Thanksgiving is one of the big holidays that gets everyone together for huge feasts and time with each other. Before any of that good stuff can happen, though, you’ll need to prepare the house and that turkey everyone’s been talking about. While you’re running around trying to get the house in order, your little ones are bored out of their mind looking for something to do. Look no further than these Thanksgiving crafts that will keep your munchkins pre-occupied so you can work without distractions.
Thanksgiving Crafts For Kids
1. Button Turkey
My mom had a shoebox filled with buttons that I loved playing with when I was a kid. (Thank God we have an imagination at that age, right?) If you have any lying around the house, feel free to break them out for your kids to use for their very own turkeys. They can fill the wings of the turkey with buttons that match the colors. If they’re too little to work with buttons or if you don’t want to leave them unattended with such chokable items, use tissue paper instead.
2. Paper Plate Leaves
You won’t need anything your kids can’t handle on their own to make these paper plate leaves. A bit of cardstock and tissue paper will allow your kids to turn an ordinary paper plate into a festive leaf. They can cut the plate to their choosing and decorate it with various strips of paper or squares of tissue paper to fill it with festive fall colors.
3. Turkey Finger Puppet
An easy Thanksgiving craft for kids is to have them make their own finger puppet turkeys. All they’ll need is some construction paper, googly eyes, and scraps of paper for the remaining facial features. You can also have them add a large leaf to make the feathers. Either grab them from an art’s store or have them go outside and find one they love.
4. Pilgrim Hat Crayon Cups
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have your kids craft something that will also help them with cleanup? As much fun as they have with a fresh box of crayons, those puppies will more than likely become voyagers of the couch cushions or get lost under the bed. Let your kids make their own crayon cups in the shape of pilgrim hats to keep things festive and tidy.
5. Pumpkin Still Life
With Halloween and Thanksgiving so close together, pumpkins are bound to still be lying around the house. Plop your youngsters down in front of them and have them practice their still life skills. A bit of art paper and some watercolors will keep them happy for hours as they try to recreate the scene in front of them. Even if they’re not fans of painting pumpkins, they can still doodle whatever they like.
6. Paper Tube Characters
If you don’t have the time to scoot out to the store for art supplies, no worries. There are plenty of items you can use at home to keep the kiddies occupied. One of those being toilet paper rolls. They can make their own paper tube people ranging from turkeys to pilgrims. They won’t really need a ton of supervision for this one either so you can leave them to their own devices.
7. Egg Carton Turkeys
There are lots of things your kids can do with a repurposed egg carton; have them create turkeys of all shapes and colors using pieces of an old carton. They can paint them whatever color they like, give them eyes and beaks and make the feathers from pieces of paper or store-bought feathers. You might need to help them with the gluing process, but they’ll be able to handle things on their own for the most part.
8. Fall Paper Bag Tree
Paper bag lunches sure are great to dig into at school. You may have never thought of reusing them once they’re done, but you totally can (you can also use a fresh one if you’d prefer). You’ll only need four things to bring these trees to life and once they’re done, you can use them as centerpieces for the table. Your kids will be so grateful you decided to include their artwork on the big day!
9. Paper Pumpkins
These adorable pumpkins are super simple to make, don’t need very many materials, and minimal supervision is required. You’ll just have to step in later to help with the glue gun. Aside from that, your kids can create their own paper pumpkins with some paper made into accordion strips. Layers of accordion strips create the perfect pumpkin topped with twine and twigs.
10. Handprint Turkey
At the end of the day, children are bound to get themselves a little messy. Why not beat them to the punch by encouraging them to make their own handprint turkey? They can paint their palms brown and each of their fingers a different color to make their masterpiece unique to them. They can then add little drawn beaks and feet and slap some on googly eyes for finishing touches.
11. Corn Husk Flower Painting
Corn tends to make an appearance at the dinner table when preparing a large feast. This year, instead of chucking out those husks, use them as blank canvases for your kids to draw on. You can help them with attaching their masterpiece husks onto popsicle sticks, which they can also decorate. You can even make headbands with their designs.
12. Paper Placemats
Your kids would love to be part of the holiday action so why not give them Thanksgiving crafts that can be featured on the table? Allow for them to make placemats with each guest’s name on it and utensil outlines so people know where everything goes. It won’t take much more than some markers or pencil crayons and paper.
13. Pilgrim Hats
Kids love making their own crafts, but a good chunk of their day is also spent dressing up. Kill two birds with one stone by letting them make pilgrim hats for themselves. They can wear them to the table or play pretend before dinner gets served. They won’t need a lot of supplies for this one either, so you’re good to go.
14. Pine Cone Turkey
Having an excess of pine cones outside isn’t the best thing to deal with, but you can always use them as part of your Thanksgiving crafts. Let your kids make their own turkeys using pine cones and simple materials like leaves from outside or felt leaves for something a little more permanent. Foxes, raccoons, wolves, and an assortment of other animals can also be made to encourage creativity. Bare in mind that you may need to help them later when it comes to sticking all the materials on the pine cone.
15. Old-Fashioned Coloring
Sometimes there’s nothing more your child would love than to bestow the gift of a freshly colored picture. There are lots of different printable pictures you can give your kids to use. You can give them different options to choose from or work with them beforehand to find out what they’d most like to color.
These Thanksgiving crafts will surely keep your little ones busy doing their own thing while you get the home ready for guests. Even if their artwork doesn’t make it to the table, it can be hung up around the house in various places like the mantelpiece or coffee table!
