Hello it is Allison from Schumm Explosion and I’m stepping in for Sarah today to share with you some fun Thanksgiving crafts.  I am a busy homeschooling mom of 14 beautiful blessings who enjoys being creative!  My children are also very creative and love being artistic.

One of my favorite times of the year is the fall season, especially Thanksgiving.  It is also the time of year that I try to encourage an attitude of thankfulness in my children. One of the easiest and funnest ways to teach them is through crafts. Crafts are more than just a mess of glue and glitter and paper scraps- although messes are inevitable, it’s the memories created by working with our hands to create something good that is the goal.

Colossians 3:17 teaches us, “…whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” I wanted to share just a few ideas on how I have taught my kids thankfulness and I’m also including a bonus activity from my friend Magen at Be Productive.

The Thankful Tree

My all time favorite Thankful activity is The Thankful Tree, this is one activity that can be done year round, but it is especially fun to implement around Thanksgiving.  It has been a true blessing for our family to write the things we are thankful for and to display them in our home.

The Thankful Tree is very simple, yet fun and looks beautiful!

Here is what you will need:

• Sticks that have lots of small branches on them

• A vase to rearrange the sticks in for your tree.

• Scrapbook or construction paper cut into shapes and hole punched = Thankful Tags

• Small basket or container to store blank Thankful Tags

• A pen to write what your thanksgivings

• A thankful heart

Memory verse:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. – Phiippians 4:6

Thankful Turkeys

One of the ways that my children have most enjoyed showing they are thankful is by making Thankful Turkeys.  Thanksgiving is not an attitude that we are naturally gifted with, it is something that we need to practice! We have done this several ways throughout the years and have enjoyed them all.  Last year my children made them out of toilet paper rolls, paper plates and construction paper feathers.  They then wrote what they were thankful for on the feathers on the turkey’s tail.  This year we made turkey hand prints and each children wrote the top 4 things they were thankful for on their fingers, I mean – “feathers”. Since we have been doing this every year it was hard for my children to narrow it down to 4, but I asked them to think about the top 4 things they were thankful for this year.

The Thankful Turkeys craft gives your family a more hands on craft for your children.  Supplies you will need for the hand turkey hand prints.:

• Burlap, paper bag, paper that looks festive to stamp hands on, cut to desired size

• Skin safe paint, to let your child stamp their hand

• Permanent marker to draw feet, beak, and eyes and thankful things to write on the turkey

• A thankful heart

Memory verse:

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. – Psalm 100:4

Thankfall Wall

I also wanted to share what my dear friend Magen has done for years.  Every year she has a ThankFall Wall where she records what her family and guests are thankful for during the months leading up to thanksgiving.

It has been a blessing for my family to be at her house and to see all the ThankFall messages.  Here is what you will need for a ThankFall Wall:

• A stencil to trace leaves

• Construction paper and pencil, scissors to cut out leaves

• Basket hold cut out leaves

• Pens to write on the leaves

• Clear laminate to laminate the leaves (optional, but makes them last longer)

• Sticky tack to hang the leaves on other wall

• A thankful heart

Memory Verse:

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving. – Psalm 69:30

I hope this post has helped to inspire some crafty thankfulness in your heart. With these simple activities and scripture memory verses you should have the tools to encourage your children to be thankful for the many things they have been blessed with in life.  If you have enjoyed what I’ve shared come visit me over at Schumm Explosion.  I regularly blog about about faith, family life, how I stay sane with 14 children and manage my home.  I’m not super mom, but have learned to be thankful for that the Lord’s mercies are new every morning.