Holidays are one of the most special parts of raising kids. Being able to bring joy and excitement into their lives is fun to watch. It's adorable seeing them get excited, and being able to amp that up with some creative crafts beforehand extends the fun.
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, and many of us with some time on our hands, doing Thanksgiving crafts with the toddlers is a fun way to pass the time, make memories, and have some fun before the holiday arrives. We just want to make sure that they're crafts that they can tackle without it being too challenging — which usually means more work for the parents.
So for anyone looking for some Thanksgiving-themed crafts to do with their toddlers, here are 17 craft ideas that won't drive you crazy.
Thanksgiving Countdown
We all need excitement these days, and something to look forward to is never a bad idea. For families excited about Thanksgiving, and all that comes with it, having a turkey countdown adds a level of fun for the kids. They can trace their hands for "feathers" and pull one down every day until the turkey is finally bald. It's a good way to practice their numbers, too.
Turkey Paper Crafts
Toddlers are still working on their fine motor skills, so asking them to cut the strips may not be the best move, but this is a fun craft. Cut out different sized, and different Thanksgiving-colored strips and let the kids make their own turkey designs.
Muddy Turkey Feet
Turkeys are funny-looking animals, and they're a key focus of this holiday, so crafts often have a turkey theme. This idea allows the kids to get a little messy, using pipe cleaners and brown paint to make their own turkey feet designs.
Thankful Trees
Focusing on what we’re thankful for this season is a way to take time to really reflect. These thankful trees focus on just that, and it’s the kind of craft that the kids will be engaged with for a while.
Turkey to Paint
We don't need to have large and elaborate craft ideas for our kids to be engaged and have fun. This is really simple, but it's perfect for toddlers who are just starting to practice their fine motor skills at a younger age. This one helps keep things relatively mess-free for the parents, too. That's a big bonus point.
Turkey Dots
Bingo dabbers are one of the unsung heroes of toddler crafts, and they're a great starter before they're old enough to use markers. This craft allows the kids to color and decorate their own turkey, or other Thanksgiving-themed coloring pages, and add their flair to it and have something to hang up around the house as decorations.
Grateful Decorations
There is so much that we have to be thankful for this year, and it's easy to lose focus on that when we're all stressed. This craft allows parents to work with their toddlers to make messages as decoration to remind the family that there's a lot to love and be thankful for. We love that this could be done in several different colors and would work for young toddlers and older kids, too.
Turkey Handprints
We're not sure who first realized that hands can be used as the turkey feathers they're most known for, but we're happy about it. This is a fun craft idea to do with the young kids because their hands are small enough to make the turkeys. Also, any opportunity that kids get to use paint on their whole hand, the more excited they will be about the craft itself.
Turkey Fans
This is one of the most classic and fun crafts for kids between 18 months and 5 years old. These allow the kids to get into a whole lot of stuff, including scissors, glue, crayons, and other decorating things like feathers and googly eyes, if they're available. It's easy for the kids to put their own fun touches on these.
Pilgrim Puppets
For parents who want to have a different craft than just turkeys, these puppets can be made with the kids and then used for imaginative play afterwards. There are several ways to make puppets with the kids' own spin on them. Glitter, if the family can handle it, feathers, and felt would be fun supplies to add to this.
Paper Turkey Tubes
So many of us have empty toilet paper rolls lying around the house. Instead of recycling them, save these up and use them as the base of the turkey craft. They're a perfect size, and all the feathers and paper can be glued to the back of one to make the perfect outline of a turkey. The bonus of using these is they can stand up on their own.
Turkey Ornaments
We know that ornaments are associated with Christmas more than Thanksgiving, still, it doesn't have to be that way. These are adorable ways to infuse some Thanksgiving craft fun into something that could go on the tree next month, too. Or these could just be hung all over the house for Thanksgiving decorations.
Turkey Popsicle Sticks
For the families that saved up all the popsicle sticks from summer, now is the time to use them for crafts. These offer a great base for Thanksgiving crafts because they can be turned into everything from turkeys to pies and offer a good amount of space for the kids to decorate. They're also pretty strong, so the younger hands won't easily break them, like they could with paper.
Turkey Puppet Stick
OK, this is one of the most adorable crafts we've seen, and there are so many fun ways this could go. Afterward, kids can spend hours playing with them, too. These don't take a whole lot of supplies — just pick up some sticks, paper, and other random craft supplies, and everyone is set.
Thankful Stone
We saw these painted thankful rocks all over the community at the start of the global health crisis, and it's a beautiful craft to do with the kids now. All it takes are some rocks and paint and some time to color them with bright designs. They can be used as a centerpiece or peppered around the community to bring smiles to others.
Cheerio on the Cob
Kids love Cheerios, and they'll love this adorable craft where they glue them onto a paper corn on the cob. This fits the Thanksgiving theme without it being too over the top about it. It's a fun way for toddlers to use glue and eat a snack at the same time. Just make sure they're not eating the pieces with the glue on them.
Pumpkin Pie Slices
These little pumpkin pie slices may not be as tasty as the real thing, but they look adorably delicious anyway. These only need a few supplies for the parents to pick up, and the kids can decorate them as other types of pie, too — apple, pecan, or sweet potato, whichever the family likes best.
