Thanksgiving Decorations for Children to Make

The younger members of the family like to be involved in the holiday preparations, but having them help in the kitchen is not a good idea. So, in order to make them feel like they are a part of the celebrations, let time make the decorations. Make sure they start early enough to have the decorations finished in time. These make good family decorations to work on, at least at the beginning, before you have to worry about getting the food ready. Once you get them started and they get the hang of it, they will take over and in all probability make enough decorations for five houses, but after all, the days are getting shorter, there is no going out after dinner any more and once the homework is done, you need something to keep little hands busy.

One material that I use myself and is also great for children is plastic canvas. You can get it in almost any color and it is not expensive at all. For these you will need plastic canvas in any fall color or white, yarn in fall colors and one of those plastic sewing needles that are used to sew knitted pieces together, it is safe for children to use and the eye of the needle is big enough for the yarn to fit through easily.

Older children can be put to work making place mats. This is a bigger decoration and the younger ones may not have the patience to see it through to the end. Take one whole sheet of plastic canvas and let them weave the different colors of yarn through the holes. Or teach them to do half cross stitch, the Continental Stitch, the same stitch uses in needlepoint and they can create quite a masterpiece. If they are weaving the yarn, you can leave a decorative fringe on the ends. This eliminates the need to tuck in a lot of loose ends and makes for a neater looking decoration. Let them use their imagination That is half the fun.

For the younger children or for the older ones to put the finishing touches to the place mats, cut the plastic canvas into small pieces for napkin holders. Make them about 5 or 6 squares wide and about twice as long. Cut the ragged ends as far back as you can and go over the edges with fine sandpaper and let them got to work with either the embroidery weaving techniques The just sew the small ends together.

Another decoration for the plastic canvas. Trace out some Thanksgiving images on the plastic canvas and cut them out. You can use cookie cutters as guides. Finish the sides the way you did with the napkin rings and set them to work again. The finished decorations can be hung in the windows, hung from the ceiling lights, or made into a mobile uses wire coat hangers. These decorations are hand washable so you will get many years of use out of them. Dry decorations flat on a fluffy towel

This decoration you can set them to complete the day before or even early on Thanksgiving Morning. It will keep them busy while you are in the kitchen. Let them make the centerpiece.

A few days before Thanksgiving send them out to collect colorful leaves and vines , pine cones, acorns what ever they can find. If you do not want the natural stuff on the table you can get some from the craft store. The advantage to that is you can re use it next year, the disadvantage is that they will not have the fun of collecting. Maybe there can be a compromise and use a bit of both. You will also need gourds and green and yellow squash, real or artificial. Decorate a long box top, like the top of the box roses come in, as long as wide as you want the centerpiece to be, with fall colors of construction paper or wrapping paper, what ever you imagination can come up with. Any container the right size willdo, but the sides need to be low. The box is only to keep the natural stuff contained and not rolling all ove the table . This you can do ahead of time On Thanksgiving, morning after the table cloth is on, put the container where you want it and let them get to work Put the vines on the bottom to hole everything in place. Then let them arrange the veggies any way they want. If you want to use candles, you can have an adult drill the right size hole inot the gourds and you have an instant candle holder.

Did you know that back about 80 or so years ago it was the custom for children to dress up in costume on Thanksgiving and not on Halloween? It is true I remember as a child having Thanksgiving at a friends house and being allowed to dress up in the costumes that her childre uses on Thanksgiving when they were young. So why not re invent this tradition and let your children dress up as Pilgrims or Indians? They can have fun making their own costumes. Let them use their imaginations they might not look like Pilgrims to you, but they will to them. It will really make them feel special.

So there you have a few suggestions on how to make Thanksgiving really special with decorations no one else will have . Enjoy making decorations and have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING