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!

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Thanksgiving Language Arts Printables

Human brains are pretty amazing, allowing us to think, feel, create, communicate, move and more. But humans aren’t the only animals with cool brains, as Crab Museum explains in the book The No-Brainer Brain Explainer (illustrated by Bruno Valasse).

This book, aimed at kids in grades 1-4, is colorful and silly but also educational about how brains actually work, with billions of neurons sending electrical and chemical signals around the body.

“Everything we think, feel and experience comes from an electrical relay race, with neurons passing chemical batons to each other,” the book says. “The constant chatter of billions of brain cells creates your entire world.”

The book compares the brains of mammals to those of crabs (the book is “written” by a crab after all) and notes that crabs have fewer neurons and of course are much smaller, but they have separate parts of their brains that control their eyes and their legs. Crabs are also capable of remembering things, using tools and solving puzzles.

Some animals’ brains allow them to know more about their world in different ways from humans, such as spiders being sensitive to vibrations in their webs and catfish having an amazing sense of taste, with taste sensors all over their bodies.

It notes that 95 percent of brain activity goes toward things we do unconsciously, like breathing, walking and catching a ball flying toward us. It also talks about dreams, memory, how our emotions try to predict the future, where brains came from and fun facts about brains. For example, did you know a sperm whale is believed to have the biggest brain of any creature that’s even lived? Their brains weigh 18 pounds, compared to just 2.5 pounds for humans.

Information on what creatures have the smallest brains, the toughest brains, the most brains and those who actually eat their own brains will delight kids (and maybe gross them out a little bit). They’ll also enjoy learning about the mycelium network of fungi, which is like a brain without a body, and slime molds, which are like a brain without a brain.

It ends talking about why human brains are so special because we’ve found ways to work together, communicate and build communities on a scale bigger than any other animal.

Kids and adults alike will enjoy this colorful, silly and informational book about brains!

About the book: 64 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail price $19.99.

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