|
|
Ideas for Turkey Decorations and Thanksgiving Craft Resources
Find easy Thanksgiving activities for homemade turkey decorations and turkey arts and crafts projects. Make a turkey template pattern and turkey ideas for gifts and more.
It’s time for Thanksgiving arts and crafts. Turkey projects are fun for kids of all ages. Gone are the days of the construction paper turkey hand. Today’s thanksgiving crafts use a wide variety of materials, including craft-store feathers, recycled containers and many more readily available modern art supplies.
Turkey Projects
Make a turkey pencil holder out of a small paper milk carton. Rinse the carton thoroughly and turn it upside down to dry overnight. Cover the outside of the carton with brown paper, like from a recycled brown paper grocery bag. Tie a small red ribbon around the base of a brown tootsie pop and press the stick into the sealed side of the milk carton’s top. This will be your turkey’s head. Glue craft feathers in fall colors to several pencils or pens and place them inside of the open part of the carton.
Pinecone turkey placeholders make great thanksgiving crafts because they’re cute and functional. Begin by vacuuming each pine cone, to remove any dust or insects. Lay the pine cone on its side and glue colored feathers in between the scaled segments. Cut out a rounded brown triangle to use as a face, or just use wobbly eyes. To add Thanksgiving table name cards, mount them onto the end of a straight pin and press it into the pine cone. If you’re using a larger pine cone, you might need to glue it.
Turkey Decorations
Make a felt tissue box cover. Create a turkey template by tracing the edges of the box on the back side of the felt. Cut the felt ¼ inch past the edges and glue the seams together, inside out. When you’re finished, turn it right side out for a smooth appearance. The tissues become the turkey’s tail, so stock up on orange tissue around Halloween or make a white turkey to compliment the Thanksgiving decorations. For the turkey’s head, stick two googly eyes on a toilet paper roll, and use a pipe cleaner for the chin. Cut the roll of toilet paper in half, so it’s not so tall.
Turkey Arts and Crafts
An easy project for children is the Thanksgiving turkey door wreath. Cut a wreath shape from corrugated cardboard, and also a turkey neck and head. Collect several colors of tissue paper and cut them into 1-2 inch squares. Cover the wreath with glue, in small working sections and have the children wrinkle up the tissue paper and press it into the glue. Older children can use the eraser end of the pencil and younger children can just roll the tissue paper into little balls. Once the wreath is covered in tissue paper, stick the head of the turkey over the front of it and hang on any door.
Thanksgiving activities with turkeys are fun for children, but the tired old turkey hand project is a relic from the past. Other Thanksgiving project ideas revolve around traditional symbols of Thanksgiving, like the cornucopia, Indian Corn and the pilgrims. Revive your Thanksgiving turkey (not literally) with new creative turkey projects.
© Lisa Russell Oct 23, 2008
The copyright of the article Thanksgiving Crafts and Turkey Projects in Homeschooling is owned by Lisa Russell. Permission to republish Thanksgiving Crafts and Turkey Projects in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
I found a wonderful post today from a children’s book illustrator who is selling her artwork online for income. She’s done a pretty thorough job of evaluating different websites that she’s used to sell art and comparing their pros and cons. I hadn’t even heard fo some of these sites, although, admittedly, I haven’t made much of an effort to try and sell my art online either, so perhaps that’s why I found this so interesting. I am happy to let others explore while I learn from their experiences.
I’ve never been a big fan of roses. I do appreciate and find it fascinating that heirloom and antique roses are cloned and that we can take a clipping of a rose anywhere and then grow it ourselves, that’s fascinating. I’m sure I’ll warm up to them as I get older.
That said, every house I’ve ever lived in has rose bushes. I haven’t been lucky enough to get a good climbing rose, but for the past 16 years, we’ve had roses on the table pretty much all summer long.
If I was a rose collector, I’d certainly go back to the house we left last year, to take clippings from the long-stemmed red roses that were growing there.
Either way, some roses don’t do well in a vase and once all the vases have been given away, we usually end up doing rose crafts. Our favorite things to do with roses are making rose and mint tea, rose beads and rosewater perfume.
The images below come from a recipe for rose petal tea, old fashioned rose beads and – that white rise is made from coffee filters, click on each for details. The coffee-filter roses were featured on Martha Stewart, you can watch the video. If you’ve never smelled rose petal beads, you are in for a treat because they smell for a very long time. My Grandmother has an actual handmade rose petal beaded rosary that was given to her by HER grandmother and the smell is just enchanting.
