Thanksgiving Placemats

November and December are two of my favorite teaching months, despite being a chaotic time. I love sharing and creating new classroom traditions with my minis. This week we worked on our Thanksgiving place mats; they always turn out to be adorable.
First, each student started with manila paper, crayons, and leaf die cuts. Any color you want could be used for the place mat. I personally like using manila paper since it's more neutral and seems less likely to clash with the leaves and pictures.

A huge thanks to my assistant who held the place mat up for me to get a decent picture. I kept getting weird shadows when I laid it flat on the table. I have a feeling I'm going to end up out on Black Friday in search of a digital camera...

Next, we headed outside to take pictures. Thankfully the weather was pleasant although a bit windy. It's currently FREEZING in North Texas. Look at those adorable faces! 

I uploaded the pictures to Walgreen's instead of using my printer. I only had to spend around $4.50 for all of the pictures. The minis then glued their pictures in the middle of the place mats and my amazing room mom had them all laminated and cut. 

Ta-da! A quick and easy Thanksgiving activity that costs next to nothing. My class will take these home next week after Grandparent's Day.