50 Thanksgiving Kids' Crafts

Get the kids involved with Thanksgiving prep by having them help decorate with their homemade crafts. They can make place card holders, thumbprint or stamp table runners or napkins, gather leaves and paint pinecones to help add a finishing touch to your table settings and centerpiece. If you’re looking for ways to keep the kids busy while the turkey cooks, lay out some crayons and have them decorate the brown craft paper you used to cover the kids’ table. They can also make cards, paper straw necklaces or glove puppets. For older kids, print one of our word search or jumble games. If you can take the party outside, make a football toss game or have the kids bob for apples. When Thanksgiving is over, we’ve also got crafts to keep the kids busy on the long weekend, and holiday crafts to get started on Christmas.

First up: Start with the basics, a pail of crayons and a printed coloring page will always be a winning craft idea for entertaining kids. Pile your family table or the kids' table on Thanksgiving with a few festive coloring books and supply plenty of crayons and colored pencils to help them create a masterpiece. Another good idea? Invite them to write a list of things they're grateful for each day when working on their coloring project.

Download our free printable games — Thanksgiving Word Search and Thanksgiving Word Scramble — to keep school-age kids happily occupied while adults linger over a post-Turkey Day coffee, hot toddy or dessert.

Instead of a tablecloth, cover the kids' table with brown craft paper and scatter crayons around then encourage them to decorate their place setting while waiting for dinner.

Treat family and friends to a happy mail day with a homemade greeting card from their favorite kid. Recreate these enchanting cards with creamy white construction paper and a pile of paper-punched leaves in various autumn colors. Give your kiddo glue sticks and encourage them to paste the leaves to their card in whatever festive fashion they see fit. Provide crayons or colored pencils so they can add illustrations or write a heartfelt note.

If football is a part of your Thanksgiving tradition — either watching or playing — add a new twist for the kids by making this carnival-type ball toss game. All it takes is a basic canvas dropcloth, scissors, some paint, a clothesline, clothes pins and of course, a football.

Help the kids in your life celebrate Thanksgiving in style with this fashionable DIY accessory. These lively straw necklaces provide failproof fun and a creative outlet for kids during the fall holidays while parents are hard at work in the kitchen. Find our easy-to-follow instructions and free printable template in the link below.

Whoooo's the cutest?! These tasty treats are easy to assemble from storebought goodies and will add a fun woodland feel to your kids' table or dessert buffet.

Let the kids get ready for the holiday by having them make the centerpiece. Gather bare branches and cover them in glitter. Then have them cut leaves out of colorful card stock then you can glue and tie the leaves onto the branches. Imagine how excited the kids will be when they proudly tell all your guests that they made the centerpiece.

Kids will have as much fun crafting these cute place cards as they will devouring their sweet contents. Our free printable template makes assembly a snap. Ready to make your own? Just follow our tutorial, below.

Tape a piece of transparent contact paper to a window, sticky side facing inward. Have your kids trim colorful pieces of paper into various shapes, and assemble them directly on the sticky adhesive.

This fall craft will keep your kids occupied for a few hours, while you get dinner on the table. To start the project, ask the kids to forage the backyard fallen leaves and flower petals in many shapes, sizes and colors. Once they’ve collected a variety, invite them indoors and use their findings to illustrate their favorite animals or fall motifs on paper.

Let's face it: A plain white napkin just won't do for a nice holiday dinner. But instead of dropping big bucks on a new set, send the kids outside to hunt for the perfect fallen leaves to stamp seasonal flair onto basic linens. Your guests will love the handmade touch and little ones will be proud to set the table with their DIY creations.

If the block-printed leaf napkins were a hit with your kids, rest assured they'll love this adorable apple-picking tote craft just as much. The simple activity calls for apples, a fabric tote bag and red and green paint from your local craft store.

