Americans observe Thanksgiving every year on the fourth Thursday in November, when family and friends gather together to enjoy a good meal and give thanks for their many blessings. This holiday has roots in the harvest festival celebrated by the country's European settlers and turkeys and cornucopia are common symbols of Thanksgiving. Crafts developed around these themes will give preschoolers an interactive way to learn about the holiday.
Pine Cone Turkeys
Turn that stash of pinecones into Thanksgiving decorations.
This craft uses pinecones your preschoolers collect during fall nature hikes. For each child, you will need one small and one medium-sized pine cone, school glue, four small craft feathers, two small "y" shaped tree or shrub branches, googly eyes and a waddle cut from red construction paper.
Determine which end of the medium pine cone will be the front of your turkey, then have the child glue feathers on the back of it. To do this, put a drop of glue between the open "scales" of the cone, then stick a feather into the glue and hold it for a few minutes. Repeat with three additional feathers.
Glue eyes and waddle on the small pinecone, then glue this to the front of the medium pinecone to make the turkey's head. Gently turn over the medium pinecone and drop a few dots of glue inside two scales, then stick two y-shaped branches into the glue to create the turkey's legs and feet. Allow glue to dry completely before turning your turkey upright.
Turkey Hand Print Napkins
Decorate napkins with handprint turkeys.
Add a personal touch to the Thanksgiving table with these handprint napkins. You will need baby wipes; paper towels; a paper plate; a medium-sized paintbrush; newspapers; a cotton canvas napkin for each child; brown, red, yellow and black thin-point fabric markers; and fabric paint in brown, orange, yellow, red and green.
Cover the work surface with newspaper and put the opened napkin on top of the newspaper. Squirt about a tablespoon of each paint color onto a paper plate, taking care not to mix the colors. Using the paintbrush, paint the child's palm and long side of his thumb brown, then ask him to gently press the painted areas onto the napkin. Ask him to remove his hand from the napkin, keeping his palm and thumb straight to avoid smearing the wet paint. Use baby wipes to remove all paint from his palm and thumb, then paint the palm side of his four fingers red, yellow, orange or green. Have him gently press his fingers down above his palm print to make the turkey's feathers. Lift fingers and wash hands immediately with baby wipes. Dip one of his thumbs into orange paint and press it onto the napkin several times to make small pumpkins.
Allow paint to dry completely then use fabric markers to add waddle, beak, eyes and other details to the turkey. Use a green fabric marker to draw leaves near the pumpkins.
Easy Clay Cornucopia
Preschoolers can make their own miniature cornucopia with some clay and an ice cream cone. Use hard sugar cones, not flat-bottomed cake cones, for this project. Ask the child to roll tan-colored clay into flat sheets, then wrap the outside of the cone with the clay. Show your child how to make pumpkins, apples, grapes and other food items with rolled pieces of appropriately colored clay. Arrange dried clay fruit inside the cornucopia.
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