When I taught preschool one of the traditions we had every year was making a Thankful Candle with each of the children. Now that I am director of Little Builder's Preschool, a ministry of Youth With a Mission (YWAM), we are bringing this fun & easy craft back to the table. This is a very fun and easy craft activity that the kids loved and it is a great opportunity for us to talk about being thankful and to pray over each child as we were making the candle. This has always been a favorite of all of our students, staff and parents every year!

SUPPLIES:
15-Bean Soup Mix* (dried bean soup mix found in your grocery store) need 1 per candle
White Glue
Candle (we used various fall colors)
paper plate (1 per candle)
wax paper ** MUST USE (other types will not work!)
metal mixing bowl (metal is easist to clean and reuse)
metal mixing spoon

To begin, pour the soup mix into the metal mixing bowl and add enough glue to generously cover. Mix the soup and glue together really well making sure that all of the beans are thoroughly coated. Children can help by adding the ingredients and mixing as well. 

Once you have a pretty solid base you can then insert the candle into the top in the middle of the mound. This will need some more squeezing as the beans will shift with the insertion of the candle. 

Once you are complete with this step, your project should still have the wax paper holding everything in place. Give this a couple of hours to dry and then you can peal back the wax paper. The complete candle will not be dry yet. If the beans start coming off with the wax paper, squeeze it back into it's shape and wait a few more hours.

After you have removed the wax paper, place the candle back down on the center of the paper plate (the glue on the bottom is still wet and will glue itself to the plate creating a solid, flat base for the candle). Allow this to dry completely (a few days).

When the beans are all dry you can cut the paper plate to fit the base of the candle. Add a construction paper leaf with a cute poem, story or verse about being thankful. Use as a table centerpiece or mantle decoration for Thanksgiving. It can be stored and used year after year. The kids from our preschool would always beg their parents once Thanksgiving came around to pull out & decorate their house with their candles & some of the kids who had been in our school for all 4 years along with their siblings before them would have enough candles to decorate the entire house; mantle, table, front steps & kitchen included. 

* You can use any of the dried bean soup mixes, not just the 15-bean soup. We reccommend this because it has a variety of colors. Pick out the soup mix with colors you like. 

What are some fun Thanksgiving Traditions your family has? Do you make handprint turkeys or paint fall leaves? I'd love to hear about it. Leave a comment below. 

When I taught preschool we always made Christmas presents for the parents.  Of course, all parents LOVE anything with their little one's handprints or footprints on them so whenever we could incorporate these into a present we would make it happen.  My four year olds loved getting messy so for Christmas that year, we decided to paint a LChristmas Tree Hanging craft.  Here is how we did it:  

SUPPLIES:
burlap (this can be purchased at a fabric store or Walmart stores in the fabric dept)
2 wooden dowels (the thickness doesn't really matter)
Craft Paint (NOT WASHABLE) - Red, Green and Yellow
old paint clothes (since the paint is not washable, protect your clothing)
hot glue gun with glue sticks
Christmas Ribbon

INSTRUCTIONS:
To begin, make sure that your work surface and child is fully protected as this paint is NOT WASHABLE. Cut the burlap to fit the wooden dowels. Lay the burlap out. Place a bead of hot glue along the edge and center one wooden dowel on top of glue. Continue gluing until the dowel is wrapped completely in burlap. Repeat for the bottom.

Once you have your "wall hanging" you are ready to paint. You are going to want to paint "upside down" meaning you are going to be painting with the fingers up but when hung, the fingers will be pointing down. To do this, you simply place the "top" of the burlap closest to your body and the "bottom" of the burlap away from you. 

Starting with the green paint, paint your child's hand completely and paint a row of hand prints near the "bottom" of the burlap (furthest away from you). Make sure that you reload your child's hand with paint often. Making a pyramid, move up one row and repeat, the number of hands getting smaller and smaller. Repeat until you have only one hand print at the top. (see picture for clearer understanding). Wash the green paint completely from their hands and move on the next task.

With the red paint, simply paint the fingertips or the thumbprint in red and have the child paint the "ornaments" on the tree. 