Falling leaves and visible tree limbs make autumn one of the best seasons to make feathered friends. Invite your craft-loving kiddo into the kitchen and make these delicious DIY birdseed hangers for the cardinals, blue jays and finches in your neighborhood. Follow our trusty seed recipe, then cut the mixture into festive shapes like maple leaves or pumpkins with seasonal cookie cutters.

After the meal, invite everyone including the kids to enjoy the notes of thanks, reading through them and reflecting on what each person is thankful for. To keep the thankful tree going as a tradition, bring it out each year so everyone can add new leaves and remember how many blessings they have in their lives. Make sure to add the date to the kids' leaves so years from now you and they can look back and reminisce.

For most families, setting up a separate kids' table is as much a Thanksgiving tradition as turkey and pumpkin pie. When setting up their table, don't forget the centerpiece — fill vases with sweet, savory or healthy snacks to keep your littlest guests happily noshing.

Almost too cute to eat, kids of all ages will love helping make these chocolate-dipped cuties. Using prepackaged crispy rice treats will help keep the focus on the fun part — decorating!

No, those aren't toadstools, they're actually no-bake cookies cleverly disguised as the forest fungus. Package them as favors or add them to the kids' table to delight your littlest Turkey Day guests.

In many parts of the country, food scarcity for birds increases in the fall. Teach kids a lesson about caring for Mother Nature while crafting a handy feeder that will allow you to sneak a peek at both migratory and resident bird species.

Give your littlest Thanksgiving guests a real treat with these adorable deer cookies that can be made using either homemade or storebought shortbread as the cookie base.

If you've got cardboard cartons and cups so guests can take home doggie bags, have the littlest Thanksgiving guests decorate them with their own custom design.

Spend the afternoon crafting a DIY memory game with your kiddo. The garden-themed game involves foraged twigs and custom card sets with your favorite seasonal leaves, trees, blooms and festive phrases.

Let your little one’s imagination run wild with this playful leaf people craft project. This smiling crew consists of wooden clothespins, acrylic paint pens, felt, miniature pumpkins, pipe cleaners and silk autumn leaves.

Just a little adult prep and basic craft supplies are all you need to keep kids busy for hours creating these cute turkey decorations.

Kiddos will love this rainbow-hued treat that uses leftover Halloween candy to decorate white chocolate-dipped apple slices. Slide them into a plastic treat bag as a take-home favor or make them on Turkey Day as a post-meal activity.

After dinner set up a fun snack-mix station where they can help themselves to a custom sweet-and-salty creation. Kids can snack on their custom mix during the Thanksgiving festivities or take their containers home as a party favor.

Seriously, how cute is this little turkey — don't you just wanna gobble him up? So will your littlest Thanksgiving guests. Bake cupcakes the day before and have icing and small bowls of candy prepped so kids can start decorating their cupcakes as soon as the festivities begin.

There’s a reason that apples are the fruit of choice for fall bobbing contests. First, fresh apples have 25 percent air by volume — they’re made to float. Second, bobbing for apples traces its roots to a Celtic New Year tradition where the game was used as a method for determining a future spouse.

Easily turn a gourd, pipe cleaners and felt sheets into a cute character for your Thanksgiving table. Get crafting with the step-by-step instructions, below, from our friends at HGTV Magazine.

We've all got a stash of single gloves just longing to one day find their mates. Let's be honest, that will probably never happen. Instead, let the kiddos transform them into super silly glove monsters using felt, buttons and other basic craft supplies.

All you need is a plain, white table runner (or napkins, tea towels, etc.), craft paint in coordinating colors and willing thumbs.

What's more fun than taking the kids for a nature hike on a warm fall day? While you're out, have them search for the prettiest fall leaves you can frame, then include them in a wall grouping with printed seasonal sayings.

Get kids to help you beautifully bring the outdoors in by tying real or faux fall leaves onto fishing line. Attach the leaf streamers to the ceiling or light fixture above your dining table to recreate the effect of falling leaves.

