Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday to get the whole family involved in kid-friendly crafts that are both fun and meaningful.
Thanksgiving treats
Children enjoy contributing to the holiday meal and these fall treats are simple and delicious. The best part is they are no-bake and easy enough for them to do solo while the turkey is being prepared.
Chocolate acorn desserts
This adorable edible craft only requires four ingredients:
- Hershey’s Chocolate Kisses
- Mini Nilla Wafers
- Melted chocolate
- Mini chocolate chips
Using the melted chocolate as “glue,” adhere the Kisses to one side of the wafer and the mini chocolate chips to the other side for a delicious, chocolatey acorn.
Bonus: Use snacks that are already in the pantry as substitutions. Nutter Butters and mini peanut butter chocolate chips give this a new twist. Small pieces of pretzel sticks can be used for the stem.
Turkey cookies
Brighten up the dessert tray with these cute and colorful turkey treats. With just a few easy-to-find ingredients, children can give an ordinary cookie a Thanksgiving spin.
- Oreos
- Melted chocolate
- Candy corn
- Candy eyeballs
- Peanut butter chocolate chips
Simply open the Oreo, add some melted chocolate for glue and place the candy corn in between the two sides for turkey feathers. Decorate the face with candy eyeballs and peanut butter chocolate chips.
Gratitude decorations
Reinforce the spirit of the holiday. With a focus on gratitude and some added creativity, these activities not only teach a lesson in thankfulness, but also serve as inexpensive DIY holiday decorations.
Thankful pumpkins
Display the family’s gratitude this year with a fall craft that requires just two supplies:
- Black sharpie
- Pumpkin (real or store-bought)
Each child can have their own version or one can be created together as a family. Simply write down a gratitude list for the year. If a real pumpkin is used, take a picture of it as a keepsake. If one is bought from a craft store, reuse it and add to it each year.
Gratitude wreath
Only a few inexpensive supplies are needed to create a Thanksgiving gratitude wreath:
- Sturdy paper plate (with the center cut out)
- Pre-cut foam leaves
- Markers
- Glue
Display gratitude in a decorative way. No time to get to the craft store? Make home-made leaves out of construction paper. Children can write something they are thankful for on each leaf and glue them around the edge of the paper plate.
By Jennifer Kennedy.