  
Decorating a pillowcase is a great idea for a birthday party craft or for a girl scout meeting or even just for fun. You can decorate plain white pillowcases that you already have, or purchase a Crayola Create Your Own Pillowcase Kit
I want to point out that the last two are by the amazing Kathy of Crafty Chica, she wrote Crafty Chica’s Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life and La Casa Loca: Latino Style Comes Home 45 Funky Craft Projects for Decorating & Entertaining that are both jam-packed with bright colorful pictures and easy to follow instructions, she’s awesome.
Without further ado, here are some inspirational pictures that make me want to decorate pillow cases, for sure. You can even do the edges of the bed sheets to match. As always, click on the picture to find out more from the real artist, or to order the product.
  
<iframe src=”http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=FFFFFF&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=mrshann-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=B001D1KKEQ” style=”width:120px;height:240px;” scrolling=”no” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ frameborder=”0″></iframe>
July 10th, 2008
Steampunk: a fanmade subculture that emphasizes on Neo-Victorian aesthetic. A world of steam engines, clockworks, polished brass, and unpolished leather. Every fandom has its signature tchotchke. Ravers have their glowsticks, furries have their pointy ears, Renaissance festers have Styrofoam swords. What does that leave steampunkers?
Yep. Fashioned after antique goggles used for aviation, welding, and bombing, widely coveted, and widely available from artisan outlets from fifteen dollars USD to an excess of several thousand, depending on complexity. I made these beauties for less than $40, using materials that can just as easily be found around the house.
Interested?
Check out the tutorial on Fenris Designs. Steampunk is my new obsession, I realize it’s everything I love about Chitty Chitty Bang, Bang and The Golden Compass. As if I don’t belong to enough subcultures already.
OK- so we ended up making unity wreaths, we had the kids pick which of the crayola multicultural papers most closely reflected their skin color, and we traced their handprints, then put them in a circle. With the scraps of paper left, we shredded them (diamond shredder) and had the kids use them in collage, which came out really cute. We also made no-cook peanut butter cookies while we talked about George Washington Carver, and quilt crafts while we talked about Harriet Tubman. I wanted to do bus-crafts for Rosa parks, but the only bus crafts I saw were school buses and we were short on time.
By far, the most popular center wasn’t the crafts, though it was the books, I ordered a bunch of Black History books for the kids to thumb through and read a different one aloud each day. The chapter books were read, a chapter at a time, after lunch.
————————————–
I found a lot of great ideas for black history month crafts, The Holiday Zone has listed several that look to be appropriate for grades 3-7, but as an artsy adult, I could enjoy these, too so don’t discount them for older kids, especially if they enjoy being creative.
For pre-schoolers, I found a few notable activities on the Preschool Rainbow site. As a mom and an educator, I cringed when I saw that one of the teachers deliberately withheld the information that it’s about skin color- I think that’s a huge disservice to the kids, and totally negates the purpose of acknowledging contributions of blacks, the whole point of the holiday. As you look for activities, be mindful of exactly what the purpose is- WHY are we specifically looking for crafts for Black History Month? Because, through art, we can express quite a bit more than through words alone. BHM is a big deal, unity, equality and love for one another is important. Noticing the differences in people’s skin colors isn’t discriminatory, it isn’t racist, it’s love. How can you love someone if you’re blind to part of their beauty? It’s never too early to have conversations with kids about love, diversity, unity and equality. Just because the kids haven’t mentioned it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be discussed, give them the vocabulary before racist cartoons, bad jokes and social stereotypes provide it for them.
Kid Caboose is always a crapshoot, sometimes the articles are worth the fact that you only get a paragraph on each page and have to click a thousand times just to finish one article. Other times, it’s not worth it. Their list of black inventors was worth it although I suspect that if I were looking specifically for a list of black inventors that I’d find something a lot easier to navigate. I can just envision a ton of peanut butter crafts for George Washington carver.
DTLK Kids- one of the oldest mom-made websites for kids, also has a page with Black History Month crafts I love that this site has so many pictures, drawings and illustrations. One day you’ll see that kind of stuff here, too. I swear!
