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You are here: Home / Disney Parks, Resorts, & Entertainment / Disney Movie News & Reviews / All blogs / ZannaLand’s Top Thanksgiving Day Kids Crafts

23 November 2009

ZannaLand’s Top Thanksgiving Day Kids Crafts

Thanksgiving Table Crafts
Thanksgiving Table Crafts

Inspired by some of my fellow bloggers as well as my favorite, Family Fun magazine, I thought I’d share my family’s top Turkey Day crafts! I have to admit, almost all of the crafts my children have done over the years are thanks to their amazing grandmother, my mom. She has an agenda when it comes to the holidays and always makes sure the kids get to create something new each year and feel like a big part of the festivities. I have come up with a few of my own over the years though, so this list combines both.

 

 

 

Turkey Cut-out Napkin Rings

Personalized Turkey Cut-out Napkin Rings
Personalized Turkey Cut-out Napkin Rings

This was one of my mom’s crafts last year. The kids just cut out card stock turkey shapes, rectangles to write everyone’s name on the front, then made rings out of the card stock, using cut cardboard tubes as reinforcement. They came out really cute and of course depending on the age and skill level of your artists, you could have some really unique turkeys! Another option we’ve done in the past is one I found instructions for on Family Fun – Turkey Napkin Rings from flat wooden craft spoons. I have another similar project using the craft spoons below.

 

Cornucopia Nut Cups

Cornucopia Nut Cups
Cornucopia Nut Cups

This was another from last year. Growing up, my grandmother always had painted scallop shells filled with mixed nuts at everyone’s place setting for the holidays. I may or may not have gone around picking all the cashews out of those shells, as a child. (whistles innocently…) Anyway, while we don’t use the shells anymore, we do still enjoy having mixed nuts out for the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays. My mom found this craft to make a fun, reusable decoration. The kids just drew out their own cornucopia pictures on the front of some construction paper. My daughter wanted to color hers in, while my son chose to leave his just plain (and really I was quite impressed with their creations!!) then they attached the paper to a ring using glue sticks, so they stood up on their own. Next she just put some mini cup cake liners in the ring and you fill them with nuts of your choice. You can then remove the liners and put new ones in for the next event. Of course you can fill them with whatever you like: candies, mints, anything! You could also make bigger rings to fit larger liners if you’d like the cups to hold more items.

 

Wooden Craft Spoon Turkeys

Wooden Spoon Turkeys
Wooden Spoon Turkeys

Another fun craft item to decorate your Thanksgiving table are these wooden craft spoon turkeys. Gather about 5 of the craft spoons and glue together with wood glue. Next glue another stick to act as the holder for the turkeys. Cut out felt for the head and the beak/waddle parts. Attach those parts and googly eyes with glue. We cut out pilgrim hats with construction paper and glued those on as well. You can then color in the ‘feathers’ any color you like with markers or even paint. The possibilities for creativity are endless! We just placed them around the table and on plates for decoration, but you could probably put them in tall cups full of nuts or candy, or even flower pots.

 

Pine Cone Turkey Place Cards

Pine Cone Turkey Place CardsMy mom made this one with the kids a few years back but unfortunately I do not have pictures of their creations, so I found a similar craft with instructions on Family Fun’s site.  We just added little cards with guest’s names on them to turn them into place cards for the table. These are especially fun to make because you get to go on a nature walk to collect the pine cones first!

 

Oreo Turkeys

I saw this on a baking group last year and had to make them. They are so simple to do, yet involved so the kids loved making them. For each turkey you make, you’ll need 2 Oreos, a mini Reese’s peanut butter cup, a Whopper, some candy corn, white frosting for ‘glue’ and yellow frosting/gel for the feet. You can also use some blue or other color frosting for the eyes.

Oreo Turkey - edible crafty fun!
Oreo Turkey - edible crafty fun!

Stand one Oreo up on top of a flat Oreo, and use some of the white frosting to attach them. Add 5 or 6 candy corn white part down, into the top Oreo’s filling to make the ‘feathers’ of the turkey. Be VERY careful with this because if you push too hard you will split open the Oreo. We went through quite a few, but no one complained. Cut the Reese’s mini cup in half, and attach with a bit of frosting so the cut part is facing down onto the Oreo. Attach the Whopper on top of the Reese’s cup as the head, with a bit more frosting. Next add 2 candy corns, with the white tips facing up, to the Reese’s cup, as wings – this is optional if you’d rather have a turkey without wings, it looks cute without too. Cut off the tip of another candy corn and attach with frosting to the Whopper as the beak. Next use the white frosting to make eyes, using a colored gel if you’d like for pupils. Use the yellow frosting for feet on the bottom Oreo. You can also get red frosting or gel to make a waddle, but we forgot that step last year! This year we might experiment with chocolate-filled Oreos, or maybe even save some Halloween orange-filled ones next year! The best part about this table decor is everyone gets to eat their creation!

Oreo Turkeys
Just re-made these for an appearance on iVillage.com so I thought I'd add the new photo!

 

Oreo Turkey
Mr. Turkey-O!

