3 Festive Thanksgiving Craft Ideas for Children Ages 3 to 6

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, which means it’s time for food, family, and fall fun! What better way to kick off this holiday than with some exciting craft activities that encourage children to express creativity while having some festive fun? From cornucopias to everyone’s favorite foods, Thanksgiving is full of symbols that children can create using simple art materials while they also reflect on the people and things they are grateful for.

Here are some craft ideas from The GIANT Encyclopedia of Monthly Activities for Children Ages 3 to 6 that young children ages 3 to 6 are sure to gobble up!

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, which means it’s time for food, family, and fall fun! What better way to kick off this holiday than with some exciting craft activities that encourage children to express creativity while having some festive fun? From cornucopias to everyone’s favorite foods, Thanksgiving is full of symbols that young children can create using simple art materials while they also reflect on the people and things they are grateful for.

Below are some craft ideas from The GIANT Encyclopedia of Monthly Activities for Children 3 to 6 that young children ages 3 to 6 are sure to gobble up!

What is a Cornucopia?

Materials

• Pictures of cornucopias
• Cone-shaped paper cups and brown crayons/brown construction paper
• Scissors
• Craft glue
• 9”x6” blue or green construction paper
• Cotton balls
• Seed catalogues or magazines with food pictures

What to Do

1. Show pictures of cornucopias. If possible, bring a real one to class and let the children guess what it is used for
2. Explain to the children that a cornucopia is an ancient symbol for abundance. It has become a symbol for Thanksgiving, a day set aside for giving thanks for abundance
3. Give each child a cone-shaped drinking cup. Ask them to color their cups brown. If you do not have cone-shaped cups, cut out 8” circles from brown paper and give each on to each child. Help the children fold their circles into a cone shape and staple
4. Ask the children to glue or staple their cones onto the blue or green paper
5. Have them glue cotton balls inside their cone
6. Encourage them to cover the cotton balls with pictures of food cut from catalogs and magazines. Let some of the pictures spill out onto the base paper

Food ABC Book

Materials

• Construction paper
• Magazines
• Scissors
• Glue

What to Do

1. Talk about Thanksgiving foods. Ask children what they like to eat on Thanksgiving
2. Label each piece of paper with a letter of the alphabet. Give a page to each child
3. Encourage children to cut out pictures of foods that begin with the letter on their paper
4. Share the pages and make them into an ABC Food Book

Giving Thanks

Materials

• Photos of children’s families
• Large basket
• Real or fake fruits, vegetables, and breads
• Paper
• Stapler
• Glue

What to Do

1. Send a note home asking parents to send in family photos, or take pictures of family members in class during drop-off and pick-up times
2. At circle time, show the children the real or fake food. Discuss the qualities of each food
3. Let each child place a piece of food in the basket
4. Talk about what it means to be thankful. Focus the discussion on people that the children are thankful for and why, such as parents, siblings, relatives, friends, and so on
5. Give each child a pre-made book (three pieces of paper stapled together). Have them glue their photos in their books and dictate why they are thankful for that particular person
6. Send each child’s book home and encourage a discussion at home about thankfulness