Turkey Puppets

Paper Bag Turkey:)

 We had a blast this week making these adorable turkey puppets! This activity focused cutting, pasting, spatial awareness, body awareness, fine motor and gross motor skills. 

 



Turkey Puppet

Supplies:

• Paper bag
• Brown tissue paper
• Construction paper (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, white, black)
• Scissors
• Glue Stick
• Turkey template

Turkey Template:



Paper Bag Turkey Puppet Template



 

After my students finished making their turkey puppets, they had fun flying them around the therapy gym while singing our favorite turkey songs:)

Favorite Turkey Songs:



Hello Mr. Turkey

("If you're happy and you know it")

Hello, Mr. Turkey, how are you?!

Hello, Mr. Turkey, how are you?!

With a gobble, gobble, gobble

and a wobble, wobble, wobble

Hello, Mr. Turkey how are you?

Hello, Mr./Ms. (insert student's name here), how are you?!

Hello, Mr./Ms. (insert student's name here), how are you?!

With a gobble, gobble, gobble

and a wobble, wobble, wobble

Hello, Mr./Ms. (insert student's name here) how are you?!
 

 

The Turkey Ran Away

("The Farmer and the Dell")

The turkey ran away

Before Thanksgiving Day.

He said they'll make a roast of me,

If I decide to stay!

Turkey Puppets

 

Happy Thanksgiving!
Lauren

Sweet Baby! Cotton Burp Cloth Tutorial

Sweet Baby! With a few little ones scheduled to arrive any day now, I am a busy bee sewing my little heart out.  I saw a set of these darling burp cloths in a boutique window.  Since these cloths are such an adorably useful gift I decided to try to make a few sets for my soon-to-be Mom friends:)

Sweet Baby Cotton Burp Cloths

Supplies:

• Cloth diapers (I purchased 6 ply, pre-folded which are absorbent and durable)
• Cotton fabric 
• Ribbon
• Scissors
• Straight pins
• Cardboard
• Iron
• Spray starch
• Measuring tape or board

Supplies: cloth diapers, fabric and ribbon

Pre-wash and dry the cloth diapers in order to pre-shrink.  I used my iron to eliminate any wrinkles. 

To create an ironing template, cut out a 4" x 18" cardboard piece from a cardboard box. I used thin cardboard from the top of a shirt box. 

 4 inches wide

18 inches long

Cardboard ironing template (4 "x 18")  

Cut the fabric to fit the width of the center strip of the diaper.  Be sure to measure the fabric pieces to be slightly larger than the cardboard piece with each fabric piece measuring approximately 6" x 19".

Fabric measuring approximately 6 "x 19"

Place the fabric face down with the cardboard piece on top in the middle. Then lightly spray starch along the edges of fabric. Fold the fabric over the edges of the template in order to create a straight edge around the perimeter with the corner pieces tucked in neatly. 

Iron fabric using template

Crisp fabric edges

Remove the template and place the fabric along the center of the cloth with the pattern side up and the edges tucked.  Pin the edges in place. 

Pin fabric in place

Stitch along the edges.  I used a zig-zag stitch with the tension on the machine set at approximately 4, the stitch length set at 2 and the stitch width set at 3.  According to my sewing bible, for a neat zig-zag stitch the tension should be set at 4 or less with a stitch length set at 3 or below.

Zig-zag stitch along pin line

As a finishing touch, measure a coordinating ribbon strip to fit each end of the cloth.  Carefully straight stitch along the edges of the ribbon to secure.


Stitch along edges of ribbon

Ribbon added to edges
 

These burp cloths are such a fun gift and will definitely come in handy for the new Moms!  My sewing skills are less than perfect and I definitely am learning as I am sewing along but my burp cloths turned out so cute and were the perfect addition to my baby gifts:)

Cotton Burp cloths:)

Burp Cloth Sets

Sweet Baby Burp Cloths:)

Lauren

Gobble,Gobble! Turkey Lacing

Gobble, Gobble! My students have been having a terrific time with turkeys all month long! They had a blast lacing up some wild and crazy turkeys last week:) Lacing is a challenging and creative activity that promotes the development of the fine motor and visual motor skills needed to perform functional tasks.  Lacing promotes bilateral coordination, hand-eye coordination, grip strength, finger dexterity, spatial awareness, sequencing steps, and accuracy. 


