So, what's the best part of Thanksgiving? I know -- the food! However, Thanksgiving is really much more than that and by taking part in this fun family activity, you can help your children understand the bigger importance of this holiday.

This Thanksgiving, create a "Thankful Turkey". Take a big, brown paper bag and create a body. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, and you certainly don't have to be an artist. I did this simply by cutting a big circle for the main part of the body, long rectangle for the neck, and smaller circle for the head. I also cut a beak out of orange paper and a red wavy strip for the wattle. Glue or tape all of you pieces together to make your turkey.

Next, choose a spot in your home where you can hang your "Thankful Turkey". In our home, we chose to put our turkey on the inside of the front door. Hang up your turkey proudly!

After your turkey is hung (certainly something that our real feathered friends would not be too happy about), you will not want to cut out a bunch of colored "feathers" from paper. We used construction paper for our feathers, but any colored paper will work. You can even use white paper and have your children decorate the feathers with crayons.

On these colored feathers, have each member of your family writes things that they are thankful for. One way to do this is to just give each family member a set amount of feathers and instruct them to write one thing that they are thankful for on each feather. Another version is to have each family member fill out at least one a day, at the end of their day, all the way until Thanksgiving. You can even set up a basket with extra feathers for guest to fill out and if you plan to have company over for Thanksgiving, be sure to have them get in on the fun!

After feathers are filled out, they are to be taped (or otherwise secured) to the turkey body. Before you know it, your turkey will no longer be bald, but he will be full of color and gratitude! Enjoy your "Thankful Turkey" and be sure to take the time to read what everyone writes on their feathers. If your "Thanksful Turkey" is just too big to store for future memories, take pictures of your "Thankful Turkey" to remember in the years to come.

©2001 Brandie Valenzuela