Popsicle stick crafts and activities with popsicle sticks. Craft sticks is another name for these. You can save them all summer long or just buy them by the bag. Either way, craft stick activities are fun, and inspire imagination. My preference is just to put out a bunch of ideas and the supplies, then let the kids build whatever they want. Here are some cool things other people have built with craft sticks.
1- The adorable little blue stained box with the decoupage rosette on the top looks a bit too classy to be made of popsicle sticks, doesn’t it?
2- The popsicle stick puzzle looks like a fantastic activity to hand kids to keep them busy for a minute. I think it would be fun to do a double-sided puzzle for older kids, too.
3- the teeny little popsicle stick puppets would be a lot of fun, I love the wobbly eyes. You could make characters, or storybook theatre sets
4- can you believe this amazing popsicle stick purse- holy wowza. It makes me think I need a few more fudgesicles.
5- The trivet is adorable, and would make a fantastic gift. It has that Swedish-wooden-toy look about it. I think it would even be cute hanging on the wall. Imagine, having several hanging from a branch, it’s almost like a flower.
    
Fabric painting Ideas- for use on tote bags or tshirts, painting socks and decorating jackets with paint or anything else.
Paint your own Shirts
Let the kids create a work of art they can wear!
Materials (plain shirts, fabric paint, card board, brushes, and sponges)
* Have the kids start with an old T-shirt or piece of fabric in the beginning. Put a piece of cardboard under the first layer of fabric to make sure there is no leaking.
* Some fabric paint comes in squeeze bottles which is good for lines, or they can use a paint brush or sponge.
* Once the kids are use to working with fabric paint, they can start working on good clothes.
Hints
* Designs from handprints are interesting and make a great present for grandma.
* If they need pattern ideas, use the pictures in a child’s coloring book for line drawings.
* Kids can use a sewing pencil if they want to draw a design on the shirt, then use the paint to fill in the design.
Jackson Pollock-Style Shirts
We used 4 plastic ketchup bottles (from the dollar store). We bought one for the purple, red, yellow, and blue dye. We mixed the dye (per the instructions) cooled it to “warm” and then poured it in the bottles. We wet the t-shirts, wrung out the water, then the children swirled the shirts, put the elastics on, and then dribbled the paint on. It was awesome, no mess at all (we did it on the grass). We let the t-shirts sit a few hours and then lay them out to dry. The turned out fabulous, all the girls were thrilled!
Handprint Pillow Cases
Great idea for a gift for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day (or anyone else too!) Materials (pillow case, permanent fabric paint, cardboard, brushes)
Put a piece of cardboard in the middle of the pillow case so that the paint doesn’t seep through. In the center of the pillowcase, write the message
GOOD NIGHT DADDY
Pour some paint on to a paper plate and stick both hands (of the child) in it and put the hand prints on either side of the message.
The child can then decorate any way he or she wants with stars or moons or hearts, whatever. This could be used for anyone really, but the result is the same, a one of a kind unique and adorable pillow case that let’s the receiver know that he/ she is very special in the child’s life.
Handprint Apron
“For Mother’s Day one year, we bought a plain apron and put my children’s handprints on it in different colors. I then mailed it to my sister-in-law in MI and she did the same with her children. Then it was mailed to my mother-in-law. She loves it so much it hangs in her kitchen to this day!”
Baby Mittens
Last year, we had a new baby in the family. On Mother’s Day, I gave his mother blue baby mittens. There was a tag that said “Little hands for you on Mother’s Day”. The baby’s little hand prints were on the mittens.
Wooden skewers are so cheap, and so much fun. Whenever I buy them (for kabobs) we end up using the rest in art projects because they spill, or sit in the drawer forever. they’re usually bamboo. I get mine from the dollar store or amazon.
1- Button Flower Bouquets, aren’t these cute, they have felt flowers with stacked button centers. I think it would be just as cute with one button. I’m guessing that the back has a second felt circle, to cover up the skewer. making flowers with skewers is so cute.
2 – Skewerflakes don’t sound the slightest bit like anything you’d want raining down upon you, but they sure are adorable, and would be really cute hanging from the ceiling. These are made with Christmas doilies and skewers pressed into a little foam disc, hidden in the back.
3. The Skewered Marshmallow art looks almost too pretty to eat. Edible cake color paste and a teeny paintbrush are probably what she used.
  
|
|