Thanksgiving crafts can be a great way to bring your family together and decorate your home for autumn. Setting some time aside to consider falling leaves, harvest foods, wild turkeys, Pilgrims, and Native Americans will allow you to enjoy the holiday of cornucopias and feeling grateful. Some craft ideas are simple and safe enough for kids to do alone. Others can be sophisticated and gorgeous, appealing more to adults.
A pine cone turkey centerpiece is a classic children's Thanksgiving craft. Easy and inexpensive, this project results in a personalized and striking decoration. Gather a pine cone that has opened slightly, an acorn or walnut, and construction paper. Have your child trace her hand on yellow, orange, red, and brown construction paper five to seven times. She can probably cut out the shapes herself. Stick these "feathers" near the rear of the pine cone with a daub of glue. With a tiny wattle of red construction paper, and markered eyes, the nut transforms into a turkey head, glued into place with a hot-glue gun. Not only will you have a beautiful centerpiece for Thanksgiving dinner, you can save the feathers as a reminder of the size of your child's hands that year.
Another Thanksgiving craft creates autumnal tea light candle holders out of gourds and fruit. These can line a mantle or cluster on a table. Collect squashes, fruits, and gourds you find appealing. Best are those of vibrant colors and burnished textures, such as apples, acorn squash, miniature pumpkins, or ornamental gourds that balance upright. Using a tea light as a stencil, draw a rough circle at the top of each vegetable. Then carve a cylinder down the center to make a space for the candle. Lit tea lights will make the gourds glow beautifully. Even fancier, the apples and small pumpkins will float in a large bowl of water or barrel, bringing romantic light outdoors as well.
Writing down things for which we are thankful, in a creative way, keeps the spirit of Thanksgiving alive. Collect leaves of different shapes and sizes, preferably ones not so dry they are crumbling, to use as stamps. Mix acrylic paints in any color family, such as golden leaf colors or metallic shades. Stiff paper, like tag board, might be easier for youngsters to handle, but adults can use tissue, mulberry, or other craft paper. Brush leaves with paint on their veiny side and firmly press them against the paper to get all the texture. These leaf cards can be distributed for everyone to write some sentiments on why they are thankful this holiday season. You can then create a garland, a wreath, or tack the leaves on a bulletin board to display your thanks this Thanksgiving.