Hats Off To Thanksgiving: Fun and Easy Crafts for Kid Company

   Okay so you've cleaned the house, shopped for all the ingredients, and baked up a storm.  Now that your turkey is in the oven and the parade is over, what are you going to do with your company?  I'm not talking about the adults.  They will be happy to pick at appetizers and gab, but the little ones are starting to run up and down the hallway.

   It's time to break out the craft supplies.  My children were very lucky to have the day before Thanksgiving off from school.  They were even happier to get to spend the day with their buddies.  After I read them Thanksgiving at the Tappleton's by Eileen Spinelli, they were ready to get their hands busy with a Thanksgiving project.
 
   Since it was short notice, I had not run to the store for turkey stickers or feathers.  I suggested we make toilet paper tube napkin rings.  They would wrap the tube with plain paper, glue the paper to the tube  and draw a turkey or pilgrim for a little decorative touch to your meal.

Here's your supplies, and go!

   The children had their own ideas.  Armored with paper, glue, scissors and markers they created their own pilgrim hats.  All I had to do was fetch a few supplies and they were happy to create away.  They even stapled bands around the hats by helping each other. Once everyone was decked out they were ready to have their own Thanksgiving parade!

A hat for every head.

   If you are expecting little ones at your feast, don't panic.  Grab a few sheets of paper out of the printer, markers or crayons, and the stapler and you can keep them busy while they have some holiday fun!

Legopalooza

    Before we dove into the Lego cake  we had activities for our young building enthusiasts at our Harry Potter Lego party. First up was the Lego head jars.  On Pinterest, they were prepared ahead of time and filled with candy Lego bricks to bring home as favors.  Instead, I used this as our opening activity as guests arrived.

Notice the additional Harry Potter touch?

Lego head jars:
10 baby food jars (labels peeled)
1 big jar of yellow paint
10 paint brushes
Sharpies

I set out paper plates with globs of yellow paint and let the kids go to town painting their jars.  When the jars dried, they drew Lego head faces.  Each guest took home a jar to use to store those tiny Lego pieces.

Lego artists

Next we painted with Legos.  We had a big bag of outgrown mega blocks.  The kids dipped these in different colored paints and used them as stamps.  I was surprised how much the kids got into this one.  When dried, we used the creations as wrapping paper or place mats.

Where will the sorting hat place you?

Next came the most popular activity of the day, the Lego Hunt.  Thanks to Librarian extraordinaire, Chrissie Morrison for sharing this idea.  The kids took turns hopping up on the stool to be sorted into their house colors.  When I took the hat off, I slipped a post it note from under the edge to reveal their color.  The guests really enjoyed combing the yard to get the hidden Legos.  Then the teams spontaneously built small creations with their found bricks.

 At this point we headed inside for Harry Potter Wheel of Fortune.  Using a dry erase board, I used the words and clues from a crossword puzzle I dug up from my lesson plans. The children remained seated in rows according to their team colors.  After their turn they went to the back of the line.  Luckily I had cousins to assist this activity.  We had to step up the difficulty when the teams solved the puzzle quickly!

We ended the party with cake and presents and every guest went home with their Lego head jar and a Harry Potter potions class Lego set.  It was a fun party to plan and of course, the birthday boy received many wonderful Lego sets to continue the building experience!