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Thanksgiving Crafts using Recycled Materials
Published 11.20.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (2)
A Recycled Thanksgiving
By Ellen Luckett Baker
This Thanksgiving we'll be serving up a heaping helping of gratitude. Though the historical meaning of Thanksgiving is a little murky, giving thanks is always a good exercise for children. In these lean times, simple is better. So here are a couple of recycled crafts to get children involved in the Thanksgiving festivities.
Turkey Place Cards
From planning the menu to setting the table, children enjoy being part of the process. Our five-year-old loves to talk about what should be served and can practice her writing skills by creating a menu. Young kids can also help out in the kitchen. By giving them manageable tasks like tearing the lettuce, pouring the ingredients, stirring, or cutting mushrooms with a butter knife, they will enjoy cooking with you. Folding napkins in a new way helps build their motor skills while keeping them busy. Children can also help decide the seating arrangement and make place cards.
These Thanksgiving recycled place cards are fun to make and will add a personal touch to the table.
Supplies:
Directions:
1. Cut cereal boxes to 5"x 8". You'll need one for each place card, so you can get about two cards from each box.
2. Score the printed side of the box in the middle. Fold over and put under a heavy book to press flat.
3. Cut card stock mailers in 1/4" strips.
4. Fold down about 1 1/2", wrap around and fold again. Glue in place. Continue until you have all the "feathers" made. You'll need 6-8 feathers for each card.
5. Glue feathers together and allow to dry.
6. While you're waiting for the glue to dry, go ahead and have your child write the names on each card.
7. Fan out the feathers. Dip the feather group in a pan of glue and place off-center on the card.
8. For the turkey body, cut 2" circles from the cereal boxes. Have your child draw a turkey head and face on each circle.
9. Glue bodies on top of the feathers. Have your child draw some turkey legs.
10. Add one to each place setting.
Jar of Thanks
Amidst the holiday consumerism, it's nice to think about the gifts we already possess, both tangible and abstract. This Jar of Thanks project will help your kids focus on the meaning behind the Thanksgiving holiday. Have each member of the family write down what they are thankful for and add it to the jar. You can go around the table and have each person draw a piece of paper randomly from the jar and read it aloud. Best of all, these jars are simple to make, almost free, and can be re-used after the holiday as fall votive holders.
Supplies:
Directions:
1. Brush leaves with decoupage glue and apply to jar. Brush a little more glue on top.
2. Glue some ribbon around the top.
3. Cut out paper in the shape of leaves.
4. Place one leaf along with a pencil at each place setting for each person to write their thanks.
Have a great holiday and enjoy spending this time with your children! Maybe you can squeeze in a nap sometime too.
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About this column
This is a year-round Holiday column. Kids love Holidays. As parents we have come to appreciate how Holidays seem to help structure our lives. Plus, any excuse to have fun sounds good to us!
We'll admit it, now that we're parents, we secretly look for Holidays to celebrate and between National, Secular, Unofficial and Bizarre Holidays, we think there are enough days out there to keep us inspired every week.
This column will be a place where you can get inspiration for how to enjoy time with your kids. Crafting projects and ideas will be posted on Thursdays by our brilliant contributors (see below). Other fun ideas will be posted here throughout the week as the inspiration hits us!
About our Craft Contributors
Ellen Luckett Baker is the author of the long thread, a blog about handmade goods. She has always enjoyed making things, but the flexibility of staying at home with her two daughters along with the creative inspiration they provide has led her to craft on a daily basis. Combining her love of graphic design and sewing, she has created an Etsy shop selling machine embroidery designs and sewing patterns.
Ellen lives in Atlanta with her husband and two young daughters. She holds a B.A. in Art History and a Master's of Public Administration with a focus in Non-Profit Management.
Cindy Hopper was fortunate to be raised in a family who appreciated the arts. This background led to a Bachelor's Degree in Art Education. With a keen eye for design and color, Cindy has continued her love of art and is now passing her creative skills on to her three children. Cindy's family and friends are the beneficiaries of her passion for fun and meaningful creative projects. Cindy's personal blog, Skip to My Lou, has taken her love of a project to new levels. Postings keep the family busy -– from testing new recipes for holiday treats to designing and building floats for a neighborhood parade to making fabric rolls to hold crayons to creating themed parties. Cindy seems to have an unending supply of ideas for gifts, parties and rainy days.
Marie LeBaron is a 30 something stay at home mom in Utah. Before life as a mother, she graduated with a teaching degree in Early Childhood & Elementary Education, after which she taught four years of Kindergarten. After her first child was born, she decided to read books and sing silly songs at home. She misses the classroom, but she now gets to bring the fun and learning into her home and ours. You’ll see her kids a lot in these projects as they are her guinea pigs and for whom she's creative. You can follow more of her projects at her personal blog Make and Takes.
Brenda Ponnay is a stealthy secret agent who juggles parenthood to her adorable daughter by day and freelance graphic design by night. Whether it's painting, baking, drawing, making castles out of card board boxes or just doing the laundry with flair, Brenda Ponnay has finally discovered (at the ripe old age of thirty-six) that what really makes her happy is being creative every single day.
Brenda lives in Southern California with her husband, daughter, three cats and thirty-seven pet birds. You can read about all her crazy adventures on her personal blog: Secret Agent Josephine.
Disclaimer
This column is only for entertainment purposes. Any recommendations or information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for advice by a trained professional. For a full statement of our site policies, please click here.
Comments (2):
oh amanda said:
RIDICULOUSLY cute!!
Posted on November 20, 2008 09:47
Rachel said:
Oh how cute! Recycled from junk mail-super bonus! I'll be linking to this.
Posted on November 20, 2008 18:01