Thanksgiving can be the forgotten holiday sandwiched (see what I did there?) between Halloween and Christmas, but here are five easy Thanksgiving crafts that will get the family in the thankful spirit. Warning: You might need to buy more paper plates for actual Thanksgiving.
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Autumn Tree
Supplies:
- Paint in brown, yellow, orange, red, green, and other fall colors
- Paint brush
- Brown marker
- Canvas
Using brown paint or a brown marker, paint or draw a tree trunk and branches on a canvas.
Then dip your child’s finger into fall colored paints, and stamp his or her fingerprints on to the canvas to create leaf shapes on the branches.
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Beaded Indian Corn
Supplies:
- 4 tan or brown pipe cleaners
- Assorted pony beads in fall colors
Line up your pipe cleaners so they are even on each end and parallel to each other. Then pinch and twist them together in the middle.
Next, spread each pipe cleaner apart into the shape of a star, making sure to evenly space each segment of the star.
Start threading the beads onto each pipe cleaner until all eight are filled. Leave over an inch of pipe cleaner empty on each end so that you have enough to twist your husks later on.
Time to shape your corn! Carefully bend each end upward and gather the empty ends together. Take ends (now the top of your corn cob) and twist them a couple times to secure the beads and form the corn husks.
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Coffee Filter Turkeys
Supplies:
- Wooden clothespins
- Round white coffee filters
- Assorted googly eyes
- Washable markers: brown, red, orange, and yellow
- Glue gun or liquid glue
- Brown acrylic craft paint
- Red and yellow craft foam
- Paint brush
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Spray bottle filled with water
Using fall-colored markers, color your coffee filter. Get creative — the more abstract, the better.
After coloring the coffee filter, place it on a washable surface like the bottom of a cookie sheet or large plastic storage bag, and spray with water. Have fun watching the colors magically move and blend. Leave to dry completely.
Next, paint all sides of the clothespin with brown craft paint. Once dry, glue googly eyes to the top of the clothespin. Cut out a triangle beak from yellow craft foam and a squiggly waddle from the red craft foam. Glue these beneath the googly eyes to complete the turkey’s face.
Lastly, fold the dry coffee filters in half and crinkle slightly to fluff them. Insert coffee filter into top clip of clothespin to be the turkey’s feathers.
Paper Plate Pie
Supplies:
- Paper plates in three sizes: small, medium, and large
- Paint in brown, tan, orange, red, and blue
- Paint brushes
- Glue
- Scissors
- Brown construction paper
- Cotton balls
This one looks good enough to eat! First, paint one large paper plate brown, and the medium one tan. Once dry, cut a scalloped edge around the tan one.
Glue the tan scalloped plate on to the large brown plate.
Next, paint a small paper plate the color of your choice. This will be the contents of your pie. Make it orange for pumpkin, red for cherry, blue for blueberry, green for apple . . . you get the idea. Glue this small painted plate to the scalloped plate.
Cut out strips of brown paper. Glue these strips across the paper plates to create a latticed pie crust.
Finally, glue cotton balls to the middle of your “pie” for a dollop of whipped cream. Yum!
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Thankful Pumpkin Pie Garland
Supplies:
- Paper plates
- Paint brushes
- White construction paper
- Paint in orange and brown
- Scissors
- Marker
- Glue
- Hole punch
- String or yarn
First, paint the middle of your paper plate orange for the pie (pumpkin, in this case). Next, paint the rim of the paper plate brown for the crust. Once the paint dries, cut out pie-shaped “slices.”
Cut out white paper circles for the whipped cream, and ask your kids what they are thankful for. Write these down on each paper circle.
Glue the “whipped cream” onto the “pie slices.” Punch one hole in each corner of the crust, and string the slices together to make a cute Thanksgiving garland.
Hopefully these easy, kid-friendly Thanksgiving crafts will get the entire family in the holiday spirit, and help everyone realize how much they have to be grateful for this year.
