If you’ve got a child in preschool or elementary, it’s likely they’re coming home before Thanksgiving with a handprint painted to look like a turkey. Handprint turkeys are, let’s be honest, as much a part of the season as pumpkin spice and turkey stuffing.
Much-loved though the hand-turkey is, surely there are more interesting Thanksgiving crafts for kids out there? We’ve come up with five to help keep little hands busy over the holiday weekend.
Thanksgiving Banner
This is a great craft for prereaders, who have to arrange the letters of the banner in order to spell out the right message. You’ll need:
- Enough large foam craft letters spell out Thanksgiving, Give Thanks, or similar sentiments
- Hole punch
- Red or Gold ribbon.
Use the hole punch to make holes in the top of the foam letters, and help children string them onto the ribbon to spell out Thanksgiving messages. Tie off the ribbon ends and hand the banner on a door or wall.
Personalized Thanksgiving Placemats
Personalized placemats give the dinner table a warm, family-oriented look, and can be taken home by each guest. You’ll need:
- Muslin
- Pinking shears
- Thick brown yarn
- White glue
- Acrylic paint in fall colors.
Cut muslin into 14” x 18” rectangles with the pinking shears for the placemats. Thin white glue with an equal amount of water in a bowl. Have the child dip a 1-inch piece of brown yarn in the bowl, and squeeze out most of the moisture. Position the yarn vertically about 4 inches in from the left side of the placemat. This piece of yarn will be the trunk of a tree.
Dip smaller pieces of yarn into the glue/water mixture, squeeze out the moisture, and stick them onto the tree to make branches. Let dry completely.
Dip the bottom of the cork into the paint and use it to stamp “leaves” around the branches. Use reds, golds, and yellows to hint at fall colors.
Turkey Gourd Centerpieces
When it comes to fun Thanksgiving gifts for kids, few crafts are as cute as these ornamental gourd centerpieces. All you need is a long-necked ornamental gourd that will sit on its base with the “neck” raised up. Using the stem as the beak, help the child position two cloves for the turkey’s eyes, and place on a plate with an orange napkin behind it folded into a fan for the turkey’s tail.
Leaf Wreath
Bright and colorful, this wreath will welcome guests into your home. All you need are:
- Artificial leaves
- White glue
- Glitter in golds and reds
- Paper plate
- Scissors and paint brushes.
Fold the paper plate in half and cut out the middle to make a base for the wreath. Using the paintbrush, kids paint white glue over the artificial leaves and sprinkle glitter over them. Let dry, and glue the leaves onto the paper plate to make a wreath.
Toilet Roll Turkey
Thanksgiving crafts for kids can be fun as well as ornamental, as this kooky toilet roll turkey shows. You’ll need:
- Toilet roll
- Red, orange, and yellow construction paper
- Googly eyes
- Glue
- Scissors
- Brown paint.
Paint the toilet roll brown and let it dry. Cut 2-3 turkey tail feathers out of each type of construction paper. You’ll also want to cut a small triangle for the beak from the yellow paper, a peanut-shaped wattle from the red paper, and two feet from the orange paper.
Children can tape the “feathers” into a fan on the back of the turkey. Glue the googly eyes, beak, wattle, and feet to the front.