Gobble, Gobble!

Supplies:

• Turkey template
• construction paper (red, orange, yellow, white, black, brown) 
• yarn
• hole punch
• newspaper or tissue paper
• tape
• glue stick

Turkey Lacing Template

 

Turkey Lacing:)

Preparation:  For my lacing projects, each student's gets two templates identically hole punched and tied together through one of the holes with a piece of yarn long enough to lace in a front-to-back pattern along the template.  For example, if you are preparing this activity for 20 students, you will need 40 paper turkeys and 20 pieces of yarn cut to fit.

After the turkey bodies are cut, hole punched and with a generous piece of yarn.  Don't forget to add a small piece of tape to the end of each yarn piece so it will be easier to manage and to thread through the holes.  As you can see, I try to incorporate cutting practice into most treatment activities so for this project I decided to cut the eyes, beak, gobbler, wings and feet and trace 6 feathers per turkey on red, orange, and yellow construction paper for the students to cut out themselves.  

Intervention: The students begin by lacing their turkeys.  It is important that the student's focus on lacing each hole, sequencing one-at-a-time in a clockwise (or counter clockwise) pattern and remembering to pull the string fully through each hole so there is enough yarn to lace through the whole pattern.  I usually cue my students to continue lacing along the pattern until there are only about 3 open holes toward the top.  

Next, give each student a piece of newspaper to tear into small pieces, crumble and stuff into the turkey...kind of like stuffing the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.  I love this part of the activity because it really targets bilateral coordination and motor planning and the kids really love tearing the paper and stuffing the turkey to be fat and tasty!  


After stuffing the turkey, lace the remaining holes, secure with a knot or bow and trim away excess yarn.  Have the students use scissors to cut out the traced feathers. Once the feathers are cut out,  have the students use a glue stick to paste turkey's body parts; working on spatial awareness and sequencing.  Throughout this part of the activity I am usually giving cues as to where the body parts go, such as singing ('Mat Man' cues)  "The turkey has two eyes, two eyes, two eyes, the turkey has two eyes so that he can see" OR "The eyes go at the top, the eyes go at the top, high-ho did you know, the eyes go at the top.  So that he can see, so that he can see, high-ho did you know, the eye go at the top.  

Wild Turkeys!

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!
 

For my students working on written communication, they had fun creatively writing about their little turkeys!

Turkeys!

Gobble, Gobble! Crazy Turkeys!

Wacky Turkey!

 
Happy Thanksgiving!
Lauren

 

Oh Baby! Flannel Burp Cloths Tutorial

Oh Baby! A few of my dear girlfriends are expecting little ones anytime now and since I just got a handy, dandy sewing machine, I thought I would test my new found sewing skills by making some flannel burp cloths that they can use as they are feeding their little bundles:)

Oh Baby! Flannel Burp Cloths

As far as my sewing skills are concerned, I am definitely learning as I am going along.  I took an intro. sewing class that covered the basics. Practice definitely makes perfect so I will most likely be practicing my sewing skills all Winter long! Watch out family and friends, you will probably be receiving some handmade gifts:)  I wish I could say that the burp cloths were my first official sewing project but I made some pillow slip covers last week for my Sister.  It's too bad I didn't snap any photos because the three pillows I made turned out great!

Attached below is the template for these simple to sew burp cloths.  

Flannel Burp Cloth Template 1 of 2 (print/cut 2 copies for end pieces)

Flannel Burp Cloth Template 2 of 2 (print/cut one middle piece)

Supplies (to make a set of 4 burp cloths):

• Sewing thread (I use 100% polyester thread) 
• 1 yard of coordinating flannel (1/2 yard of each pattern) 
• Quilt batting (I use Warm and Natural) 
• Scissors
• Straight pins 
• burp cloth template

I use soft flannel to make my burp cloths.  Using the template,  cut three identical pieces (two pieces from the flannel and one piece from the batting.

Cut 3 pieces from burp cloth template

Layer the two flannel pieces (face to face) and then layer the batting on top. Use straight pins to secure the pieces approximately 1/4 inch from the edge.

