Part of the fun of any holiday is dressing up and dressing up your home. In 2020, there will be less visiting with family and friends, but that doesn’t mean the occasion can’t still be festive. These Thanksgiving crafts to do this year will help you bring the warmth and gratitude of the holiday to your home and table.
Classic Hand Turkey
Thanksgiving isn’t complete without the classic hand turkey. Kids trace their hand on a piece of brown construction paper, cut it out, and decorate it with crayons to create their turkey. Other versions use finger paint on little hands to create colorful turkey prints. Use these masterworks as place cards on the table or glue them to a paper bag filled with apples to make a festive centerpiece.
Thankful Book
Make a gratitude craft with the whole family. Each person can contribute a few pages to a family Thankful Book (inspired by the children’s television program Blue’s Clues). Lay large pieces of construction paper on top of each other to create pages. Write or draw a source of gratitude on each half. Bind the pages at the center (saddle stitch style) with a booklet stapler or long reach stapler to create a keepsake. Decorate the cover with beautiful leaves from your backyard. Making a Thankful Book each year creates a record of your family’s gratitude over the years.
Fall Leaf Bouquet
If the backyard is covered with leaves, don’t despair. Send the kids out to gather the most colorful and beautiful leaves they can find, and make a leaf bouquet in a bowl with mini-pumpkins, gourds, and pinecones.
Apple or Potato Stamps
Cut an apple in half vertically and remove the seeds. Kids can use a stamp pad or non-toxic paint to coat the inside of the apple and use it as a stamp on craft paper.
If you don’t have enough apples around because you already baked yours into a pie, try making potato stamps. Cut a potato in half. Press your Thanksgiving-themed cookie cutter of choice into the flat of the cut potato. Then, carefully slice the potato just behind the cookie cutter until the slice comes off, leaving the cookie cutter embedded in the rest of the potato. Pull the cookie cutter off; you now have a stamp. Use these stamps to decorate paper, canvas, or even fabric (be sure to use fabric paint if you want to keep and launder your creation).
With a little construction paper, glue, a stapler, and some imagination, and you can make fun and thoughtful creations for the holiday. These Thanksgiving crafts will make your home glow with the colors of fall and the abundance of Thanksgiving.