Craft Ideas for Kids During the Holidays

Most kids love to do crafts. Providing crafts for your child to make for the holiday is a wonderful way to help them feel included in the holiday celebration and a great way to teach them about the holiday. Here are some great Thanksgiving craft ideas for your children.

Hand and Feet Turkey

Supplies Needed:

Construction Paper-brown, orange, red, yellow, white (if you choose to make the eyes from construction paper)
Scissors
Glue
Wiggle Eyes (* see above-Eyes can also be cut out of white construction paper)

Directions:
With shoes on-trace both feet on the brown construction paper
Trace both hands on the red construction paper
Trace both hands on the orange construction paper
Trace both hands on the yellow construction paper
Cut out all of the shapes above
Cut out the legs and feet from the orange scraps after drawing them in the shape seen in the illustration
Cut out the wattle from the red scraps shaping as in the illustration
Cut out a small triangle for the beak from the orange scraps

Assembling:

Place the brown construction paper feet cutouts with the heels together, one on top of the other. Spread the toe end of the cut out apart as in the illustration and glue together.
Glue the red, orange, and yellow construction paper hands behind the brown body to make the "tail"-alternate the colors.
Glue the legs/feet to the back of the body as shown in the illustration
Glue the wattle to the face as shown in the illustration
Glue the beak to the wattle as shown in the illustration
Glue on either the "wiggle" eyes (or small circles cut from the white construction paper and colored with black for the eyeballs if you opt to use them instead)

Your child will enjoy doing this one each year and comparing the size of the feet and hands to see how much he/she has grown.

Paper Plate Thanksgiving Wreath

Supplies Needed:

Plain paper plate (foam will be harder to glue on)
Glue
Scissors
Free Thanksgiving Clip Art from this site
Pen/Pencil or Marker
Yarn
Ruler/Semi Circle shape

Directions:
Cut a half circle on the plate as shown in the illustration
Let your child write or draw pictures of what he is thankful for
Print out the free Thanksgiving Clip Art from above site:
Let your child cut them out and glue them randomly around the plate as shown in the illustration.
Attach a "hanger" using a piece of yarn or string through a hole punched in the top of the "wreath"

Be sure to hang this "wreath" on Thanksgiving Day and watch your child's face light up when the guests arrive.

Wax Paper Leaf

This one will require supervision with using the Iron

Supplies Needed
Waxed paper (10 X 6 inch)
Crayon Shavings
Iron
Pattern(print it out)
Pen

Directions:
Cut out pattern.
Put crayon shavings onto wax paper
Fold paper in half.
Iron with a warm iron until melted *Do not leave child un-supervised
Trace around the pattern with the pen on the wax paper while still on ironing board.
Draw in veins of leaf.
Cut out the leaf.
Punch hole in leaf

To welcome Thanksgiving and the coming of Autumn, let your child proudly display their Wax Paper Leaf in a window using a piece of yarn threaded through the hole in the leaf.

Resources used: www.sover.net/~dlee/archives4wpl.html
www.enchantedlearning.com
www.kaboose.com