20 Easy Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids (Free Printable Templates)

These Thanksgiving crafts for kids were picked for one very specific week: the last one in November, when the craft drawer is down to paper plates, a few toilet roll tubes and some paint that’s been open since summer. Maybe a pinecone or two if someone went outside. You don’t need a trip to the craft store for any of them.

Every craft is sorted by age, time and mess. Mess matters more than people admit. On a normal Saturday a bit of paint on the floor is fine, but on Thanksgiving morning, with the turkey taking up the whole oven and your in-laws arriving at two? You want the low-mess ones.

There’s a free printable template pack further down (feathers, pie slice, place cards, the cornucopia). No email needed. It prints on US Letter or A4, whichever your printer likes.

Picture the usual scene. Pie’s cooling on the counter, nobody’s set the table, and a small person has asked “what can I do?” for the third time in ten minutes. A paper plate turkey will buy you about twenty quiet minutes. The thankful turkey is a different kind of useful, because it gives you a sweet bit of dinner conversation when everyone reads their feathers out. Somebody always writes something unexpected. Last-minute gratitude for the dog is pretty common.

Pick a Craft in 10 Seconds

Before anything else, a safety bit. Googly eyes and pom-poms look harmless, but they’re a choking risk for under-3s (acorn caps too), so for tiny kids just draw the eyes on. Keep the hot glue gun on your side of the table. Washable paint, always.

Paper Plate Thanksgiving Crafts

We lean on paper plates a lot around here. They’re round already, they cost next to nothing, and paint doesn’t make them curl. One catch: get the plain uncoated ones, because paint on the shiny kind just sits there in little blobs.

Paper Plate Turkey

Grab a paper plate, brown paint, red, orange and yellow paper (or the feather template), a scrap of orange for the beak and something red for the wattle. Glue stick is fine.

Paint the center brown and leave the rim alone. It’ll take a while to dry, so cut out the feathers in the meantime, somewhere between six and eight. They get glued behind the top half of the plate in a fan. Beak and wattle go on last, then the eyes.

If your child decides feathers belong all the way round, well. You’ve got a sunflower turkey now, and it’s going on the fridge anyway.

Paper Plate Pumpkin Pie

No paint needed for this one; crayons do the job.

Orange in the middle, a light brown ring around the edge for crust. Cut the plate into six wedges and pull a cotton ball apart to make a blob of whipped cream on top. Expect pretend pie to get “served” to every adult in the house, possibly more than once. And if the plates have run out, the pie-slice page in the template works just as well.

Paper Plate Leaf Wreath

Ages 4 and up, roughly 25 minutes.

Cut out the middle of a plate, which leaves you a ring. Kids glue leaves all the way around it, overlapping them so no plate shows through, and a loop of ribbon at the top lets you hang it on the door.

Real leaves? Lovely in October, especially for Canadian Thanksgiving. By the end of November though, most of what’s left in US yards is soggy and brown. Use the paper leaves from the template.

Handprint Thanksgiving Crafts

Grandparents go a bit soft for these. Do yourself a favor and write the name and year on the back the moment it dries, because in three years you’ll be holding two identical turkeys with no idea whose hand is whose.

Handprint Turkey

Even a one-year-old can do this (with plenty of help). It’s quick, ten minutes or so, and it’s easily the messiest thing on this page.

Brown paint on the palm. Then a different color on each finger. Press the hand onto white card with the fingers spread out wide; the thumb ends up as the turkey’s head and the fingers are the tail. When it’s dry, draw a beak, a wattle and two stick legs.

For babies, try a footprint instead. Heel becomes the body, toes become feathers. Surprisingly cute.

Fork-Painted Turkey

Got a kid who won’t touch paint? Hand them a plastic fork.

Dip the back of the fork in paint and press it down in a fan. Switch colors every few presses. Once the fan’s done, paint a fat brown circle over the bottom of it and draw on a face. It takes about fifteen minutes and looks much fancier than the effort involved.

Fingerprint Corn

Start with a corn cob outline (draw one, or there’s one in the templates). The kids fill it with fingertip dots in yellow, orange and brown. Two green paper husks get glued on at the bottom.

It’s a nice toddler craft because it’s over before boredom sets in.

Quick tip that applies to all three handprint crafts: press, count to three, lift straight up. If the hand slides even a little, you get a smudge instead of a turkey.

Toilet Paper Roll Thanksgiving Crafts

Save your tubes. Seriously, start now, because if you’re doing this with a class of 25 you’ll need 25 of them for one craft. Kitchen roll tubes cut in half are a fine substitute.

Toilet Roll Turkey

• Paint the tube brown (or wrap it in brown paper, which is quicker and cleaner).
• Glue a fan of paper feathers on the back.
• Stick the eyes, beak and wattle on the front.

The nice thing about tube turkeys is that they stand up by themselves. Make a few and you’ve got a row of little table decorations.

Toilet Roll Scarecrow

Best for 4 and up. Blue paper wraps round the bottom half for overalls, and the top half gets whatever skin tone your child picks. Glue the scarecrow hat from the template on top. Then snip thin yellow paper strips and tuck them under the brim so it looks like straw is sticking out.

Faces are where it gets fun. Some kids go for the classic stitched smile, and others make a very grumpy scarecrow. Grumpy ones are our favorite.

