by Elizabeth Marie

Created on: November 03, 2009   Last Updated: November 05, 2009

"Mommy! Mommy! look what I did!" Bright stripes of red, blue and yellow cover your newly painted white walls. Your little one grabs a permanent marker, heads towards the wall; you scream in terror. How to get the creativity out of them, before they take it out on you. This is the question that haunts the stay at home parents mind this Thanksgiving. No worries, I have a few idea that will set you up through the next festivities.

The Hand Turkey.

Of course everyone has made a hand turkey! A simple paper plate and autumn colored paints will give you a dazzling turkey to display on the fridge. This craft which, yes, can be a stunning, is also boring and plain.Here's an easy, updated version of that old, turkey craft tradition.

Your first task is to go to the park with the kids! Fun already! Tell them to pick out a pine cone of their choice ( this will be the body of the turkey.) Once they've picked some pine cones, also get some freshly fallen leaves. (This will be the tail feathers of the turkey.) While your out, stop at the store and get this list of supplies: hot glue, peanut butter, bird seed, google eyes, brown pom-poms, and string.

Now your home, and those screaming children are excited. First, lay some paper towels out on the table(start by your self). Take the pine cone and hot glue the leaves to its backside. Make sure to spread them out, like feathers. The good thing about hot glue is that it tends to dry fast so you can move quickly. Take a brown pom-pom and glue that to the topside of the pinecone. After you have let this sit for about a minute, take the google eyes and paste them onto the pom-pom. You can already see the turkey! Now,all you have to do is smear the peanut butter on the turkey's body and sprinkle it with birdseed! After that, take your's and the kid's turkeys and tie them to the tree. So, it doesn't even involve a hand anymore, yet it is still an easy an cool craft for you and your kids to enjoy!

Pressing Leaves.

One thing that I loved to do was press leaves.This craft makes an array of colors and all you need is wax paper, crayons, an iron and freshly fallen leaves. Take two pieces of wax paper and lay a leaf between them.Before you close the wax paper, sprinkle crayon shavings on top of the leaf. Then take an iron and run over the top sheet of wax paper. This makes a beautiful autumn picture!

If you're looking for even more easy kids crafts to do, I recommend reading a couple of these article below:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://media. rd.com/rd/images/rdc/toh/kid-friendly-cooking-crafts /gobbler-01-af.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rd.com/advice-and-know-how/easy -thanksgiving-crafts/article30620.html&usg=__wmfDRc8l5EWo6XRXzFId6fP8VtE=&h=492&w=492&sz=122&hl=en&start=82&um=1&tbnid=YIuXcKCe24CN5M:&tbnh=130&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Deasy%2Bkids%2Bcrafts%2Bfor%2Bthan ksgiving%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft :en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGIT_en%26sa%3DN%26st art%3D63%26um%3D1

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://media. rd.com/rd/images/rdc/toh/kid-friendly-cooking-crafts /bird-spoon-01-af.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rd.com/content/openArticleGalle ry.do%3FcontentId%3D30631%26type%3DPhotographs&usg=__-fEUhqOadh7-ioKo8RheNCJkac8=&h=492&w=492&sz=140&hl=en&start=73&um=1&tbnid=ja5lmU92_KNa4M:&tbnh=130&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Deasy%2Bkids%2Bcrafts%2Bfor%2Bthan ksgiving%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft :en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGIT_en%26sa%3DN%26st art%3D63%26um%3D1

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blogs. orlandosentinel.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/13/ turkey.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features_ momsatwork/2008/11/a-thanksgiving.html&usg=__GeWLywgMa4QVFmAoPwE02_RHS_c=&h=333&w=300&sz=44&hl=en&start=76&um=1&tbnid=wfMVz_u6pmuI7M:&tbnh=119&tbnw=107&prev=/images%3Fq%3Deasy%2Bkids%2Bcrafts%2Bfor%2Bthan ksgiving%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft :en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGIT_en%26sa%3DN%26st art%3D63%26um%3D1

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