Today I thought I would share some fun Thanksgiving Crafts that I did this year (and years past) with my 1st graders and with my nieces and nephews!
This year I made these thankful turkeys with my students at school and they were so fun!
First I printed the "I am thankful for" papers and cut them into little rectangles. Each students filled in the blank for 5 things they were thankful for. I didn't really put any limits on what they could write but we talked extensively about what being thankful means and how we are thankful for lots of things like our family, friends, school, food, house, etc. Most of them did well filling in things they were thankful for without any direction.
After they filled in the blanks, I passed out the feathers (one at a time) for them to glue their thankful sentences on. I am a little OCD when it comes to crafts in my classroom so we all stay together and do it one piece at a time. I have found that is a better way, than to just release them. Its less stressful for me and less stressful for them. :) win-win!
After all our thankful sentences were glued on I passed out the body of the turkey, and the neck and face (I chose a lighter tan for the neck and face. The neck is a rectangle and the face is a little circle). I already had these cut out for them. Sometimes for crafts I cut out the pieces and sometimes they do. It just depends. On this day we were short on time so I had already cut out all the pieces for them. They drew on the eyes, beak, and gobbler with crayons. I put an example on the board for them and they glued the neck and face on. Then we glued the feathers to the back of the turkey. The only hard part here was most of them glued the feathers too far down so their writing was covered. I just went around and helped whoever needed it.
Then it was time for the fun scrunchy legs! (yes scrunchy is totally a word!) This is always their favorite - we do scrunchy legs (or arms) on a lot of our crafts. I cut out orange rectangles and they knew out to scrunch them back and forth to make the legs because we had done it multiple times. The first time I show them several times and most of them get it after a few times of trying it. They glued the legs on and bam - hello cute little thankful turkey!!!!!!! I hung them on a long string that hangs from the ceiling across our room. They turned out so cute!!!!
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On Sunday, we had our family Thanksgiving and I decided it would be fun to do this turkey craft with my nieces and nephews....
I did this craft several years ago when I taught Kindergarten and pulled it back out this year to do with the kids.
First we drew a circle for the turkey's body and the kids colored it in. Yes, they are young so they totally get outside the lines but I have always thought these crafts turn out cuter when they are "messier". :)
After they drew the eyes, beak, and gobbler (is that what that red thing is called???); we drew on the legs and then were ready for the feathers! I brought some of my acrylic paint over to mom and dads and I put the paint on a paper plate. Aubrey & Levi were able to dip their fingers in the paint and do the feathers themselves after I showed them how to but Jeri and I helped Kate and Hagen do theirs.
They just dip their fingers in the paint and their fingerprints make the feathers. They loved it and I thought they turned out super cute!!!!
The main thing about crafts with kids is you have to be able to handle mess for a short period of time and you have to let go and let them do their thing. If it doesn't turn out exactly like you pictured it, who cares? Everything they make is cute in my eyes & I think their little quirks and changes they make to crafts are what makes them unique and cute!
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This next craft is more of a fall craft, rather than thanksgiving but I still wanted to share it. You saw this picture on my last post.....
Meet out candy corn people!!!! I always always do this craft at the beginning of October with my kids and every class has just loved them!!!!
Years ago I found this candy corn template (I'm sure you can google one) and print one for each kid. They color the candy corn, cut it out, and glue it on orange construction paper (just to make it more sturdy). Then they cut out the candy corn on the construction paper and draw on a face at the top. I cut out orange rectangles for the arms and legs and they scrunch them (just like on the turkeys!) and then glue the arms on the side and legs on the bottom to the back of the candy corn.
How easy and cute, right????
I am such a crafter so I love doing these little projects with my students and now my nieces and nephews!!! If you do these at home with kids, you can always hang them on the fridge, or decorate with them around the house - hang them on windows, in their room, etc! Then put them away after the holiday is over and bring them back out next year!
Happy Crafting, friends. :)
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