For the star at the top, you can either paint freehand with a paint brush or you can use your child's hand print (this time with the fingers facing UP, opposite than the tree). Simply cover the hand in yellow paint and place hand on top of tree. You can also use a star sponge. 

After the painting is completely dry, you can write the child's name and date on the bottom of the hanging with a sharpie and glue some Christmas ribbon to the dowel to create a way to hang this wonderful Christmas surprise. 

Like this? Make sure you check out our other Preschool Crafts.  Here are a few to get you started:

• Thankful Candle

While I was visiting my family in Alabama during November I was able to spend some time at my Dad's house in Tuscaloosa.  As I approached the entry door I noticed this really cool decorative pumpkin hanging.  As I looked closer, I realized it was simply burlap that had been cut & painted to look like a pumpkin.  It was so super cute & seemed so super easy to recreate.  As I was wandering around the house I saw several other versions of this type of decor; a cross here and a welcome plaque there.  Here is what I have come up with as the easiest way to recreate this artwork. 

Supplies:  
Burlap
Paint (non-washable, any desired color)
White Glue
plastic grocery bag 


Simply cut out burlap in desired shape (need 2 of the shape to sandwich them together).  
Paint background solid with a mixture of paint & white glue.  
Paint the desired design.  You can use puff paint or paint sticks to add details.
Once dry, hot glue the edges together leaving a space on one edge to stuff. 
Stuff the inside with plastic grocery bags to desired poorness. 
Secure opening with hot glue. 

To hang, simple add some decorative wire with beads or some ribbon. 
You can also use on a table with a picture holder. 
Consider doing separate designs on each side so it is versatile. *the pumpkin had "Boo!" written on the back.

This artwork can be used indoor or outdoor.  

Happy crafting!! ~ Sheril

When I taught preschool one of the traditions we had every year was making a Thankful Candle with each of the children. This was a very fun and easy craft activity that the kids loved and it was a great opportunity for us to talk about being thankful and to pray over each child as we were making the candle. This was a favorite of all of our students, staff and parents every year!

SUPPLIES:
15-Bean Soup Mix* (dried bean soup mix found in your grocery store) need 1 per candle
White Glue
Candle (we used various fall colors)
paper plate (1 per candle)
wax paper
metal mixing bowl (metal is easist to clean and reuse)
metal mixing spoon


To begin, pour the soup mix into the metal mixing bowl and add enough glue to generously cover. Mix the soup and glue together really well making sure that all of the beans are thoroughly coated. Children can help by adding the ingredients and mixing as well. 

Once you have the bean/glue mixture complete, it is time to prepare the plate. If you are doing more than one, write on the bottom of the plate in the center, the name of the child and the date. Lay a sheet of wax paper on top of the plate and fill with the bean/glue mixture. Gather up the edges of the wax paper and start to squeeze the mixture into a pyramid/mound-type shape. You will need to squeeze pretty hard and we always had the children help and say things they were thankful for as they were squeezing. By doing this, you are molding the beans and glue into a base for the candle. 

Once you have a pretty solid base you can then insert the candle into the top in the middle of the mound. This will need some more squeezing as the beans will shift with the insertion of the candle. 

Once you are complete with this step, your project should still have the wax paper holding everything in place. Give this a couple of hours to dry and then you can peal back the wax paper. The complete candle will not be dry yet. If the beans start coming off with the wax paper, squeeze it back into it's shape and wait a few more hours.

After you have removed the wax paper, place the candle back down on the center of the paper plate (the glue is still wet and will glue itself to the plate creating a solid, flat base for the candle). Allow this to dry completely (a few days).

When the beans are all dry you can cut the paper plate to fit the base of the candle. Add a construction paper leaf with a cute poem, story or verse about being thankful. Use as a table centerpiece or mantle decoration for Thanksgiving. Can be stored and used year after year.


* You can use any of the dried bean soup mixes, not just the 15-bean soup. We reccommend this because it has a variety of colors. Pick out the soup mix with colors you like.