Thanksgiving Crafts

Thanksgiving crafts are the perfect reason to take some time off from kitchen duty and let your crafty side roam free.

Let's all Give Thanks for Glitter and Glue

Thanksgiving is often a holiday spent slaving over a hot stove. The results of all this culinary frenzy are the center of the season, but why should food monopolize your time and stress you out. Take a breather, gather the kids and have a bit of fun. Thanksgiving and harvest are rich with all sorts of crafting opportunities.

Hand Print Turkey: A Classic

No child’s memory book is complete without at least one handprint turkey. The classic and most easily made handprint turkey is a simple outline of your child’s hand. Decorate the thumb with a snood, beak and eyes to make the face. Then let your child decorate the rest of the body. The other fingers serve as the tail feathers. To take it up a notch or two glue actual feathers to the tail, use glue and red glitter for the snood or dress the turkey with clothing giving it a personality. Have your child create a barnyard scene and perhaps write a story of poem to along with their creation.

Pilgrim Boy Hats

Make a cylinder from black construction paper to form the body of the hat. Don’t forget to add a buckle. Cut a buckle out of gold or silver paper then glue it to the hat near the bottom. To make a buckle with fashion appeal add glitter or cut out a buckle then wrap it with tinfoil. To make the brim cut out a large circle, with a smaller circle on the inside to make a hole in the center. The center hole should be at least a half inch smaller than the hole in the bottom of the hat. To attach the brim, cut the half inch over lap into tabs. Fold the tabs back to create an opening the same size as the hole in the upper portion of the hat. Glue each tab inside the hat and allow to dry. To help the hat stay in place, add yarn that can be tied under the chin.

To make a piggy bank, or candy corn holder attach the brim to the upper portion of the hat without cutting a hole in the bottom. Use a thick line of plain glue or hot glue to attach the pieces of the hat together then allow to dry. For a candy holder leave the top open. For a bank close the top by cutting a circle that is a half inch larger than the opening in the top, cutting then gluing the tabs inside the top of the hat. Don’t forget to cut a slot for coins to pass through.