Thanksgiving is a great time to get creative with your kids. With it being fall, there are so many great colours and patterns to choose from. You can get crafty with things outdoors and indoors. Here are some fantastic DIY Thanksgiving projects you can do with your kids!

Thankful Hands Tree

Supplies

• Coloured construction paper (I try to stick with fall colours)
• Brown paper to make the tree trunk
• Tape
• Scissors
• Pen or pencil 

Directions

• Make a tree trunk out of the brown paper and tape it to the wall or door (or wherever you want to put it)
• Trace your kids’ hands on the various coloured pieces of paper
• Cut the handprints out
• Write on each leaf what your child or you, your spouse, family members etc are thankful for
• Tape each leaf to the tree trunk to fill up the tree

This is a great craft to get your kids, especially into a thankful mood. I find it’s a great visual as well for them to see just how much they have to be grateful for. I like to have it hanging up in a place where everyone can see it and be reminded every day of what we are thankful for. 

Nature Centrepiece 

Supplies

• Glass or see-through vase
• Your child’s collection from nature

Directions

This one is pretty simple, go on a nature walk with your kids and let them collect whatever they want. My kids love collecting rocks, pinecones, leaves, dandelions and pretty much whatever else they can find! Bring these home and arrange them in a glass vase to be displayed on the Thanksgiving dinner table. There you have a very easy, unique centrepiece! 

Turkey Handprint

Supplies

• Coloured construction paper
• Scissors
• Empty toilet paper roll
• Googly craft eyes
• Glue

Directions

• Trace and cut out child’s handprints (4 per turkey should do) in various construction paper colours (again I usually stick to the fall colours
• Cut out yellow or orange paper for the beak (an upside-down triangle)
• Glue the eyes and paper beak on to one side of the toilet paper roll
• Arrange the handprints to look like feathers and glue onto the opposite side of the toilet paper roll 

And there you have it! A super cute turkey. As you can tell, I really like using kids’ handprints for crafts! It’s a good way to look back and remember how cute and little their hands were each year. 

Handprint Wreath

Supplies

• Colour construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Pen/pencil

Directions

• Trace and cut out kid’s handprints in various fall colours
• Glue all the hands together 
• Write the name of each child on their handprint so you can tell who’s is who’s

Like I said, I really like handprint crafts! They are so easy to do as well!!

Pinecone and Leaf Turkey

Supplies

• Pinecones
• Googly craft eyes
• Leaves

 Directions

• Glue eyes on to one side of the pinecone
• Arrange leaves on the other side of the pinecone to look like feathers (stick stems of leaves into pinecones to make them stay) 

Melted Crayon Pumpkin

 Supplies

• Crayons 
• Pumpkin (it looks really cool if it’s painted white)
• Blow dryer

Directions

• Arrange crayons (without wrapping) on top of the pumpkin 
• Heat the crayons with a blow dryer until crayon start melting 
• Allow crayons to melt and see what design it makes! 

This one is really neat! You can get so many different designs with the melted crayons. This can get a little messy, so make sure you have some newspaper or something laid down to keep the crayon wax from getting all over the place! 

So, pull out your craft supplies, gather up your kids and get to work!!! These crafts are a great way to pass some time on a rainy fall afternoon!