 

Laminated Thanksgiving Artwork Place Mats

Our Thanksgiving Place Mats
Our Thanksgiving Place Mats

A few years back a neighbor of mine invited a bunch of us over to have the kids create Thanksgiving place mats. The kids decorated large sheets of construction paper using markers, crayons, glitter and leaves they’d collected from outside. (Keep in mind we live in Florida, you can probably find much prettier leaves in the northern regions!) I may have helped a bit with some of the drawing. 😉 Then they colored their names in with stencils and the moms printed out Happy Thanksgiving with the year on them. Our neighbor then took them down to the local print shop and got them laminated for just a few dollars. This will be the 6th Thanksgiving that we’ve used these place mats, they are a treasured keepsake! I can’t wait till the baby is old enough to make his own place mat to add to the table.

…

I hope you try out some of our family’s Thanksgiving crafts, I know my children enjoy the traditions they created so much and love showing off their handi-work each year. So many of these can take on a personal twist and embellishments from your own family will make these one-of-a-kind decorations something to be thankful for.

tday5
Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

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Filed Under: All blogs Tagged With: crafts, Family Adventures, Holidays, kids, Oreo turkeys, parenting, Pictures, pinecone turkeys, Projects at home, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving crafts, Thanksgiving table decor

About Suzannah Otis

A child of the 80's, Zanna grew up on a never-ending quest the next best sticker for her collection (mood stickers were best, with fuzzy stickers a close second). Her first true love was a misplaced extra-terrestrial, followed by a handful of Ewoks, the entirety of the original EPCOT Center, and sipping her first iced coffee at age 10. All of these things shaped her life growing up outside of Boston where she climbed trees and roller-skated till the streetlights came on.

Zanna has lived in Florida for the most part since 1995. Now living and blogging in Walt Disney World's backyard for the past 10+ years, she is the mother of 2 adult humans, a 10-year old (also human) and 3 cats, and the wife to one husband, who puts up with all of the above. She tries to find that one little spark in everything, and thanks you very much for taking the time to read this.


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This giant ornament was a fun and popular spot for selfies and group photos. There were a few spread out around the lake. I had some fun editing the colors a bit. They turned the lights off at 9 tho so if you visit, plan accordingly!💡 We also drove around College Park and that’s the last photo in this group, they had a lovely display at a park there.

Do you enjoy driving around and seeing holiday lights? It’s easy to stay in the theme parks because so much is happening, but it’s fun to get out and explore too!
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Instagram post 2192389663457526685_8048168 Sometimes it’s hard to remember that Walt Disney was a man, not just a name on a theme park. He was a visionary as many of us know, and really changed the way we create things and how we see the world even 53 years after his death.

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Part of what you learn at the Walt Disney Family Museum is about the man that Walt Disney was. Where he came from, his family, his wife, his children. Even the fun things like where they traveled, including Yosemite National Park (the second photo here). But also the struggles that he had as a person and professionally. Seeing Walt as a relatable human who did amazing things really brings home so many of the quotes he’s said about doing the impossible or moving forward.

I think it’s always good to take a moment and reflect on where things started. While it’s very easy to just throw out the “I hope we never lose sight of one thing, that it all started with a mouse,” it really started with a man. A man that had dreams and thought differently and found a way to make those dreams a reality. Even by going “up the waterfall” as Julie Reihm is realizing in their discussion about Pirates of the Caribbean in this first photo.

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Happy birthday Walt. #thankyouwalt
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Instagram post 2191563938552900050_8048168 So, I know today is a big day in the world of Disney parks, as many folks are riding Rise of the Resistance as I type this. Instead, I’m reflecting on one of the best days/nights of my life - my wedding day with @otisney. 💜
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I can still remember the air of excitement and all of the planning and preparation coming together. There were some bumps along the way of course (how could the caterer run out of potatoes for the mashed potato bar?! and the DJ played played our first dance song for its full 3 minutes and 32 seconds rather than the minute and a half we asked for lol), but I wouldn’t change anything (well maybe the mashed potato situation and blinking in most of my photos haha). The night was just so perfectly us; relaxed and surrounded by love and silliness.
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And thank YOU for taking the time out of YOUR busy day, with holiday activities or Disney theme park events and news to read  this caption.💜💜💜Happy Anniversary @otisney! I love you more today and every day!💏
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All of these festive events are included in your @legolandflorida park ticket! Thanks to #LEGOLAND for having us out! ❤️💚
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What was your favorite part that we shared today?
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It definitely put me in the holiday mood and ready to decorate my tree. Scroll thru and watch my story and tell me your favorite tree. What makes it your favorite?
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🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄
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Instagram post 2186618907480033189_8048168 “But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name”
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@gaylordhotels #CAGP #VisitICE2019
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Instagram post 2184314566383677356_8048168 Happy #SpaceshipEarthSunday!🌐
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I took a little liberty with editing the colors but I really like the shades of blue and purple that showed up.💜💙
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#SpaceshipEarth remains one of the last places (along with the Land pavilion🌱) to get some of the original #EPCOTCenter goodness that still exists.
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But anyway, Chip and Dale are the best so there you go. Who’s your favorite character to meet? Besides these guys, I love getting Chewbacca hugs!
  

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