This Easy Thanksgiving Pinecone Turkey Craft is a really easy Thanksgiving craft for children of all ages to do, and it’s also pretty cute.

After all, what would a Thanksgiving with children be without some kind of pinecone turkey? This one is a little bit different than most that you see for the holiday.

You can also do this project with construction paper or feathers instead of foam!

What You’ll Need:

• Foam scraps (green, red, orange, brown, yellow, black, or any other Autumn colors you want to use.)
• Yellow foam
• A Pinecone
• Scissors
• Glue (I used glue dots)
• Black permanent Marker
• 2 Wiggle eyes

What to Do:

1. Find a good sized pinecone outside, or purchase a bag of them at a craft store.

2. Cut several feather shapes out of different colors of foam. I didn’t include a template for this because the size of the feathers depends on the size of your pinecone. Each feather is basically shaped like a leaf on one end and flat at the other end like the picture below. It’s not important that the feathers be perfect.

3. Once you have several feather shapes cut out, put a little glue (or a glue dot) on the flat end of the feather and tuck it into the wide end of the pinecone. You’ll keep doing this until the back part of the pinecone is pretty filled out with feathers. Make sure you leave about one third of the pinecone without feathers so that you can make him stand up later. Let the glue dry.

4. Cut out the turkey’s neck and head from yellow foam. It should be shaped line a lop-sided dumbell. Take a look at the picture for clarification. Poke a small hole in the large end of the dumbell shape and push the foam onto the tip of the pinecone through that hole.

5. Cut out two turkey feet from yellow foam. I cut a shape similar to the one below, but you can do yours differently if you desire. Put some glue on the long edge of the feet and tuck them into the pinecone.

6. Glue two wiggle eyes on the turkey’s head. Cut a small orange triangle out of foam for a beak. Use the permanent marker to add the breathing hole detail. Cut a small dumbell shape out of red foam to make the turkey’s waddle.

That’s it! Make sure you let the glue dry completely before you handle it.

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Easy Thanksgiving Pinecone Turkey Craft

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You won’t believe how easy it is to create this Fall centerpiece.  Even little kids can do this one plus it can also work really well for older kids, scouting, church groups, and classrooms.

It looks great on a holiday table or as an Autumn decoration around the house, and it’s made of mostly recycled materials!

You’ll Need:

• Sturdy paper plate
• Paint (Fall colors)
• Scissors
• Three toilet paper tubes (or paper towel tube cut into three)
• Yellow tissue paper
• Glue
• A sponge
• Fall colored ribbon
• Pinecones
• Silk or real fall leaves
• Raffia

What to Do:

1. Cut the toilet paper tubes so that they are in three graduated sizes. Refer to the picture if you don’t know what I mean.

2. Sponge paint the toilet paper tubes and both sides of the paper plate. In order to sponge paint, just dip the sponge into the paint and tap it onto the surface you’re painting. In the example, I used orange, brown, and green paint and tapped the colors onto the tubes and the plate. Let the paint dry completely before you continue.

3. Gather the three painted toilet tubes together on a flat surface and glue them together to that they look like three pillar candles. Cut three large squares of yellow tissue paper. Push one square into each tube so that it sticks out of the top and mimicks a candle flame.

4. Tie a ribbon around all three of the “candles” and then glue them onto the center of the paper plate. Let dry.

5. Glue pieces of raffia and silk leaves around the “candles.” You can use as many or as few as you want to fill out the plate. Your last step is to glue on the pinecones.

That’s it.

NOTE: If you’re working with older kids, consider using hot glue to make this project go a little faster. Another alternative is to use glue dots… that’s what I used on this project.

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Easy Elegant Fall Centerpiece

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There are so many great craft ideas and crafting websites online, especially for Halloween crafts, that I thought I’d post some of the best craft links here.  The only problem is that I found too many to put in one post… so I may have to do this in two parts!

One other quick note:  Little Kid Halloween Crafts will only be available until October 31st, so if you’re planning to get your copy, don’t wait too long!

Enjoy these great Halloween Crafts from around the web!

Halloween Wrapper:  A fun way to had out treats for a party, scouts, or in the classroom.  If you aren’t allowed to use toilet paper tubes in your area, use paper towels and cut them down.  My kids thought these were great!

Halloween Shrunken Apple Heads – It’s not too late to make these scary little shrunken heads out of apples. Simply peel it, cut out a face, and put it in the oven to dry. You can even add hair, eyeballs, etc. to make them really scary and hang them in a tree for the trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. This is a big kid craft.

Footprint Ghost – I’m sure you’ve seen these many times before, but I still think they’re cute and kids love making them!

