Thanksgiving Story Bracelet/Necklace Tutorial- **NEW** and Improved! ** FREE Printables too!!

I have seen Thanksgiving Story Bracelets all over the web. 

You can peek at a few of them here, here and here. 

So far, all of the ones I have found use colored pony beads. 

I (obviously) LOVE the idea of a bracelet designed to help children remember and retell the Thanksgiving story. 

However, these versions will not work for my Kylie. 

For young children or for those who experience Autism (literal thinkers- see this post for more info), colored pony beads are just too abstract.  There is no identifying information to them.

So, I set out to find a solution to this problem and ended up finding the most wonderful thing!!

Oriental Trading (one of my FAVORITE online stores) sells these fabulous foam beads (a few different fall styles. You can find the different styles here, here, here and here).

They are actually pictures or shapes of things pertaining to fall and Thanksgiving.

So, I have modified the Thanksgiving bracelet idea (which, due to the size of the beads, will now be a necklace) to the following representations (scroll down even further to print my FREE Thanksgiving Necklace Story Cards):

1. Pilgrim Bead:
The Pilgrims left England on September 6, 1620.  A ship called the Mayflower took them across the ocean. They traveled for 3 months in terrible weather.  It was very cold and stormy.

2. Green Cross Bead:
The Pilgrims left England because they wanted to worship God freely.  They prayed to God many times on their journey. The Pilgrims arrived at the new world on December 11, 1620

3. Hat Bead:
The Pilgrims did not have enough warm clothing or a house for the winter.  Many of the people got very sick and many died.

4. Yellow Cross Bead:
The Pilgrims prayed to God asking for help.  They needed someone to rescue them because they were far, far from the safety of England.  They were cold, hungry and needed a warm place to sleep.

5. Two Native American Beads:
In March of 1621 (spring time), God answered the Pilgrim's prayers and sent 2 Native Americans: Samoset and Squanto to the Pilgrim's camp.  Samoset and Squanto could even speak English!!

6. Purple Cross Bead:
The Pilgrims thanked God for taking care of them and for sending a Native American who could speak English.

7.  Three Candy Corn Beads:
Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to plant a garden.  He told them to put a fish and three kernels of corn under the dirt and to plant many rows just like this in their garden. 

8. Red, Green and Yellow Leaf Beads:
In the fall, the garden was ready to be harvested.  They cut down all the vegetables and brought them into the barns.

9. Corn Bead:
There was so much corn and other food that the Pilgrims invited the Native Americans for a GREAT feast to give Thanks to God.

10. Turkey Bead
The Native Americans walked for 2 days in order to come to the big dinner and brought wild turkeys for meat

11. Pumpkin Bead
The Pilgrims brought pumpkins and other fruits and vegetables.

12. Cornucopia Bead
There was a cornucopia of food.  This means that they had plenty to eat.  Everyone ate until they were full.

13. "Give Thanks" Bead
The Pilgrims and the Native Americans gave thanks together.  They were now Friends.

14. Orange Cross Bead
God took care of the Pilgrims and supplied their needs. 

15. Orange Star Bead
Just like the Pilgrims, I am thankful for...(Have child fill in the blank)

16. Green Star Bead
Just like the Native Americans, I am thankful for...(Have child fill in the blank)

17. "Shine with the Light of Jesus" Pumpkin Bead
When I am thankful I "Shine with the Light of Jesus"


And here is the finished product!!

I also made Story Cards that share what each bead stands for and laminated them.  I also attached sample beads to The Story Cards (you could print pictures too).  That way, Kylie can look to the paper for prompts.  It will also assist anyone that she is trying to communicate the story to (Kids who experience Autism often have speech difficulties as well).

 Click on the following pictures to print the Story Cards (be sure to select full page for paper size)...

Little Ones will LOVE telling you the story of their Thanksgiving Necklace!!

Enjoy!! and Happy Thanksgiving!!

November Sensory Box

She found the little scarecrow hat right away.  Love her braids!

November is finally here and although I am still basking in the glory of all that our halloween was, I am excited to start a new month. 

This month's sensory box was a bit more tough as I wanted to focus on the Pilgrims, Mayflower and Squanto (the Native American) as well as giving thanks. 

I was quite frustrated with the lack of pilgrim/thanksgiving toys available.  It is really a shame when you think about it.  I suppose stores don't want to market the toys as there is such a focus on religion, but it is also the story of our country's beginning.  It is HISTORY!!

I am especially frustrated that Squanto gets such little recognition!  He saved an entire colony of people - which means he saved America!!  (not to mention he lost his entire family in the process)

Anyway... I found ways to adapt other toys and did find a few thanksgiving themed items.  Kylie is thrilled with her new sensory box and is learning about "Squasho" (as she started to call him - had to fix that pronunciation right away- but not until we got a few laughs out of it.)

Here are some pics of our November fun and learning.

This is what Kylie woke up to on November 1st. 

The base of the box is dried peas that Kylie can scoop and pour.  Then we have fall colored pom poms, leaves, Trees, clusters of faux grapes,  pumpkins and the Fisher Price Thanksgiving set

I love the detail on this set.  Very quality toy.

The pilgrims on the "Mayflower" - I had a TERRIBLE time finding a toy that looked like the Mayflower!  I finally found an Imaginext Pirate Ship that  I could alter to look like the Mayflower.

This is actually a very fun toy.  The sails go up and down, there are three cannons that actually shoot, if you turn the discs, the crew moves, the anchor drops and retracts, the plank extends and retracts.  Kylie has loved it!



Kylie loves this long pair of tongs.  She keeps trying to transfer those itty bitty peas with them.  I showed her the scoop - thinking that would be more fun, but she insists on using the tongs.  funny girl!!

Kylie has totally mutilated her grape clusters.  I found these cute grape clusters at Dollar Tree.  They come in green and purple and are really squishy.   She has pulled all of them off their stems (and, no, they don't go back on - remember it is Dollar Tree =0).  So, I gave her a little container to keep them in.  Now, Kylie sorts them by "blueberries" and "grapes" (with green being the grapes)

Little Miss November is feeling a bit giddy over her November Sensory Bin

These are the tools, scoops, tongs and containers she gets to use to play in her Sensory Box

I found the Turkey cup and bowl in the Target dollar section

A couple of these are from the Michaels sidewalk sale - less than $1

Over the course of the month, I'll share how we play in our sensory box.  I have to be honest - I was sad to put away October's box.  I had grown pretty attached to our Icky Sticky Sensory Stuff (you can read about it here too) - what fun!!

Don't worry, I have some fun ideas for November - Stay tuned and check back often!