Easy Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids

If you want to make Thanksgiving crafts in the classroom or at home, to decorate the walls or the table, this collection of Thanksgiving crafts for kids is sure to give you some ideas.

Because the Pilgrims came to America on a boat, you might want to make a Mayflower craft. Crafts by Amanda has a cute Mayflower made out of a cereal box, and you can add things you’re thankful for to the sails or to the little cut out pilgrims in the boat. Or make a moving boat (with the help of a craft stick) with the printable from Kids Craft Room.

Of course you probably really want some turkey crafts, and there are so many fun ways to make them.

The mix and match printables from Messy Little Monster allow you to make different turkeys with different styles of feathers, noses, feet and more. You can even add your child’s face to the turkey. These would be super cute to make as place holders for the holiday table, or to decorate the classroom around Thanksgiving.

Twitchetts has a great DIY for a different kind of construction paper turkey made with loops for the feathers. You can also take a basic turkey shape and make feathers out of just about anything, from handprints (Crafts by Amanda) to buttons (Crafts by Ria). Or use a pine cone as the base of your turkey and decorate it with feathers, ribbon or whatever else you like. Get the instructions from Fireflies and Mud Pies.

You’ll definitely want to make some turkey headbands with paper feathers like these from Only Passionate Curiosity. Kids will have lots of fun decorating them and wearing them around the house or classroom.

And maybe my favorite is the little wobbly turkey printable from Hattifant. These come in two different sizes to print and color, and you’ll just have to click over there to see what makes them wobble. So clever!

Leif Erikson Day is celebrated on Oct. 9, and it’s a great time to learn more about the Vikings and why we still remember Erikson all these years later.

If you don’t know about Leif Erikson (sometimes spelled Eriksson), he’s believed to have been born in Iceland, and is considered the first European to set foot on continental America, more than 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

123 Homeschool 4 Me has a printable mini book about Leif Erikson and the Vikings for kids to read and color. It talks about who the Vikings were, what kind of ships they used, how they got to America and more. It’s a good overview for younger kids to use.

A good unit study is available from Simple Living Creative Learning, which includes a page where kids can write what they know, what they want to learn and what they learned through the unit, as well as information on the Vikings, longships, helmets, clothing and more.

Get a printable Viking unit study with reading passages, comprehension questions and other activities aimed at grades 4-8 from Creative Classroom Core at Teachers Pay Teachers. (And see more Vikings content from TPT here.)

Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus has some great unit study ideas, too, including suggested books and videos. The post includes information about the Viking voyages, society, mythology and ships, as well as some vocabulary and a list of famous Vikings. While you’re over there also check out her free printable lapbook, which includes mini books on ships, a timeline, a Viking women coloring page, draw your own Vikings, geography, ancient runes and more.

Piqolo Kids has a lesson on Viking women with (available for purchase) worksheets about a day in the life of Viking women. Even if you don’t grab the printables there’s some good resources on that page and a link to a video on Viking women.

Learn how to draw a Viking ship with instructions from Drawing How to Draw, or grab Vikings coloring and labeling worksheets from Kids Puzzles and Games.

There’s a Leif Erikson Festival annually in Norway, Michigan, which you can learn more about here.

Have you read?

Leave a Reply