Hand Crafts

These cute and festive place holders are perfect for Thanksgiving. Super easy to make, kids can put these together while dinner is in the oven. This craft provides a great way to get kids involved in the holiday festivities!

What you'll need:

• White construction paper
• Leaf shaped foam stamps
• Decorative leaf stickers
• Black Sharpie marker
• Scissors or paper cutter
• Acrylic paint (yellow, orange, red, brown, green)

How to make it:

1. Cut a piece of construction paper in half so that you end up with two pieces approximately 5 x 7 inches.
2. Fold both pieces in half again to create the place holders.
3. Use a black Sharpie marker to write your guests names on the place holders.
4. Decorate around the names with painted foam stamps or stickers.

Tips:

• Instead of just painting a solid color on your foam stamp, add dots or swipes of a contrasting color to the first color. Once stamped on the place holder, this creates a fun and decorative effect.
• If you have stamps that are too large to fit on the place holder, place your stamp so that it looks like it is falling off the edge. Simple overlap the stamp over the edge of the place holder, being certain you have newspaper underneath to catch the paint from the overlapping stamp.
• The scrapbooking aisle at your local craft store has a huge variety of shiny, decorative stickers to choose from. Stickers are wonderful for small children because they are very easy to manipulate.

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Add a light touch to your seasonal dinner table with this Thanksgiving votive candleholder craft. This is a fast, fun and easy holiday activity for kids.

What you'll need:

• Baby food jar
• Thanksgiving or Fall stickers
• White glue, like Elmer's
• Paintbrush
• Glitter, optional
• Raffia or ribbon

How to make it:

1. Apply the stickers around the jar. Press firmly all around the stickers.
2. Using a paintbrush, completely cover the jar sides from right below the jar threads to the bottom of the sides.
3. Sprinkle with glitter if desired. Let dry.
4. Tie raffia or ribbon around the jar threads.
5. Insert a votive candle and display as part of a Thanksgiving center piece.
6. Make one for each guest and use as a place setting. Your guests could take home the candle holders as a gift.
7. Happy Thanksgiving!

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Kids can turn a simple margarine tub into a festive Thanksgiving turkey bowl with this simple craft—perfect for holding treats your holiday guests are sure to gobble up.

What you'll need:

• Margarine tub
• Printed pattern
• Crayons, markers, paint, or colored pencils
• Scissors
• Thick craft glue
• Paperclips to hold drying parts
• Brown colored construction paper or burlap
• Craft foam, optional

How to make it:

Before you start

1. Find a place to work, and protect it with a large sheet of paper.
2. Gather all your materials.
3. Read all the directions, there will be choices to make that will affect which materials you need

Making Your Turkey Bowl

Step 1 - Print Patterns

Print out pattern. You might want to print it on tan paper to reduce the amount of coloring necessary. You'll need one head/wings pattern, and one feathers pattern. If possible, print the pattern on heavy paper.

Print a sample pattern first, to determine which size you'll need. If you need a size not provided, use the basic shapes as a guideline for making your own.

Small head/wings - small feathers

Medium head/wings - medium feathers

Step 2 - Cover the Margarine Tub

Glue construction paper, burlap, or ripped construction paper pieces (to look like feathers) to the outside of the margarine tub, covering it. Set it aside to dry and work on the next step.

Step 3 - Color or Make Construction Paper Pieces

Color the turkey pieces as you wish. Another option is to use the patterns shown as patterns for cutting out construction paper versions of the turkey from brown, tan, orange and yellow construction paper. Be creative in your color choices.

Only color one side of the paper on the head and feathers, as they will be glued together in Step 4.

Step 3 - Cut Out

Cut out all the shapes, if you colored them in, on the computer printout. If you're making them out of construction paper, they're already cut out.

Step 4 - Glue Head and Feathers Together

To make the pieces sturdier, glue the back of the head to the front of the head, and glue the feathers together in the same way, creating five feathers when you are done. Use a thin layer of glue, and set them aside to dry nice and flat.

Step 5 - Attach the Parts to the Tub

Glue the head to the front of the tub, and the wings onto the sides. You might need to use paperclips to help hold them in place until the glue dries. Glue the tail feathers to the back of the tub in a semi-circular shape.

You're Done!

Once the glue has dried, remove the paper clips, and enjoy your new bowl. It's a fun way to decorate the table and serve nuts or wrapped candies.

More Ideas

Construction paper feathers can be cut to make a feathery fringe instead of drawing on the lines. Cut the fringe after gluing the two feathers together into one.

The head, wings, and feathers can be made from thin craft foam instead of paper.

A small basket can be substituted for the margarine tub.

Use brown and orange calico fabric to cover the tub, and then make the pattern pieces with thin cardboard (like from a cereal box) and cover them with an assortment of calico fabrics for a country look.

Tips:

• Construction paper feathers can be cut to make a feathery fringe instead of drawing on the lines. Cut the fringe after gluing the two feathers together into one.
• The head, wings, and feathers can be made from thin craft foam instead of paper.
• A small basket can be substituted for the margarine tub.
• Use brown and orange calico fabric to cover the tub, and then make the pattern pieces with thin cardboard (like from a cereal box) and cover them with an assortment of calico fabrics for a country look. 
• If you don't have a margarine tub, you could also use a folded down small (lunch size) paper bag.

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Fall means harvest time, and that means fresh corn on the cob! Share in the harvest with your kids this year by making this cute and festive corn collage to display.

