Thanksgiving Crafts

Thanksgiving Crafts

These Thanksgiving craft ideas for kids is a fun way to celebrate this special occasion. Make it a family project for some quality time giving thanks and enjoying the season. Rather it be a Pilgrim's hat, a Native American headband or even a turkey or some harvest, these ideas will make a great addition to your decorations.

Here are just a couple of ideas to help you and your kids celebrate this special day.

Thanksgiving Craft Ideas #1
Pine Cone Turkey

Turkey's are the main course for Thanksgiving, not only at the dinner table but for this project. Try this easy and inexpensive turkey using a pine cone, some colored paper and pipe cleaners. Make several to set around the house for some colorful Thanksgiving decorations.

Supplies
  • 1 Pine Cone
  • Colored Pipe Cleaners
  • Red Paper
  • 2 Small Wiggle Eyes
  • Scissors
  • Hot Glue
Directions
  1. Place your pine cone on the table and find the best spot where it will lay still. This will be the bottom of the turkey.
  2. Take several pipe cleaners of different colors and cut them in half. Depending on the size of your pine cone, you may need to cut these a little bit more so the feathers are in proportion with the body.
  3. Fold each one creating a loop. Glue both ends to the pine cone towards the back of the turkey to form one layer of feathers. Alternate colors and glue enough pipe cleaners to go around the turkey's body.
  4. Take more chinelles and cut into 4 sections. Repeat the above steps but glue these in front of the first layer.
  5. Now take a brown pipe cleaner and cut it in half. Take one half and twist together the two ends. Shape this into a birds head and beak. Glue this to the front of the pine cone for the turkey's head.
  6. Glue on a small wiggle eye on one side of the head. Now glue on the other eye on the other side of the head.
  7. Cut out a small wattle using the red paper and glue this to the end of the beak.
  8. Lastly, cut an orange pipe cleaner in half. Shape both halves into turkey legs and feet. Trim off any excess that you need in order to fit under your turkey. Glue these on the front of the turkey on the bottom of the pine cone.

For this Thanksgiving craft idea you may have to work a bit with the legs by bending and shaping to make sure your turkey craft still stands when you are done. You can buy pine cones at a craft store but we like to find them around the neighborhood. Take a fun nature walk with the kids to collect the pine cones. If some of the cones are closed, just heat them up in an oven at 200 degrees for awhile until the sap is melted and the pine cone opens up.

Thanksgiving Craft Ideas #2
Indian Corn Place Card Holders

Make a special place card holder for each of your guests coming for the big feast. With some cardboard tubes, small rocks or marbles and a colorful name card, these place cards will add some fun fall harvest to the dinner table.

Supplies
  • Toilet Paper Cardboard Tube
  • Yellow, red, brown , tan and black paper
  • Hole Punch
  • Stick Glue
  • Scissors
Directions
  1. Cut a slit on two sides of the tube about half way down.
  2. From the top of the tube, cut and shape and oval down to about 1/4 inch away from the bottom of the slit. Leave this 1/4 inch for sliding the place card in when you are done.
  3. Repeat the above step for the other side of the tube so that when you are done you have two oval shapes (corn shape) on opposite sides of the cardboard tube.
  4. Using the hole punch, create several small dots with the yellow, brown, red and black paper. Create more yellow than the other colors.
  5. Take your glue stick and place a generous amount of glue on the front of the cardboard tube. Do small sections at a time so the glue doesn't dry.
  6. Take your dots and begin to glue these on in rows. Use a lot of yellow and place the other colors in a random pattern throughout the corn cob. Completely cover the front and sides of the corn. Don't worry about the back as we will be place corn husks in this area.
  7. Using the tan and brown paper, cut 3 or 4 corn husk shapes to go on the back. Make sure they are tall enough so you will see them over the top of the corn. Glue these onto the back of the cardboard tube.
  8. Cut one more corn husk but don't glue this one on. Instead, write the name of the person and then slide this in the two slits on the side of the corn.

To show off this Thanksgiving craft idea, just place this place card holder at your dinner table. You can also make pilgrim hats and Native American Indian headbands using cardboard tubes to add many different types of holiday decorations around the table.