Arts and Crafts Project Ideas for Thanksgiving
Preschoolers are an active bunch, and love to be involved with festivities, with Thanksgiving being no different. Arts and crafts projects are always a hit with preschool children, and Thanksgiving is a great time of year for colourful and fun projects.
Thanksgiving is a festive occasion that brings out some of the best arts and crafts ideas for preschool children. It is a special time of year to celebrate and give thanks for all that we have in our lives. Trying to teach preschool children about the history of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans may prove fruitless, but giving them a basic understanding is essential in order to earn their respect for what they have.
There are so many little arts and crafts projects that arise during the Thanksgiving season, but for the preschool child, they need to be somewhat simple and easy to complete. They must also be practical, so that they can not only give them to their parents for Thanksgiving, but perhaps they can be used as well. A Pilgrim's hat is a good preschool arts and crafts project, and it can be filled with treats or gifts.
For the Pilgrim hat , you will need glue, scissors, yarn (black, or shoelaces), bowls of varying size (all circular), coloured construction paper (blue, orange, black), and a paper or Styrofoam cup. The first step that is required is to have the preschool children cut a hole out of the bottom of the cup, and then cover the outside of the cup with the glue, and then wrapping the cup with the black yarn or old shoelace until it is completely covered.
After this has been completed, cut a larger circle out of black construction paper , as this will serve as the brim of the hat. The cup should then be glued to the brim so that the cut out bottom of the cup is not the top of the hat. Finally, cut a hatband out of the blue construction paper (basically just a long rectangle) and an orange buckle (the perimeter of a square) and glue them in place on the hat. Once the hat has dried sufficiently, you may fill it with small treats or toys to be given out at Thanksgiving dinner, one cup at each person's setting.
A clever arts and craft project for Thanksgiving involves making a hands and feet turkey that can be done year after year (until the children are too old), as this will serve to show them how much they have grown (placing these in a scrapbook for later reference is a fantastic idea). To complete this craft, you will need some construction paper (green, orange, yellow, red, blue, and brown), glue, preschool scissors (with the extra set of finger holes for guided assistance), and a sewing needle. On the brown paper, trace both of your feet, and then cut them out.
Glue the feet together at the heel, so that the feet fan out at the toes. This will serve as the body of the turkey. Then, cut out eyes, a beak, and a wattle, gluing them to the head of the turkey (which will be the heels). Cut out two orange turkey legs and glue them to the bottom of the turkey. Trace your hand on green, yellow, red, blue, and orange paper. Cut out three orange hands, one green, one blue, one red, and one yellow hand. Glue one orange hand on each side of the turkey for its wings, and then fan out the remaining five hands and glue them behind the turkey to form a tail. Each year, if you do this same task, it will display an accurate growth of the preschool child as they get older.
Preschool children can also create cutlery or napkin ring holders by decorating pieces of a cut out toilet paper or paper towel roll. When decorated nicely, it can serve as a fitting tribute during the Thanksgiving meal. These can be decorated with bright oranges, reds, and yellows to appear more Autumnal in nature. Teaching the preschool children about the Native American perspective will give them a chance to honour these folks by decorating their napkin ring holders in the traditions of the Natives.
Arts and craft projects go over extremely well in preschool, and when the tasks are done for seasonal occasions, the reasons behind the celebrations can be explained so that they grasp the concept. Thanksgiving is a time for reflection, and to give thanks.