Homemade Thanksgiving Decorations Fun Families.com

With the economy still in recovery mode, many people are choosing to cut back on holiday celebrations this year. Fortunately, there are a slew of ways you can celebrate Thanksgiving without breaking the bank, including making your own festive decorations.

The following Thanksgiving craft projects are ideal for kids of all ages (with adult supervision). What’s more, in addition to looking great, they help teach children the importance of being grateful.

MAYFLOWER GRATITUDE CENTERPIECE

Materials:

Cardboard milk carton (washed and dried)

Brown paper bag

Construction paper (in a variety of your favorite colors)

Craft glue

Large wood dowel

Two apples

Scissors

Tape

Pens or pencils

Small pieces of white paper

Directions:

Cut out one side of the milk carton and cover the inside and outside with the brown paper bag.

Secure brown paper to the carton with glue.

Use construction paper and cut two large rectangles and two small rectangles for the Mayflower’s sails. Then, use remaining construction paper to cut two triangles flags for the top of the masts.

Cut large dowel into two 18-inch pieces.

Poke the dowels through the top and bottom of the sails. (Use a hole punch first to make the job easier.)

Place the apples in the ship and stick the dowel masts into the apples so that they stand upright.

Fill Mayflower centerpiece with slips of paper and pencils/pens.

As Thanksgiving approaches have each member of your family write down his/her blessings on paper from the Mayflower craft project. When they are done jotting down what they are thankful for, have them place their lists in the Mayflower.

On Thanksgiving Day read the lists aloud and see who can guess the author.

TOM THE THANKFUL TURKEY

Materials:

Brown, red, orange and yellow construction paper

White paper

Pencil

Scissors

Craft glue

Googly eyes

Directions:

Use the construction paper to cut out the shape of a turkey. Use the brown construction paper for the body (oval shape), then cut a smaller circle and rectangle from remaining paper for the turkey’s head, neck, legs and feet.

Glue the head and neck onto the turkey body.

Glue on a tiny orange triangle for the beak and a little red blob for the wattle.

Glue on googly eyes.

Glue the feet to the legs and the legs to the body.

For the turkey’s feathers, cut five long ovals (using a variety of colored construction paper), then cut out five smaller ovals from white paper.

Glue the smaller white ovals on the larger colored ones. On each one, write: “I am thankful for ______.”

Have your child write what they’re thankful for on the blank line.

Glue the “feathers” to the back of the turkey.

Display the turkey for everyone to read.

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