Thanksgiving Day for adults means having fun socializing with friends and family, cooking a large meal in the kitchen, eating and then relaxing. While there is nothing wrong with this plan if you are an adult, it is not exactly a child’s idea of a good time. The kids of your Thanksgiving Day group are going to need a little bit more involvement if they are going to stay entertained for a whole day that is focused on eating. With a little creative thinking and some supplies that you likely already have around the house can turn a boring day with relatives into a fun time to do crafts and in so doing bond with the important people in your life. Here are some suggestions for crafts that you can do with your children on Thanksgiving Day.
Turkey Plate
To make a turkey plate, you will need different colors of construction paper, a paper plate, scissors, and glue. To turn your ordinary plate into a turkey, use the plate as the body of the turkey and cut the feathers, beak, and feet out of the colored paper. Use the glue to adhere them to the plate. Use a marker or colored pencil to fill in the other details of the face. If you wish, you can also turn this simple craft into an activity where you encourage your child to think about what he or she is thankful for. On each of the feather cutouts that you have made, write what your child is thankful for. For young children who cannot yet read, you may want to use simple pictures to represent the things that they are thankful for so that the child can remember those things when they look at their turkey plate.
Card Making
If you are going to have people over visiting you on Thanksgiving Day, it is a nice idea to have your children make something that thanks them for sharing this day with you. Making cards is a great Thanksgiving Day activity for a number of reasons. Making cards encourages your kids to think of someone other than themselves. Card making is also something that is not specific to any age. Whether your child is just old enough to work with crayons or old enough to help the younger kids and work on their own extravagant cards, card making is a great way to keep kids occupied and have a nice gift to give when all is said and done. Card making can be as simple as folding a piece of paper in half and using crayons to draw a picture. But with some additional materials, you can turn that card into a more three dimensional piece by gluing on cut out pieces, or even object like buttons, brads, and scrap items.
Leaves Galore!
On Thanksgiving Day you really want to make it clear to your kids that it is important to be aware of all the things that they have and can be thankful for. There are dozens of different variations on this idea, but what you can encourage your kids to do is write the things that they are thankful for on leaves. You can use real leaves, paper cut-out leaves, felt leaves, foam leaves, be creative! You can make fabric leaves and use them as the napkins. You could even get out your Christmas tree and make leaves to use as ornaments. Let your kids be in charge of leading this activity for other adults that you might invite over to the house. With this activity you can easily get your kids involved in a worthwhile activity, while at the same time decorating your house for Thanksgiving!
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