Thanksgiving Activities for Toddlers and Kids

Turkey “Sandprints”

I thought it would be neat to color a turkey handprint using sand instead of the usual crayons, markers or paint. It is a great way to capture your child’s handprints and it is a fun activity for children of all ages.

Materials

– Colored sand

– Glue (I used Elmer’s School Glue)

– One piece of white cardstock

– Pencil

– Optional: Q-tip, toothpick, funnel to help put leftover sand back in container

Directions

Trace your child’s hands on a piece of white cardstock using a pencil.

**You can either follow the next five steps for both of your handprints simultaneously, or do one handprint at a time.

Outline and fill in one of the fingers of the handprint with glue. Then pour colored sand over top of the glue. Let the sand sit for at least a few seconds before shaking the excess off of the cardstock. If you are saving the sand, it may be helpful to use a funnel to put it back in the original container. Repeat this step for the rest of the fingers. Use brown sand for the thumb (I used light brown) since that will be the turkey’s head.
After the fingers and thumb are filled in with sand, outline and fill in the palm of the handprint with glue. Then pour brown sand (I used dark brown) over the glue on the palm. Allow it to sit for at least a few seconds before shaking the excess off of the cardstock.

4. After checking to make sure the thumb of the handprint is dry, place a small dot of glue on the thumb to represent the eye of the turkey. Then sprinkle black sand over the glue dot. Shake off the excess sand.

5. Next, add a beak to the turkey by drawing one and filling it in with glue. Pour orange sand over the beak. Shake off the excess sand and allow to dry.

6. Draw the red piece that hangs from the beak and fill it in with glue before pouring red sand over top of it. Shake off the excess and allow to dry.

7. You may want to add a name, date, or a cute saying like “Happy Turkey Day!” to your piece. Otherwise, you are now finished and can display your work. I think the turkeys are cute enough to frame!

Turkey Button Art

Turkey Button (Squeeze Pouch Lid) Art

I saw this cute toy on Amazon where kids can use colored buttons to fill in missing parts of a picture. It is great for toddlers learning colors. The buttons reminded me of squeeze pouch lids, which I happen to save partly because I have hoarding tendencies but also because I know I can find cool uses for them. Not to get off topic, but the lids would be great for counters, color sorting, stringing, stacking, and many other beneficial learning activities! Anyway, I decided to create a Thanksgiving button art activity for my daughter.

Materials:

– Squeeze pouch lids (or buttons) in orange, blue, yellow, red and green

– Cardstock or construction paper in light brown, dark brown, orange, blue, yellow, red, and green.

– Glue or double-sided tape.

– Circle cutter, circle punch, or circular objects to trace

Directions:

Cut out the turkey pieces from the cardstock. I traced circular bowl lids for the head and body of my turkey. I traced the inside of a ring for the eyes of the turkey. Make sure to draw the feathers and feet large enough to fit the lids. You may want to even make the beak large enough for a lid too.

2. Use a circle cutter or circle punch (or trace a circular object) to cut circles almost as large as the squeeze pouch lids out of the feathers, feet, and possibly the beak. If you happen to have brown lids or buttons, you may even want to cut circles out of the body of the turkey.

3. Glue all the pieces of the turkey together. I used double-sided tape instead of glue and it worked pretty well.

4. Give your child the squeeze pouch lids and have them fill in the missing circles of the turkey with the appropriate colored lids. Decorating the turkey with the lids is great practice for color recognition.

Native American Beaded Feather Necklace Activity

Native American Beaded Feather Necklace Activity

Similar to my Thanksgiving Table Place Marker for Kids, I thought another possible activity for kids to do at the Thanksgiving table is to make a Native American Necklace. You could use a baby food jar to hold the supplies. I used squeeze pouch lids for the beads since I didn’t have any beads on hand.

Materials

– Clean baby food jar

– Yarn

– Hot glue

– Squeeze pouch lids (or beads)

– Feathers

Directions

Wrap the top part of the baby food jar with yarn. Use hot glue to hold the yarn in place.
Place feathers in the yarn at the back of the jar (you should be able to stick the ends of the feathers through the yarn).
Fill the jar with the squeeze pouch lids (beads), a long string of yarn for the necklace, and extra feathers. You may want to tie feathers onto the yarn ahead of time for young kids who may not be able to do that themselves.
Place the jars at the seats of kids who can then make and wear their necklaces at the table.