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Thanksgiving Projects for Preschoolers

These Thanksgiving Projects for preschoolers and toddlers are perfect for a daycare environment or at home with your own kids.

All projects have been tested by my own daycare kids to be sure they have the skills needed to participate in the project.

Handprint Turkey

This project involves a lot of cutting. If you're working with a child who is able to cut, it's good cutting practice. If the child is not old enough to use scissors, the adult will have to do the cutting as part of the prep work.

Directions:

Print and cut out the turkey template pieces. Trace template pieces onto appropriate construction paper colors and cut out.

Trace each child's hand on a double layer of each color construction paper. (You will need two yellow hands, two orange hands and two red hands per turkey.) Being careful not to cut through the fingers, fringe the edges to make them look like feathers.

Glue the turkey together. (For small children, it works well to put glue in a bowl mixed with a few drops of water to thin it out. Use a large paint brush to paint the glue on to an area.) Start by gluing together the two body pieces. On the backside, alternate the handprints for feathers and also the feet. Moving back to the front side, glue on the red wattle, the beak and the wiggle eyes.

The Thankful Tree

This project can be used with one child placing many leaves labeled with what they are thankful for or a group of children where each child contributes one or two leaves.

Directions:

Trace kids' handprints on the yellow, orange and red construction paper to serve as the leaves on the tree. Cut the handprints out.

Draw a tree trunk on the large white paper.

Have the children tell you things they are thankful for and write their answers on the leaves. For young children, you will have to explain what "thankful" means.

Have the children glue their handprints onto the tree.

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TP Roll Turkey

Supplies:

Directions:

Print out the TP roll turkey template cardstock paper and cut out the individual templates. Use the templates to trace the items onto the appropriate paper to make the pieces for the turkey.

Use a pencil to draw 1/2" strips on the paper plate so that the kids can paint the turkey feathers. Paint one color at a time and allow to dry in between colors. When you paint the brown section on the inside of the plate, also paint a toilet paper roll brown. When the paint has dried, poke two holes through the back of the paper plate and also into the tp roll. Attach these two pieces with the brass clips.

Color both sides of the hat brim with the thick black marker. From your second tp roll, use the exacto knife to cut off a 1-1/2" section. Paint this section black. After the paint dries, make a circle of Elmers glue to attach the two pieces. Cut out and glue the buckle to the hat. When this glue dries, glue the top of the tp roll and place the hat on the turkey body.

Attach the wiggle eyes with the glue dots. Use the glue of your choice to attach the beak and the wattle.

Thanksgiving Placemat

I remember making placemats like this when I was in grade school. It's one of those ageless things. The kids still enjoy making them.

Fold a full sheet of brown construction paper in half lengthwise. Cut strips from the folded edge up to about 1/2" of the open edge. Open the paper and lay flat.

Cut strips of yellow, red and orange construction paper 3/4" x 12". Weave the strips of paper in and out of the slits in the brown paper. Start a strip over, then under, over, then under. The next strip should start under, then over, under, then over. As you finish weaving a strip, push it as close to the previous strip as you can. Glue the ends down.

Cover with clear contact paper, leaving a small edge to prevent peeling.

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Turkeys 4 Sale

This project idea was given to me by Kerry from Playful Garden Daycare. Visit her Facebook Fan Page for lots more fun craft projects to do with your kids!

Cut a 3" strip of copy paper, color it brown and glue to the bottom section of the light blue construction paper.

Paint a child's hand with brown tempera paint and make various prints on the paper. After the paint is dry, use red and orange sharpies to draw in the details of the turkey. Cut small diamond shapes out of orange construction paper for the turkey beak.

Use the exacto knife to score two popsicle sticks horizontally and the scissors to cut two popsicle sticks vertically to build the fence. Glue into place.

Cut a small rectangle from yellow construction paper and print the words "Turkeys 4 sale". Glue to the fence.

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Want to look around some more?...

• Thanksgiving Party for Kids
• Christmas Projects for Preschoolers
• New Years Projects for Preschoolers
• General Projects for Preschoolers

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