cut out the turkey’s body from brown construction paper. Then she drew feathers on the back of the artwork and cut them out. Next, she cut a beak & feet from orange construction paper and assembled it using stick glue. Her glowing turkey is phenomenal, once under the blacklight it glowed very well. Its awesome when a project turns into something even more spectacular than you imagined.
Wait?!? Am I Supposed To Be Making One Too?
I highly recommend getting hands on and doing art projects with your child. If you’d rather not, thats okay too, but please do not correct anything they do. If you want the art to look a certain way – make your own.
Especially if your child is little, its okay if it doesn’t turn out the way you imagined. Maybe its what they imagined. Also, its a process. They are learning. They will learn more through trial and error than if you correct them or do it for them. All they will learn if you “help” is that they didn’t do a good enough job on their own or they can’t do it; not exactly the message you want to give your kid. Am I right?!?
Believe me, I know it can be really challenging to let them make “mistakes”. Try doing the project along side them. It will allow you to focus on your own work, give them appropriate modeling of how to use the materials, and show them that you like art too! A lot of what I talk about in “What about the Sensory Mess?” applies to Art projects as well, you might wanna check it out! I love how each art has its own identity. I would suggest Glow-in-the-Dark Turkey Art if you’re looking for a simple and exciting art activity to connect with your child.
Materials We Used
- “The Night Before Thanksgiving” by Natasha Wing (from the library or buy one here)
- Cranberries
- Tray
- Cardstock paper
- Glow-in-the-dark paint
- Paint
- Orange & Brown Construction paper
- Stick glue
Click HERE for Free Printable copy (Email Subscribers Only)
How to Make Glow-in-the-Dark Turkey Art?
- Place scotch tape on all four corners of the construction paper.
- Stick the construction paper to the tray.
- Squirt a drop of each color paint onto the construction paper.
- Pour some cranberries onto the tray.
- Shake and tilt the tray from side to side to roll the cranberries through the paint and make designs.
- Stop when you are satisfied with the painting.
Click HERE for Free Printable copy (Email Subscribers Only)
Wait, There’s More…
I believe you can easily strengthen communication skills and foster independence all while playing and connecting with your child. To help you do this; I’ve created a FREE printable for each activity called, “Communicating & Connecting”.
It will give you a list of suggestions I’ve found very helpful as a Mom & as a special education teacher; to help you build lifelong skills. Please don’t feel obligated to do everything on the list (but if you do, you’re a rockstar 😉 ).
As a Thank You for subscribing; this is a special FREEBIE for our Email Subscribers Only. 🙂 Click here if you’ve already subscribed. Otherwise, Sign Up below to get the password & access to our entire FREE Printables Library today! 😉
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