How to Make Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids

Thanksgiving is an all-American feast day that anyone can celebrate. Since feasts and parties demand decorations, teachers and parents are always looking for new craft ideas. Children love to be included in plans and preparations, and a simple decorative craft that they can display with pride will make them very much a part of the celebration. Luckily, it is not hard to find crafts to make that will support the spirit of the day without taking too much time from dinner and football!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Scissors
• One full piece of brown construction paper and eight strips of yellow for each person
• Glue
• Sharp markers

Make a Thanksgiving Craft

1. Put out materials for the crafts on a table or the floor. You can join in or let the kids do it by themselves. Younger children (under eight) might need some help.

2. Make a sample of the craft in advance so that the kids can see how it's supposed to look.

3. Put your hand on the brown construction paper with your fingers spread out. Trace around your hand with marker or pencil. Cut out the hand outline.

4. Draw an eye on the thumb outline to turn it into a turkey's head. Draw or glue on a yellow beak and red wattles (the wobbly stuff on the neck).

5. Cut the strips of yellow construction paper into the shape of feathers. Or, have the feathers pre-cut, two for each of the four finger outlines. On each feather write something you are thankful for.

6. Glue the feathers onto the finger outlines. Older kids may cut small slits around sides of the feathers and bend them slightly to make the creation three dimensional.

7. Look for more crafts at Danielle's Place and Enchanted Learning (see Resources below).

Tips & Warnings

• Make the crafts part of the Thanksgiving celebration by encouraging the children to bring them to the dinner table and read aloud what they're thankful for. If they can't think of anything, mention ordinary blessings, such as food, clothes, home and family.
• Put down newspaper to catch drops of glue and paper scraps.
• You know how much supervision your kids need. Make sure that the fun doesn't turn into a calamity of spilled glue and marker-stained clothes.