by Christopher Knight

Created on: October 28, 2009

The holidays are great for kids. The most enjoyable thing about the holidays with children is the wonder that they have for the traditions that most of us are used to seeing and have been doing for years. Having a little one around who (if they are old enough) asks questions about why we do things the way we do them really makes you stop and think and sometimes get creative for an answer! It does give you a great opportunity to talk about where traditions come from and why the holidays are important. Take the effort to make the holidays special for your kids and they will become even more important to you. One way to get the kids warmed up to the idea of holidays is doing holiday crafts.

Crafts are great to do with your little ones. There are tons of great ideas on the internet and lots of crafts magazines with fun crafts to do. The whole point of making arts and crafts is to interact with your child and make something together. Since holidays are a great time to make themed crafts, take the time to try some different ones. Here's a simple craft to ease you in and get you started.

Hold your breath, this is a Finger painting project! We're going to make a Thanksgiving Turkey. Gather construction paper (brown and red), paint, markers, glue and googly eyes (these are the necessities.)

1) Cover the surface that you are going to use. Lay the brown construction paper down and put the paint in a flat bottomed bowl.

2) Have your child put his/her hand palm down into the paint. Be sure the paint covers the entire palm and fingers.

3) Place the paint covered hand on the blank piece of paper. You child has just created a beautiful Thanksgiving Turkey!

4) The thumbprint is the head and neck. Put the googly eyes on the head.

5) Take the marker and draw feet and the beak.

6) Cut a gobbler out of the red construction paper and glue it to the turkey.

Simple and easy. Shouldn't be too bad for clean up either. After it's dry, your child can continue to decorate the turkey by drawing a background, adding feathers, macaroni, beads... whatever else you can think of to add to the picture will be great! So take this craft and use it to create some new memories with your kids this Thanksgiving!

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