Looking for Thanksgiving craft projects?  Try these ideas for elementary school aged kids.  Directions for modifications are included with some ideas to make the projects more suitable for younger children.

Use a large piece of brown or tan paper (try cutting apart a brown grocery store bag) to form a cone and staple it into shape. Shape food like pumpkins, apples, grapes, and corn from a light-weight modeling compound. Let the shapes dry overnight. Once dry, paint each piece using acrylic paint. After the paint dries, place them in the mouth of the cornucopia.  For an easier project, cut out a cornucopia shape and clue it to a piece of black construction paper.  Have kids cut out pictures of fruit and vegetables from old magazines and glue them to the paper.

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Cornucopias:

Place mats: Using a flashlight, trace the silhouettes of both a boy and a girl onto black construction paper. Cut out each head shape and glue it onto the large piece of paper. Using a boy’s head for the guys and a girl’s head for the girls, write the name of each person below the head. Cover the place mats with contact paper and place them around the table for each guest to find.

Gumdrop Turkeys: You’ll need an apple, eight toothpicks, twenty-one gumdrops, and one marshmallow. On one toothpick, place two gumdrops and the marshmallow. Poke the toothpick into the front of the apple. Take two more toothpicks and put two gumdrops on each one. Angle these gumdrops up a little and stick them into the bottom of the apple to make the turkey’s feet. Take the remaining five toothpicks and put three gumdrops on each one, creating “feathers”. Place the “feathers” into the back side of the apple; forming a fan across the top and side of the apple.

Pinecone Turkeys: Start with a clean pinecone and a set of pipe cleaners.  To “clean” a pinecone, place it in an oven for five minutes at 300 degrees.  This will kill any bugs living in the pinecone.  Start by folding the colorful pipe cleaners into loops, then add a dab of glue to the end of the pipe cleaner and place it between the needles towards the large end of the pine cone.  Repeat this step until you have a colorful group of feathers. Glue a light colored pompom to the front of the turkey. Add wiggly eyes, a red waddle cut from construction paper, and a black beak. Stabilize the turkey by adding pipe cleaner feet under the pine needles near the front of the turkey.

Turkey Centerpiece: Start with a brown foam ball and several craft sticks the colors of a turkey’s tail feathers (have kids decorate these if desired). You might also want to try to use real/craft feathers or doubled-over pipe cleaners. Stick the tail feathers in the ball spread out like a fan. Stick another craft stick in the ball for a head and decorate the head with a face. Use markers or glue on wobbly eyes, an orange construction paper beak, and red construction paper under the beak for the gobble. Make spindly legs out of two orange pipe cleaners. Bend one end of each to make three-toed claws by making a sort of “W”-shape and wrapping the loose end around the ankle to hold it in place. A dab of hot glue will help to secure the legs. Stick the pipe cleaners into the bottom front of the Styrofoam ball to give the impression that the turkey is sitting.

Hand Print Turkeys:  This is a classic Thanksgiving craft that has been made by young children for generations, but be forewarned that it can be messy.  Start by pressing the child’s fingers into a variety of bowls with non-toxic paint.  Use brown paint on the palm and thumb and red, orange, yellow, and/or green on the other fingers.  Then press a colorful turkey onto construction paper. Once dry, use markers or crayons to add legs, eyes, beak and gobble.

Decoupage Pumpkins:  If your children enjoyed carving pumpkins for Halloween, they’re bound to have fun making Thanksgiving-themed pumpkins. Look for paper scraps with fall and Thanksgiving themes such as Thanksgiving or fall paper napkins, wrapping paper, pictures from magazines, pilgrim print-outs from the internet. You could also just use tissue paper in fall colors. Have the kids cut the pictures as small as they can then use paint brushes to spread decoupage medium or watered down white glue over the pictures. Carefully smooth out the pictures over the surface of the pumpkin to create a Thanksgiving collage. To make your kids’ creation a decoration to use year after year, decorate a fake pumpkin instead of a real one.