What you'll need:

• Yellow and green construction paper
• Popped corn
• Scissors
• Jumbo craft sticks
• White craft glue
• Pattern
• Lime green puffy or 3-D squeeze paint (optional)

How to make it:

1. Cut out the pattern, cut the corn cob out separately from the leaves. Trace onto construction paper. You can get up to 7 corn cobs from one sheet of yellow construction paper and 3 sets of leaves from a green sheet of construction paper.
2. Cut the corn cobs and leaves from the construction paper.
3. Glue the yellow cob onto the green leaves.
4. Put a layer of glue on to the yellow corn cob. Cover the glue with popped corn. Let dry. You can stop here if you wanted the simple version of this craft.
5. Repeat the above steps to make a second corn, making sure that you will be able to glue them together back to back when you are finished. Line up the leaves to make sure.
6. Use puffy paint to draw green outlines up and down the leaves. Let dry completely.
7. Glue a craft stick to the back of one of the completed corn cobs. Sandwich the craft stick between two corn cobs, lining up the leaves before gluing together.
8. When dry, you can insert the craft sticks into some floral foam or Styrofoam and display on your holiday table.

Tips:

• Puffy paint usually takes a long time to dry. If you plan to use this step, be sure to allow for several hours of drying time.
• If you would like to make the simple version of this craft a little sturdier, you can either use card stock instead of construction paper, or cut pattern from a piece of cardboards and glue corn collage to it.
• Break pieces of popcorn up and glue the flat side to the paper, popped side facing outward.

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Give your dinner guests a holiday surprise with these cut Thanksgiving place cards that are a great way to decorate your Thanksgiving table!

What you'll need:

• Paper napkin in fall colors or orange construction paper
• Small paper clips
• Apple, any color
• Almond, with or without the shell
• Peanut in the shell
• One Lifesaver candy
• Two small wiggle eyes
• Yellow construction paper
• Hot glue gun
• White craft glue
• Marker

How to make it:

1. Hold the almond point down and use white craft glue to attach eyes on rounded part. Let glue dry.
2. Use hot glue gun to glue the ring-shaped hard candy to front of apple. Don't use white craft glue as it will cause the candy to start to liquefy and run down the apple (glue the ring-shaped hard candy on the apple's shoulders).  
3. With hot glue gun, glue almond to ring-shaped hard candy (covering the hole, point down) and let dry. 
4. Glue peanut below almond for turkey wattle.   
5. Unfold napkin so it is approximately 6" x 11", then fold accordion style. If you don't have a napkin, you can use a 6" x 11" piece of construction paper.
6. Pull ends of folded napkin together to make a fan. Secure with paper clip at bottom. Sit napkin behind the apple.
7. Bend the end of the paper clip and insert into apple.
8. Cut a piece of yellow construction paper into a rectangle to make a place card. Write your guest’s name on the place card.
9. Use a paper clip to hold place card or glue a toothpick to the back of the card and insert into the top of the apple.

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Who’s coming to your holiday dinner this year? Get everyone straight with these adorable and festive name tags! Make a bunch of blank ones and add names as family members arrive.

What you'll need:

• Silk leaves
• White card stock or construction paper
• Pinking shears or other decorative scissors
• Black marker
• Pin backs
• White craft glue
• Other silk embellishments, such as berries, flowers, wheat, etc (optional)

How to make it:

1. Glue 3 leaves together, layering them on top of each other, allowing a little of each to show from underneath the other. Repeat this for however many name tags you would like to make.
2. This is an optional step, however, you may add fall flowers to some of the leaves, or berries, wheat, acorns, or any other silk embellishments you choose. Girls will enjoy the flowers whiles tags for boys work well with wheat and acorns.
3. Using the pinking shears, cut out rectangles and squares for the name tags. Use your leaf arrangements as a guide for how big they will need to be. Leave enough room to write names on them.
4. Glue the leaf arrangements to the front of the paper name tags, overlapping the paper so that there is excess leaf at the top (in the back).
5. Glue the pin directly to the back of the leaf arrangement, above the paper. This will allow family members to continue using their name tag as a lapel pin by simply removing the paper name tag when they leave.

Tips:

• Silk leaves are available in packages at local craft stores. Check the floral department for prepackaged leaves that are flat and easy to work with.
• Hot glue can be used for the project and dries a lot faster than craft glue. However, hot glue can be so use caution.
• For a little extra fun, have family members write a little bit of what they are thankful for on the back of their pin, then everyone can read theirs out loud at dinner.

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The importance of corn to early Americans makes this fun and easy project especially fitting for Thanksgiving—and an attractive addition to your holiday table.

What you'll need:

• Cardboard toilet paper tubes
• Yellow and orange poster paints
• New pencil with an eraser top
• Scissors or craft knife

How to make it:

1. Cut the toilet paper tubes into two-and-one-half-inch sections using scissors or a craft knife (under adult supervision). You will need one section for each napkin ring that you will make.
2. Pour a small amount of different colored paints—yellow, red, orange, white, and black work well—onto a paper plate.
3. Show your child how to dip the pencil eraser into some paint and practice stamping corn kernel shapes onto paper.
4. Once she has mastered this printing technique, have your child hold the bottom of the ring and print rows of kernels all around the tube. Mix the colors as you wish.
5. Set the tube rings out to dry.
6. Place cloth or paper napkins through the rings and use them to decorate your Thanksgiving table.

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