Layer flannel pieces face-to-face and then place batting on top

Starting at one of the curved edges, stitch along the pins leaving about a 1/4 inch seam.  It can be very tricky to sew along the curved corners and I find myself stopping my machine and realigning often to be sure the edges are lined up evenly. 

Stitch 3 layers of cloth together along pinned edge

Stitched along the perimeter of the layered cloths (making sure to catch all there layers) until you reach the end of the last curve and stop the stitch leaving approximately a 2 to 3 inch opening. 

Removed the cloth from the machine and turn it inside out so the pattern is now on the outside.  Straight pin in the open edges and return the cloth to the machine to top stitch the remaining cloth closed.  

Turn cloth inside out and top stitch closed

Before gifting, I washed and dried the burp cloths so they would be soft and comfy:)

I tied up each set of burp cloths with a pretty bow and added them to my baby gifts.  My flannel burp cloths are less than perfect but they are very cute and will definitely serve their important purpose of cleaning-up all of the new little ones:)

Flannel Burp Cloths

Flannel Burp Cloths

Lauren

Queen of Hearts Costume

Queen of Hearts and Clark Kent

Happy Halloween! I decided to be the Queen of Hearts for Halloween this year and since I have become quite crafty, I decided to take a chance and make my own costume:)  Tulle is one of my favorites! I use it a lot to make bows for gifts (I will post how to make a tulle bow next time I am wrapping a present).

Inspired by some cute and pretty pricey tulle costumes I found on Etsy, I decided to try my luck at making the skirt for my costume out of tulle.  Tulle is available in a variety of colors, finishes (matte,shinny, glittered) and is very easy to work with.

Supplies:

• 10 to 12 yards of shinny tulle (I used approximately 2 yds. yellow, 2 yds. white, 4 yds. red, 4 yds. black)
• 1 inch wide pajama elastic 
• 1 sheet (12 x 12) red stiffened felt 
• 1 sheet (16 x 16) gold glittered card stock 
• 1 spool of 1 1/2 inch wide red satin ribbon
• Heart stencil or cookie cutter 
• Tacky glue 
• Scissors
• Measuring board or tape measure 

First, I measured the elastic piece to fit securing around my upper torso (just below my chest).  I cut off the excess elastic and I secured the elastic in place by over lapping the ends and sewing across the band.  Remember, you want a snug fit and the elastic is very stretchy so don't worry too much if your elastic piece looks too small, you don't want to be pulling up your skirt all night long.

Securing the Elastic 

Next, I used my measuring board and scissors to cut the tulle into 72 inch x 7 inch strips. This is an  approximation so don't worry about being too precise, you can eye ball it if you don't having a tape measure.  I didn't want my dress to drag on the floor so if you prefer a longer skirt, just cut the strips as long as you like.


Then, I simply secured the tulle strips along the elastic band by folding each strip in half and loop tying around the elastic. The tulle strips should be approximately 36 inches long when folded in half.  To loop tie, place the looped side behind the elastic band and pull the two loose ends through the hole.


I secured the yellow tulle first as a starting point, this is the front of the skirt.  Once the yellow tulle was in place, I added the white tulle strips evenly to each side of the yellow.  I then filled around the sides and back alternating with the black and red tulle.

Loop Tied Tulle

As a finishing touch, I measured the red satin ribbon around the waist, leaving extra length on each side to tie a bow at the front of the skirt.  I folded the ribbon in half to find the middle and pinned it to the elastic waist band at the back of the skirt.  I straight stitched the ribbon to the back of the waist band to secure.  Then I brought the ribbon pieces back around (like a belt) and tied a ribbon at the front of the skirt to the side.

I used my heart cookie cutter to trace four hearts on to the red felt.  After cutting the hearts out, I used tacky glue to secure the hearts down the center of the yellow tulle.

Hearts 

I cut out a crown from the gold glittered card stock and glued, then stapled the two ends together to secure.  I hot glued some hair pins to the inside of the crown.

I completed my Queen of Hearts ensemble by wearing a black long sleeved top, black leggings and kitten heels.  I added earrings and my glittered crown and my costume was complete!

Happy Halloween! 

Lauren