Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year. Thanksgiving gives everyone a time to reflect on the past year and give thanks for all the blessings experienced. The house is decorated with turkeys, Indian corn, cornucopias, colorful red, yellow and orange leaves, pumpkins and pilgrims.
Much of the joy and excitement is all centered around a delicious Thanksgiving meal eaten with friends and family. The holiday table is the focus point during this holiday and you will want it to look especially nice. You could spend a lot of money on decorations you purchase or you can make your own. Here are some quick and easy crafts kids can make to jazz up the holiday meal.
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Thanksgiving Place Markers
Make each person feel special with a card and place marker with his name on it. Cut a rectangle out of orange or yellow construction paper. Fold in half long way. You want the place holder to sit up like a tent. On the front of the place holder write each person’s name in colored markers. Add some Thanksgiving stickers or miniature cutouts such as a turkey, ear of corn or pumpkin.
Thanksgiving Placemats
For these you will need some basic supplies — construction paper in your favorite colors, clear contact paper, glue, Thanksgiving stickers or cut-outs and other items to decorate the place mat. Use a piece of construction paper for each place mat you will need. Lay out your decorations and arrange them before gluing them down. When they are how you want them, glue in place. Cut out two pieces of contact paper slightly bigger than the place mat. Cover the front and back of the place mat with the contact paper, now you can wipe it off and reuse it.
Thanksgiving Napkin Rings
For these easy to make napkin rings you will need several paper towel roll tubes. Cut the tubes into equally wide rings. Paint or color the rings — these are your napkin rings. Glue a colorful leaf, miniature turkey or tiny acorns on top. Fold and place the napkin inside the ring.
Thanksgiving Centerpieces
There are lots of ideas you can use to make a colorful Thanksgiving table centerpiece. A wicker basket lined with orange tissue paper and filled with gourds and miniature pumpkins look lovely. Insert pieces of dry grass or hay. Top is off with a miniature scarecrow and you have the perfect centerpiece. Another idea would be to scatter colorful dried leaves down the table center. Set miniature pumpkins between the leaves. Add some candles have in autumn colors and, viola!, you have a masterpiece.
Thanksgiving decorating becomes a snap when you follow these easy kid’s craft directions for your Thanksgiving table.
Place Card Crafts for Kids to Decorate the Thanksgiving Table
Let kids get involved with the Thanksgiving decorations this year by creating place cards for dinner guests. Not only does this solve the “Where do I sit?” issue, but children can create some fun, unique cards out of many materials they already have.
Turkey Place Cards
Fold a large index card or use card stock to make a simple place card. Children can use a brown marker to make a peanut shape in the middle, which creates a turkey’s body. A small orange nose, red wattle, and small googly eyes finish off the turkey body. For feathers, allow children to dip their thumb in red, yellow, and orange paint and make thumbprints that fan out behind the turkey. Finish it off with the diner’s name at the bottom.
Use Gourds to Make Name Cards
Invest in some small gourds for this year’s Thanksgiving table. Set a gourd on its side and this becomes the turkey’s body. Use paper, felt, or other craft supplies to create a turkey head which can be glued on the front, and trace a child’s hand and cut it out to attach to the back of the gourd for the feathers. Write each guest’s name on one of the handprints.
Photos Make Unique Place Cards
For a fun place card, find photos of the people who will be coming to dine for Thanksgiving and mount them on card stock. Kids won’t even have to put names on the cards; each guest can simply find his picture. For a fun ice-breaker game, find pictures of guests when they were children and have them try to figure out who is in the pictures.
Miniature Cornucopias for the Thanksgiving Table
Cornucopias often decorate the center of a table, but children can make miniature ones as place cards. According to Family Fun in “Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids,” children can use a sugar cone and write guests’ names on the side of them with frosting in a pastry bag. Then fill the little cones with fruit shaped candy for a whimsical and sweet decoration.
Pilgrim Hat Craft
Children can create a cute pilgrim’s hat for Thanksgiving place cards using small, terra cotta pots. Spray paint pots black and then cut a circle out of black paper or card stock about an inch bigger than the circumference of the top of the pot. Turn the pot upside down and glue to the circle and it becomes a hat with a brim. Use white paper to add a buckle, and a silver marker to write a name on the brim.
Turkeys, pilgrims, family, and friends are what Thanksgiving is all about. Get kids involved in the holiday decorating this year by providing materials for them to create place cards, napkin rings, or other crafts for the Thanksgiving table.
