7 Thanksgiving and Fall Inspired Crafts and Activities

Thanksgiving is all about bringing family together to celebrate the blessings in our lives — while enjoying scrumptious food!  It’s also a wonderful time to create memories with the ones we love. So, when planning activities for Thanksgiving, we brainstormed adorable homemade crafts that your kids can make…or give as gifts to loved ones.

From leaf rubbings and a thankful tree to pine cone bird feeders and a turkey bread basket liner, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite Thanksgiving and fall inspired crafts. And the best part? Most can be made with items you already have at home.

1. Thanksgiving Craft:  Fall Fingerprint Tree

Handprint crafts always make wonderful keepsakes. This fall fingerprint activity is a fun way to celebrate autumn while also preserving the size of your child’s handprint at the same time. I used an 8×10 piece of stretched canvas for my daughter’s tree, but any sort of plain white paper will do. Start by painting your child’s forearm, palm, and fingers. Next, help them carefully place their arm and fingers on the paper — with their fingers spread apart to make the branches of the tree.  (Their hand should be placed in the center of the paper to allow room for the leaves.)  Gently press down on their arm, hand, and each finger, then carefully lift their arm straight up into the air.

After washing the brown paint off your child’s arm and hand, you’ll need to let the tree dry for a bit before starting on the leaves. (My two year old was extremely inpatient so I used a hair dryer to speed up the process.) Next, put some fall colored paint onto a paper plate for making the leaves. Have your child dip their fingers into the paint and then onto the paper — creating fall leaves of all different colors. (Note: As with the tree, I let each color “leaf” dry before starting another color. And again, a hair dryer was involved. ) My daughter had fun placing her leaves in the tree, falling down to the ground, as well as on bottom of the canvas — to represent the leaves that had already fallen.

2. Thanksgiving Craft:  Pine Cone Bird Feeder

Pine cone bird feeders are a fun and simple craft for kids to make in the fall or winter. Gather some pinecones and make a few bird feeders to hang outside as homemade outdoor ornaments.

Start by cutting a length of yarn, ribbon, or string to hang your bird feeder. Tie the string in a knot around the pine cone near the top. Using a knife (or cheese spreader for the littlest ones), spread peanut butter all over the pine cone. For this next step you can either roll the pine cone in the bird seed or sprinkle the birdseed over the pine cone. Make sure you cover every last inch of sticky butter. When you are done, take your pine cone bird feeder outside and hang it on a tree branch. You and your family will have so much fun watching the birds eat their special homemade treat!

3. Thanksgiving Craft:  Thankful Tree

Gather a few sticks or small tree branches and arrange them in a vase. Then, ask each member of your family to think about what they are most thankful for this Thanksgiving and have them write it down on simple paper leaves. Each time a new leaf is completed, punch a hole in it, thread with ribbon or string, and hang it on a branch.  Not only will your tree make a lovely centerpiece on your Thanksgiving table, but it will also remind you of the many reasons your family has to be thankful.

4. Thanksgiving Craft:  Apple Prints

When I think of fall, I think of all things apple. Apples picked from an orchard with my family, homemade caramel apples, apple pie, apple cinnamon candles…the list is endless. In addition to being a delicious (and healthy) food, did you also know that apples can easily be made into stamps for some fun  DIY fall art? Simply cut an apple in half lengthwise and then remove the seeds. When it comes to the actual paint/stamping, you have two options. You can either put some paint on a plate and let your child dip the apple in the paint, or you can paint the apple with a brush. (If you decide to go the dipping route, I’d advise you to wipe the excess paint off on the edge of the plate before you start stamping.) Once your apple is covered in paint, get to stamping! Before long, your kids will have their very own apple art to hang on the walls.

5. Thanksgiving Craft:  Turkey Bread Basket Liner

We made this fun turkey craft last year and turned it into a Thanksgiving gift for the grandparents! Since we spend Thanksgiving with my parents, we wanted to give them something fun to thank them for hosting us…so we came up with the idea of personalizing a bread basket liner with little turkeys made from my kids’ handprints.

Before you start, place some newspaper or thick cardstock under your fabric to prevent paint from getting on your table. Gather some fall-colored paint and create the general shape of a turkey on a paper plate. We used brown for the turkey’s body/head, and yellow, orange, and red paint for its feathers. Next, have your child gently place their hand on the plate. Their hand should be on top of the brown paint and their fingers should be on the other colors. (If it’s not perfect, that’s okay! We found that the feather colors ended up mixing together to form a more colorful turkey.) Next, “stamp” their hand onto the piece of fabric carefully. Gently press their whole hand down, making your way down each individual finger to create the turkey feathers. Carefully lift their hand off the fabric. Repeat this step as many times as you want to fill your liner with cute little turkeys. Once all of your turkeys are stamped, use a small paint brush to make two orange legs and a beak, and a red waddle on the neck. Let your paint dry overnight. If you used fabric paint, make sure you heat set your fabric by placing it under a warm iron for five minutes. Then give it a wash and iron it flat.

When Thanksgiving dinner rolls around (please forgive the pun), your plain old bread basket will be dressed up with your lovely homemade turkey fabric…and your loved ones will always remember your Thanksgiving visit.

6. Thanksgiving Craft:  Handprint Turkey Family

An easy activity for family members of all ages (yes, that means you Dad), this Thanksgiving craft gets the whole family involved and results in cute little turkey art.

Start by tracing your hand prints onto white cardstock. Have each family member color their turkey and then cut them out. Don’t forget the turkey’s feet, beak, and waddle! Next, glue your turkeys onto a colored piece of paper (construction paper or kraft works well) and place the paper in a frame. If you want, you can write down everyone’s names under their turkey counterpart.

7. Thanksgiving Craft:  Leaf Rubbings

With just a few fall leaves, paper, and crayons, your little ones can create nature-inspired art in no time at all. Place your fall leaves on a table, cover them with paper, and rub a crayon back and forth over the leaf. Make sure you lay the crayon on its side as you rub to pick up all tiny details in the leaf.

We hope you found at least one fall craft in our list to make with your family this Thanksgiving. Do you have a favorite that you’ve already made, or are going to try? Our favorites are the turkey bread basket liner and the pine cone bird feeder. Not only do they make wonderful memories, but watching the expressions on my children’s faces when the birds peck their peanut-butter-and-birdseed pine cones is something I’m truly thankful for.