3 Fun Thanksgiving Crafts To Make With Kids

Pinecone Turkey

Take your children for a nature walk to collect pinecones. While they can also be purchased in craft stores, it's more fun to go out and find them yourself.

Place pinecones in a brown paper bag and microwave for one minute. This kills any insects or larvae that are living in the pinecones.

What you need:

Newspaper to cover your work area

Orange and white felt

1 styrofoam ball for each turkey

Autumn colored construction paper

White glue

Red pipe cleaner

Paintbrush

Brown paint

How to do it:

Draw feathers on Autumn-colored construction paper

Help your child cut them out

Glue feathers to large end of pinecone, creating a fan shape

Have child paint the styrofoam ball brown

Allow paint to dry thoroughly

Glue the styrofoam ball to the small end of a pinecone (push the pinecone into the styrofoam ball to ensure it is stable)

Cut turkey's eyes out of white felt

Cut turkey's beak out of orange felt

Glue beak and eyes in place

Use red pipe cleaners to form wattle

Glue wattle in place under turkey's beak

TIP:  Each child can decorate their place at the Thanksgiving table with their own pinecone turkey. If guests are bringing their children, make a pinecone turkey for each child.

Related:

Pinecone Turkey Craft Ideas

How To Cut Out Pinecone Turkey Feathers (video)

Another Pinecone Turkey Craft

 

Thanksgiving Tree Poster

Thanksgiving is a historical holiday. As we all know, the pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving to give thanks for a bountiful harvest. It's great to share this history with kids and teach them to be thankful. With this project, you can help little ones create a Thanksgiving tree poster to show others what they are thankful for. This is a tradition in our family that has been a hit since I was young.

What you need:

12" x 20" piece of cardboard

Blue and green tempra paint

Paintbrush

Autumn-colored construction paper

Scissors

White glue

Colored pencils or markers

How to do it:

Have children paint the top half of the cardboard blue for the sky and the bottom half green for the grass

Allow to dry thoroughly

Draw leaf shapes on Autumn-colored construction paper

Help child cut them out

Once the painted cardboard is dry, have child draw a tree and branches with the colored pencils or markers

If desired, children can draw animals, flowers and a stream around the tree. (My oldest grandson was the first in our family to do this and he created his own little world.)

Have the child tell you what he is thankful for

Help him print each thing on one of the leaves

Let child glue the leaves on the branches of the tree

Hang the Thanksgiving tree poster in a place where it will be seen by your Thanksgiving guests

Related:

Make A Thanksgiving Tree

Tree of Thanks

A Child's Thanksgiving Tree

Autumn Leaf Placemats

When I was in elementary school, the teacher taught our class how to make Autumn leaf placemats. Back then, they were made with wax paper. Today, there are easier ways to make leaf placemats.
When my daughter was young, I taught her how to make an Autumn leaf placemat and then a few years ago, I did this with my grandsons. They still have their Autumn leaf placemats and use them each year for Thanksgiving dinner.

 

What you need:

1 sheet of black construction paper

Colored chalk

White glue

2 sheets of contact paper 9.5" x 12"

How to do it:

Make the outline of a large leaf on the black construction paper with white glue

Allow to dry thoroughly

Have child use the colored chalk to color the inside of the leaf

If desired, use white chalk to color in the background around the leaf

Lay one sheet of contact paper on the table with the sticky side up

Center the sheet of black construction paper on top of the contact paper

Place the second sheet of contact paper sticky side down on top of the first piece. Your art will be in between the 2 sheets

Remove all air bubbles with the palm of your hand

TIP: Instead of using contact paper, you could take your child's Autumn leaf chalk drawing and have it laminated.

Related:

Make An Autumn Leaf Placemat

How To Make Fall Leaf Placemats

Another Autumn Leaf Placemat