Halloween Painted Rocks – There are all kinds of spooky Halloween crafts you can make out of rocks.  This page gives you some ideas and you can use them with children of all ages.

Pasta Skeletons – If you can actually find dried pasta in lots of different shapes, then this is a fun craft for just about any age group.

Windsock Ghosts - We made a bunch of these one year and hung them all around the porch.  We actually stapled everything to make it go faster, instead of hot gluing and it worked like a charm.  The kids absolutely went nuts over it!

More Halloween crafts from around the web coming next time, so if you know of a project that I should include, let me know!

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Halloween Crafts Around The Web

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My kids really enjoyed making these last year, and they were sooo easy!  Some of you might have already seen this craft last Halloween, but it’s one of my favorites, so I couldn’t resist re-publishing it!

This craft is a cute, but easy way to make a Halloween necklace out of fun foam and pony beads. I saw the original craft in a catalog and then we created our own version.

You could also easily adapt this one for other Halloween type figures — Like a black cat would be cute.

You’ll Need:

• White Fun Foam
• 3 Inches Orange Ribbon
• Pony Beads
• Wooden Beads to Spell BOO
• 24 Inches of White Cord or Yarn
• Glue
• Scissors
• Black Pernament Marker and Pencil

What To Do:

1. Print out the ghost template below. Cut it out and trace it onto white fun foam with a pencil.

2. Cut out your ghost. Use the point of your scissors or a small hole punch to make the wholes in the center of the hands as the template shows.

3. Use a permanent black marker to draw a face on your ghost. Tie a small bow with the orange ribbon and glue it onto the ghost.

4. String the beads onto the cord as shown in the picture. You can use a different bead pattern if you choose.

NOTE: Put a piece of tape around the end of the chord or yarn to make it easier to string the beads.

5. Thread the ends of the cord through the hands of the ghost. Tie the two ends of the cord into a knot to make a necklace.

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Ghostly Necklace

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Hand print spiders are a really cute craft for younger kids — parents really love anything with a hand print on it.  So I thought I’d add one of those to the Halloween craft list with a few variations you can try.

Hand Print Spider Craft

1.  Dip both hands in black paint and print them onto light colored construction paper with the fingers pointed  away from each other and heals of the hand touching.  No thumbs – spiders only have eight legs.  Let dry completely.  This will make the basic spider.

2.  Cut around the spider carefully, being sure to cut around each of the “legs.”

3.  Bend the fingers to make them look more like spider legs.

4.  Make a small hole in the center of the spider, push a piece of yarn through the top, and tie a knot to make a hanger.

That’s it!  Really easy and the kids love it.

Here’s some other hand print spider craft ideas:

• Print the spider onto construction paper and then draw a spider web around it instead of cutting it out.
• Print the spider onto construction paper and add a little glitter while the paint is still wet — you could do this for the cut out version too!
• Put hand print spiders all over a large piece of butcher paper and use it to create a bulletin board for your school.
• Add wiggle eyes to the spider – kids love wiggle eyes!
• Trace the hands onto black construction paper and cut them out instead of painting.

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Hand Print Spider Craft

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I saw this spider pencil topper craft video over at YouTube.com and I thought it was pretty neat.  My kids are looking forward to trying this craft out! You could have a lot of fun with this one for a scouting group or in a classroom too.

I think you could do this with other kinds of air dry materials other than model magic.  You might even be able to do it with some kind of salt dough recipe and then paint the spider.  Has anyone tried something like that?

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Spider Pencil Topper Craft

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With Halloween starting to creep up on us, I thought it was about time to start posting some Halloween crafts.  Spider crafts seemed like the natural place to start — especially since they are EVERYWHERE right now at my house.  I don’t mind doing the crafts, but I really don’t like the creepy little critters in real life.

Anyway, here is part one of spider crafts… enjoy!

Thumbprint Spiders – In one corner of a plain sheet of construction paper, draw a spider web with a marker. Use a black washable stamp pad or black paint and have your child put a thumbprint on the paper. Draw on the legs(8), eyes, etc. and connect the spider to the rest of the web.

Spiderwebs – Cut several pieces of yarn in various lengths. Use white glue (like Elmer’s Glue) and make a spider web pattern on a piece of construction paper. Then glue the yarn onto the paper to form a spiderweb.

Spider Hatchlings – This is just awesome! Just looking at the picture of this gives me the creeps! The kids are really excited about making one of these this year — even though I’ve been trying to talk them out of it. I hate spiders and this looks pretty realistic to me!

Ice Cream Spiders – Okay, this one isn’t exactly a craft, but it’s a lot of fun! Put a scoop of chocolate ice cream in the center of a bowl. Poke 8 pieces of black licorice along the side of the scoop to make the legs. If you can find small red candies, like red hots, you can use those for the eyes and make a pretty creepy spider.

