Creative Thanksgiving Ideas

 You know how much we like Family Fun. If you are looking for some creative Thanksgiving crafts, games, recipes and more check out http://familyfun.go.com/thanksgiving/. Here are a few of the many ideas from the website. Enjoy!

 

 

TURKEY TABLE TOPPER

Not only can this festive bird really dress up a Thanksgiving table, it also does double duty serving up your dinner rolls.

Materials

   Large brown paper bag

   Piece of corrugated cardboard

   Paper plates

   Stapler

   Mod-Podge glue

   Colored paper

   Orange or red balloon and googly eyes

   Glitter, stickers, or other notions

   Craft clothespins

   Tacky glue

Instructions

1. The Turkey's Body:
   Trim the bag so that it measures about 8 inches tall. Then fold down the sides so that they are half the height and double the thickness. Cut the cardboard to fit in the bottom of the bag and insert it. Next, fold a paper plate in half and fit it inside the bag where the tail will go, bending the sides as needed.
2. Staple the plate in place. Then staple a second plate (don't fold this one) to the outside of the bag behind the first plate. For wings, fold 2 paper plates in half and staple one to each side so the bag is sandwiched between it.
3. For the turkey's head, fold and staple another paper plate, as illustrated. Decorate all the paper plates, including the head, by gluing on torn bits of colored paper. Then add a balloon wattle and googly eyes.
4. The Feathers:
   Have your kids glue colored paper shapes on paper plates, layering different prints or creating bold patterns if they like.
5. When the glue is dry, cut feather shapes out of the plates and stick a craft clothespin to the back of each with tacky glue so your child can attach the feathers to the paper plates. For an extrafancy finish, they can add decorative notions or even their names.

 

CHOPSTICK PASS ALONG GAME

 

The leisurely pace of Turkey Day can be challenging for small celebrants. Keep spirits high with this fun game. The dexterity test fills downtime between courses (and may have kids hunting for runaway game pieces).

What You Need        Chopsticks

       Unshelled walnut

       Acorn

       Cranberry

       Pea

       Small plate

Instructions

Give each player a set of chopsticks and place an unshelled walnut, an acorn, a cranberry, and a pea on a small plate next to the oldest player. She begins by using the chopsticks to pass each object, from largest to smallest, to the person on her right, who receives it with chopsticks and passes it along to the next player. The object is to try to get all four objects back to the starting plate without dropping any of them. Players unable to manage the chopsticks can use a teaspoon instead.