I truly love spending autumn weekends doing fall crafts with my nieces, and now that we’re done with pumpkins and ghosts, I’m looking into cool craft projects for Thanksgiving. I searched around and found some favorites from the harvest vegetables to turkeys (so many turkeys!) — that are perfect for even the youngest preschool kids. But before you get started, make sure you have a few basic craft supplies for young kids on hand, such as:
Crayola washable paints
Apple Barrel set of acrylic paints
Prang assorted color construction paper
Craft Craze colored tissue paper
Googly eyes
Ok, ready? Here are 8 of my favorites — all super fun and easy Thanksgiving crafts for kids. And okay, there’s one turkey handprint craft idea, but it’s not what you might expect!
8 fun and easy Thanksgiving crafts for preschool kids
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Love that this Fork-Painted Turkey Craft at I Hear Arts n Crafts, doesn’t even require a paintbrush. We’re in! Click over for the full tutorial.
Related: 6 adorable pinecone crafts that go way beyond wreaths. Hello, fall!
This Pumpkin Pie Thanksgiving Craft for preschool kids at A Night Owl is so deliciously cute, you’ll actually want to eat it. But, don’t. It’s not like many of us need more sweets this season, anyway.
I love that Amanda at Dirt & Boogers, a play therapist, has created this Fine Motor Turkey Craft to help young kids with their fine motor skills, while still making this Thanksgiving craft fun and festive.
Related: 12 fun, easy fall nature crafts for preschoolers: Let the season begin!
These LEGO Stamped Indian Corn at Crafty Morning have such a cool texture and design. Just make sure the your LEGO bricks get washed before they leave the craft table–unless you want corn kernels all over your home. Pro tip: If your existing LEGO sets are all themed, it’s a great investment to buy a giant set of LEGO Classic Bricks. No minifies, no themes, just the bricks that you’ll use for years and years. Plus you can easily spare a few for Thanksgiving crafts like this one.
They may need help cutting out the shapes for this one, but I think even the littlest kids will love using watercolors to paint coffee filters for this Coffee Filter Turkey Craft at Buggy and Buddy. Older kids might want to try a cool pattern, like in the picture, or go tie-dye-style crazy.
I can only imagine the laughs these DIY Thanksgiving Paper Plate Turkey Hats will bring to the dinner table. Thanks, Honey and Lime, for this easy and fun tutorial, and here’s hoping all your little turkeys get pardoned.
It doesn’t get any easier than this Cheerio Corn on the Cob at Glued to My Crafts, which is great for very young kids, and is one of the healthier options in the crafting-with-edible-materials category. I think at least a small fraction will end up on the paper.
Finally, we all know the classic “make a turkey out of your handprint” Thanksgiving craft for preschoolers that we’ve done for generations. I love this idea from to turn a handprint turkey into keepsake napkin, via I Heart Arts n Crafts. You just need some acrylic paint (this is a favorite brand and it even has fall colors in the affordable set) and of course a set of plain white cloth napkins. Do it each year with each of the kids and you’ll have a sweet new tradition that doubles as table decoration — while you watch how your kids grow. Sniff.
congratulations liz!