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Spider Crafts – Part 1

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There’s absolutely no doubt that kids love to paint!  However, the most enthusiastic painter can get stuck in a rut – even kids.  That’s why it can be really fun and educational to try painting with different types of tools than just paintbrushes.

Here are some of my paintbrush ideas.

Paintbrush Substitutes:

• Q-tips or cotton swabs
• Cotton Balls
• Fingers
• Toes
• Rags
• Toothpick
• Twigs or sticks
• Feathers
• Toothbrush
• String or yarn

Printing/Stamping/Stenciling Objects

• Fruit or vegetables
• Corks
• Cookie cutters
• Wood blocks
• Leaves
• Textured Fabric
• Lace
• Doilies
• Styrofoam Shapes
• Body Puff
• Loofa
• Natural Sponges
• Stamps
• Stencils
• Plastic lids from containers (to make circles)
• Wheels from toy cars
• Sponges

Other Painting Tools

• Blow Paints
• Squirt bottle
• Eyedropper
• Old or Cheap Toys

I’m sure this list gives you all kinds of ideas of your own — I hope you’ll share!

Plus, keep in mind that you can combine these painting techniques with all kinds of other projects.  For example, if you were doing a Fall painting, you could paint with fallen leaves to make the project more creative.  You could also choose to use a different “painting tool” with any project that would normally call for painting with a brush.

I think you could have a lot of fun painting with other types of tools for a classroom or scouting project!

The ideas are nearly endless!

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Great Paintbrush Ideas

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I think it always makes it easier for children to learn their letters and the sounds of the alphabet when they get reinforcement from a lot of different activities.  That’s why I thought I would start periodically posting activities specifically designed to help children learn their letters.

We’ll start at the top with the letter “A” and keep adding to the list.

Thumbprint Ants – Draw an ant hill with a marker on a plain sheet of construction paper. Use a black washable stamp pad or black paint and have your child put a thumbprint on the paper (or several thumbprints). Draw on the legs(6), eyes, etc. and then turn them loose to draw in the rest of the ant’s home.

Ant Thumbprint Counting Book – You can also adapt this craft to create “Ant Books” to go along with “The Ants Go Marching” song. Create counting books using one page for each verse of the song. On the first page, make one thumbprint ant. If they are able, have your child write a number one. If not, write a one for them. Continue the pages for as many verses as you want to do, and use the “Ant Book” when you sing the song. This is a great way to get in a little counting practice with your child too.

Macaroni “A” – Use the “A” template here and print it out onto heavy construction paper. Spread glue onto the A and let your child glue different shapes or sizes of macaroni onto the A until it is filled in. You can also have them color the pasta with markers before or after they glue it on.

Of course, you could also use the “A” template and use other media instead of macaroni like tissue paper, beans, buttons, colored sand, etc. or just let them color the letters!

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3 Easy Letter A Activities

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Can you feel fall coming?  I sure can, and it always reminds me of harvest time, fields of corn, and barns.  So that’s why I decided to put together some farm crafts for you today.

These simple farm crafts would also work really well for an “Old MacDonald” theme or some other harvest-type theme.

Enjoy!

Paper Bag Puppet Cow – This is a cute paper bag puppet cow craft that younger kids will enjoy.  It comes complete with templates for the cut out parts.

Horse Shoes – Cut a horse shoe shape out of heavy paper or cardstock. Wrap strips of aluminum foil around the horse shoe to make it look like it’s made out of metal. If you make several, you can play a kid-safe game of horse shoes.

Farm Mobile – This is a great template craft provided by Child’s Play Family Daycare. Print out each of the mobile pages on heavy paper or cardstock. Cut out the images and glue them together back to back. Punch a hole where indicated. Use the barn as the top image and create your mobile in any configuration you want using yarn or string to tie the pieces together.

Red Barn – This craft would be too difficult to do in a classroom setting unless you created one for the entire class to illustrate a book, story, or theme — but it was great fun to do at home with the kids. You simply print it, cut it out, and glue it together according to the directions to get a three dimensional red barn. In addition, you can also add a cow with this template.

Soda Bottle Piggy Bank – We just did a Farm unit at our center and a really cute profect that we did was to make a piggy bank. We used empty plastic water bottles and 20 oz. soda bottles. We used beads and glued them on for the legs and a piece of pink pipe-cleaner curled and glued it on for the tail. We glued on large wiggle eyes and cut a slit for the coins on the top edge. Use a permanant black marker to draw the nostrils on the bottle cap. Quarters will not come out through the spout.You might give this as an item of interest. ~ Submitted Anonymously

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Farm Crafts For Fall

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