Thanksgiving Table Crafts for Kids

Paper Plate Turkeys

Paper plate crafts are simple, quick and inexpensive for all ages to make. You need a ribbed white paper plate, dark brown, red and orange construction paper, scissors, brown, red, or yellow small craft feathers, glue, wiggly eyes, brown acrylic paint, a craft paintbrush per child and a stapler. See resources for links to body part templates. Paint the plate brown and allow it to dry. While drying, trace and cut the body parts. Make the body dark brown, the beak orange and a red gobbler. First, glue the main body part on, smallest side up, then the beak, gobbler and eyes. Lastly, glue the feathers on the plate. Gluing them randomly will make a more natural looking turkey.

These are cute centerpieces that your children will take pride in showing off on the Thanksgiving table. You will need a piece of tan craft foam, two twigs per child, scissors, hot glue and brown, black, yellow, red and orange markers. Roll craft foam into a cone shape. A parent will need to help the child hot glue the cone to hold together. Make a small slot in the top of the teepee for the twigs by trimming the top off at a slant. Cut or break the twigs into 3-inch pieces. Decorate the teepee with colorful zigzags, bear paw prints, birds or other American Indian-looking designs. Place three twigs through the hole in the top of the teepee.

This craft is one that is edible and kids enjoy making. You will need pre-made chilled refrigerated sugar cookie dough, red, yellow, orange and brown chocolate peanut candy coated pieces, green fruit leather and white icing. Divide the dough into one section per child. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. With a rolling pin, roll dough out to ¼ inch thick. Help younger children cut the dough into a corncob shape. Bake cookies for package specifications and allow cookies to cool for several minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. When cool, frost the top with icing. Cut oblong shapes for the husks out of the fruit leather using kitchen shears. Place the leather fruit around the cookies, like a husk, securing into the icing, leaving the center open. Cover with the candy pieces alternating colors.

This cornucopia is full of vivid colors, is easy to make and uses inexpensive items. First print out the pattern (see Resources). Tear small sheets of black, brown, purple, red, orange, yellow and green construction paper into small pieces. For younger children, with a color, outline each area with the corresponding color so they will know what goes where. Trim a large white sheet of construction paper so that the diameter is one inch smaller than a large black sheet and glue it on. Then glue all of the mosaic paper pieces filling each section. When dried, glue the mosaic on to the white construction paper. If you desire to make it into a place mat, laminate the whole picture.