What better way to show everyone to their seats than with personalized place cards? To keep things simple, print out our free pumpkin place cards, pass out the crayons and let the kids color to their hearts' content.

With ribbon and some glue, kids can give faux or fresh pumpkins an after-Halloween makeover.

Combine 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup white glue and 1-1/2 cups shaving cream in a bowl. Divide the mixture into separate containers and add food coloring. Scoop each color into its own squirt bottle or sealable bag, then trim off one corner for piping. Pipe onto paper and allow to dry.

With just a little help from an adult, kids can craft these handmade paper pinwheels to add a splash of color to the dining table.

This mini pumpkin vase project is a fun way to get little gardeners planting. Use the finished planters to mark each place at a fall dinner party or send Thanksgiving guests home with a sweet succulent party favor.

This craft is as budget-friendly as it gets. You’ll need pinecones (from your backyard!), white vinegar, acrylic paint and a paintbrush. After you’ve collected pinecones, soak them in a large bowl or bucket of warm water with 1/2 cup white vinegar. This helps kill bugs, mildew and debris. After 30 minutes, remove the pinecones from the bowl, and place them on newspaper for 1-2 hours to dry. Then, place them on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet, and bake them at 200 degrees for 1-2 hours, checking them frequently. Don’t leave the kitchen while baking, and be alert for smoke. When the pinecones fully open up and appear dry and shiny, they’re done. Take them out of the oven, and allow them to cool. When cool, let the kids paint the bottom half of each pinecone Allow the paint to dry, then use pinecones to decorate your home or give them out as pretty Thanksgiving favors.

Turn giving thanks into a game. Print out our free template (link below), attach to twine and ask your guests to anonymously write down what they're thankful for, then take turns reading the sentiments aloud during dinner and guessing who wrote them.

Satisfy the kids' (of all ages) sweet tooth with a candied apple bar. Set up the apple bar with a platter of skewered apples, and sweet hazelnut, caramel and chocolate sauces. Lay out sweet and salty toppings galore: rainbow sprinkles, pretzel bits, mini marshmallows, coconut, walnuts and roasted pumpkin seeds.

Enlist the kids to help decorate your Thanksgiving table with this pretty DIY. Scour the backyard for a collection of perfectly shaped leaves, then trace them (stems included) onto brown, red, yellow or orange paper. Cut them out, then write guests’ names on the paper leaves with a metallic paint pen. Put the finished place cards directly on guests' plates or tie ribbons around folded napkins, and tuck a leaf under each bow.

Give the kids something to do during dinner by covering the Thanksgiving kids' table with brown craft paper and putting a small cup with crayons by each place setting. The kids can draw right on the paper throughout the meal, and you won’t need to worry about ruining any of your delicate table linens.

Gather broken, forgotten crayons and transform them into colorful new treasures that fit perfectly in the hands of even the smallest artists. Use the multicolor disks instead of standard crayons on the kids' table or bag them up as take-home favors for your littlest Thanksgiving guests.

Kids love glitter (really, who doesn't?) but it can be messy, making these glammed-up chipboard letters a great project for older children.

Get your little crafters' help to whip up budget-friendly, colorful dough to keep young guests occupied at the kids' table while the adults linger over coffee and dessert.

It's not Thanksgiving without food, dessert included. Let the adults worry about which pies to bake and help the kiddos make cake pops instead. Whip up your favorite cake pop recipe, then set out an assortment of fall-themed icings and sprinkles for endless decorating fun. And if a few go missing? Well, we won't tell.

A centerpiece you can eat? Yes, please! Kids will love helping you turn refrigerated bread dough, aluminum foil and a single egg into a beautiful bread cornucopia filled with sweet and savory treats.

With so many aunts, uncles and cousins gathered together in one place, Thanksgiving is the perfect time for the kids to get to know all of their relatives. Simply have the little ones draw their trees, lay out the markers and ink and ask family members to add their names and thumbprints to the branches. By the end of the night, you'll all love seeing how your family's grown over the years.