Thankful Tree
Prep Time: Under 1 hour
What you need:
Flowerpot
Art sand (sold at craft supply stores)
Bare tree branch
Colored craft foam
Scissors
Permanent marker
Large ornament hanger or straightened paper clip
Instructions:
1. Fill a flowerpot with sand and set in a shapely bare tree branch.
2. Next, cut a pile of leaf shapes from colored craft foam.
3. As your guests arrive, have them take a leaf and, with a permanent marker, write their name and the date on one side and something they’re grateful for on the other.
4. To decorate your tree, push a large ornament hanger or straightened paper clip through the stem of each leaf and hang it in place.
Turkey headband
Prep Time: Under 1 hour
What you need:
Scissors
Brown paper bags
Cardboard (cereal box)
Glue stick
Colored construction paper
2 small white pom-poms
Black permanent marker
Instructions:
1. From the brown paper bags, cut a circle 3 1/2 inches in diameter for the turkey’s head. Next, cut a 3-inch-wide band to fit around your child’s head.
2. From the cardboard, cut a strip 5 by 1 1/2 inches to use for a neck. Fold it three times accordion style, then glue one end to the back of the paper circle.
3. For a beak, fold yellow construction paper and cut out a small double triangle (1 1/2 inches along the fold). Cut a rounded L from red paper for the turkey’s wattle.
4. To create eyes, draw a black circle on each pom-pom with the marker. Glue the eyes, wattle and one side of the beak to the head. Let them dry. Then, glue the loose end of the neck to the center of the headband.
5. Now, wrap the headband around your child’s head; mark where the ends overlap, then remove the band and glue the ends. Finally, glue on construction paper feathers and wings
Corn Poppers
Prep time: Under 1 hour
What you need:
Empty toilet paper rolls
Yellow crepe paper streamers
Green tissue paper
Green ribbon
Instructions:
1. Create kernels by snipping a fringe along the edge of a 4 foot strip of crepe paper.
2. Wrap the streamer around the toilet paper tube, overlapping the layers to create a shingled effect.
3. Fill the tube with small favors or bits of paper with “I’m thankful for” ideas on them.
3. Lay the toilet paper tube in the middle of a 10×12 inch piece of tissue paper and roll the tissue around the tube, securing with ribbons.
Pin the Feather on the Turkey
Cut out one feather for each player. Put a piece of tape or sticky-tack on the back of the feather. Blindfold one player at a time. Spin the player around a couple of times. Remaining players then verbally direct (left, right, up, down, behind you, in front of you, etc.) the blindfolded student to the correct placement of his or her feather. To make this more competitive, you may ask each player to write his or her name on his or her feather and divide into teams. Take turns choosing players from each team. Only a player’s teammate(s) can offer directions. The winning team is the team with the most feathers successfully placed.
Turkey Hunt!
Prepare for the game by drawing or pasting turkey pictures on a dozen or so index cards – stickers will work as well. To play, everyone leaves the room except the leader. The leader hides the cards around the room. Hunters return and begin the hunt. As each turkey is found, it is brought back to the leader who corrals them in a separate pile for each hunter. When all the turkeys have been found, the hunter with the most turkeys is the winner and becomes the leader for the next round.
Tags: crafts, fall crafts, games, nanny, nanny jobs, November, Pilgrim headband, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving crafts
