More Thanksgiving Ideas

Thanksgiving brings with it lot of images of turkeys and Pilgrims. Here are some ideas for Thanksgiving crafts to help you entertain the little Thanks-givers.

Supplies:
Construction Paper
School glue or glue stick
Pencils
Crayons
Safety scissors
Apples, oranges or styrofoam balls
Cheese cubes
Toothpicks or uncooked spaghetti
Marshmallows, full-size and miniature
Candy corn


Snack time:
Make little turkey treats with marshmallows: Use a full-sized marshmallow or two as the body. Thread miniature marshmallows on toothpicks or uncooked spaghetti pieces (for younger children) for the tail feathers. Use a single miniature marshmallow as the head and a piece of candy corn for the beak. Cut a marshmallow in half to serve as the wings and two pieces of candy corn for the feet. Try to enjoy it for a moment or two before devouring!

If you can find the multicolored marshmallows, they make a fun display. Or roll plain ones in cocoa powder for a brown turkey. If your turkey seems a little "tail heavy," prop it with a toothpick in back.

Larger turkey treats can be formed on apples, oranges or styrofoam balls for the body. Thread cheese cubes on toothpicks for the tail feathers. Attach a small triangle of cheese to a single cube to form the head and beak.

Just a caution: this works much better with medium cheddar (or something with a similar smooth texture) than sharp cheddar. Witness the disaster below:

Sharp cheddar is a little too crumbly to make neat cubes. So you can learn from my mistake - LOL.

Pilgrim buckles:

Cut rectangles of gold (or yellow) or silver (gray) construction paper. Cut two openings in it to form a simplified buckle.

Print a scripture or scripture reference about thanks along the outer edges. Cut a strip of black or dark blue construction paper and thread through the center.

 

Secure with a small piece of tape or a dot of glue on the back. These make nice little bookmarks or place cards for the table. The blue or back strip provides a good surface for a small sticker, if desired. Make them as large as you would like. My sample is about 3.5" by 4.5" for the buckle size and 2" X 9" for the strip inside.

Test your writing implement on a sample of the paper before starting the lettering. The marker I used wasn't quite as fine a tip as I would have liked. It worked - it just wasn't as tidy as I hoped it would be.

Drumsticks for all:

Cut out construction paper drumsticks, large enough for a scripture verse or reference on one side. On the other side, you might put the person's name or have each person write something for which they are thankful.

 

You can get several from a single sheet of paper if you reverse every other one. A template for five to an 8.5" X 11" page is here: Drumsticks Template

These make great bookmarks or place cards as well. And everyone at the table can have a drumstick!