Kids don’t care how hard you worked to make your Thanksgiving bird look like it flew in from the Food Network. Nor do they care how many hours you spent slaving over your made-from-scratch Pumpkin Persimmon Pie. All they care about is eating as fast as they can so they can go back to playing.
Of course, you won’t be able to cook a fraction of your holiday spread if you have a house full of bored kids hanging on your apron strings. In order to ensure your turkey and all the trimmings make it to the table on time this Thanksgiving, consider having the following kid-friendly activities on hand to keep little ones as busy as you will be:
Thanksgiving Puppets: Gather old socks, garden gloves or mismatched winter mittens to make Thanksgiving-themed puppets. Kids can embellish their turkey or pilgrim puppets with buttons, markers, sequins, glitter glue and stickers.
DIY Scarecrow: Have kids collect spare shirts, shoes and shirts. You will also need a pair of panty hose. Once you have all of your materials, tie off the sleeves of the shirts and the legs of the pants. Next, stuff leaves or newspaper into the shirt and pants to create a scarecrow. For the scarecrow’s head, stuff one leg of the pantyhose with Fiberfill, and draw on a face with markers. Glue on yarn for the hair and finish with an old hat. Prop up your scarecrow by the front door using cornstalks, hay bales or pumpkins.
Decorative Napkin Rings: Use empty paper towel tubes to create festive napkin rings in the shape of pilgrim hats. Cut each tube about 3 inches wide and cover each with black construction paper. Glue the paper into place. Next, cut a 3 1/2-inch circle from another piece of black construction paper for the bottom of the hat, and then cut-out the middle so the napkin can fit through. Glue that piece to the tube. To make the hat’s band, cut a half-inch strip of white construction paper and glue in place. Finally, use yellow construction paper to cut-out a buckle and glue it to the white band.
Related Articles:
Homemade Thanksgiving Decorations
Simple Thanksgiving Centerpiece