Toilet Roll Pumpkin Stamping3

Squish one end of a tube until it’s a bit oval, dip it in orange paint, and stamp it over and over across a sheet of paper. A marker adds stems and curly vines afterwards.

It’s the quickest craft here at about ten minutes.

Nature and Paper Turkey Crafts

Pinecone Turkey

Feathers go into the scales at the back of the pinecone, and a small paper head with a beak and wattle goes on the front. That’s it, really, which is why it’s a good one for impatient crafters.

A note on the pinecones, though. If they came straight off a damp lawn, bake them on a tray at around 200°F for half an hour before anyone crafts with them. They dry out, they open up, and whatever was living inside leaves. Oven part is a grown-up job, obviously.

Paper Leaf Turkey

A brown paper circle on card is the body. Template leaves fan out behind it as the tail. Older kids sometimes like writing a word on every leaf, which turns it into a mini thankful turkey.

It’s the paper version of the real-leaf crafts we did for the Canadian page, for crafting once the trees are bare.

Turkey Headband

Measure a strip of brown card around your child’s head and staple it into a ring. Turkey face on the front, fan of feathers on the back.

There’s a decent chance it gets worn all through dinner. Maybe make a spare for whichever grown-up is brave enough.

More Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids: Thankful Crafts

“Gratitude” is a big word for a four-year-old. These three make it a bit more concrete.

Thankful Turkey

Print the turkey body and the blank feathers. Your child writes (or draws) one thing they’re thankful for on each feather. If they can’t write yet, they can tell you and you write it for them. Then glue the feathers behind the body.

The answers are the best part. It’s common to see “Grandma” right next to “chicken nuggets,” and both are completely sincere. Etsy sellers charge around $2.50 for this printable, by the way; ours is free.

Gratitude Jar

Ages 4+, fifteen minutes, hardly any mess.

Decorate a clean jar however you like (paper leaves, a ribbon, stickers). Print and cut the gratitude slips and leave a pile of them by the jar with a pen. Over the week, everyone drops in a slip whenever something comes to mind, and on Thanksgiving you read them all out at the table.

Some families keep their jar going all year. We’d love to say that works for everyone, but plenty of jars end up holding pens by February.

Thankful Paper Chain

Cut strips of paper in fall colors. On each strip, someone writes one thing they’re thankful for, then it’s looped onto the chain. Start on 1 November with one link a day and it doubles as a Thanksgiving countdown.

Prefer a gratitude tree? We’ve got one on the Canadian Thanksgiving printables page.

Table Crafts Kids Can Make

Turkey Place Cards

Fold the place card from the template, write a guest’s name on the front and glue a tiny paper turkey in one corner.

Five-year-olds and up love this job. They’ll take it extremely seriously, and you may find the seating plan has been “improved.”

Paper Napkin Rings

Cut out the strips from the template and let the kids color them in. Tape each into a loop, then glue a paper leaf or a little turkey over the join so you can’t see the tape. If you’re planning the whole kids’ table, there’s a full post on Thanksgiving kids table ideas.

Easy Thanksgiving Crafts for Toddlers

Paper Bag Turkey Puppet

You know the folded flap on the bottom of a brown lunch bag? Turn the bag upside down and that flap is the turkey’s face. Feathers get glued to the back, and the beak and wattle tuck under the flap so they move when the puppet “talks.” Toddlers will need you for the cutting. The gluing they can handle.

Coffee Filter Turkey

Part craft, part science. Kids scribble all over a coffee filter with washable markers. Then a light spray of water makes the colors bleed and swirl together, which never stops being impressive to a three-year-old. Once it’s dry (give it half an hour or so), it’s the turkey’s tail. Glue a brown paper body in the middle.

For Older Kids

Paper Cornucopia

Ages 6+, around 30 minutes.

Cut out the horn shape from the template, roll it into a cone and tape the seam. Now fill it up with paper fruit and vegetables: apples, a corn cob, a squash, grapes. Older kids who like detail can shade everything with colored pencils.

Out of all 20, this takes the most work. It’s also the one most likely to end up as the centerpiece.

We’re still not sure whether the cornucopia or the thankful turkey gets more use on the actual day. Probably depends on how many relatives you’ve got coming.

Thanksgiving Crafts for a Classroom

Running Thanksgiving crafts for kids with a whole class is a different game. A few things help:

• Stick to one craft, and do all the cutting the night before. The thankful turkey and pumpkin stamping need almost no prep.
• Count supplies per child, then add three spares. Someone will spill something.
• Do the painting crafts first, so they’re dry by the end of story time.
• A lot of US schools close from Wednesday 25 November, and some are off the whole week, so plan craft day for the week before.

Free Thanksgiving Craft Templates (PDF)

Here’s what’s in the pack:

• Turkey feathers in two sizes (crafts 1, 7, 10, 18)
• Turkey body and head (crafts 11, 12, 13)
• “I am thankful for” feathers (craft 13)
• Gratitude jar slips (craft 14)
• Pumpkin pie slice (craft 2)
• Fall leaf shapes (crafts 3, 11, 17)
• Corn cob outline (craft 6)
• Scarecrow hat (craft 8)
• Place cards and napkin ring strips (crafts 16 and 17)
• Cornucopia horn and paper produce (craft 20)

Prints on US Letter and A4. Card stock is worth it for the feathers if you have some; regular paper feathers tend to flop over.

More Free Thanksgiving Printables

• Thanksgiving coloring pages for when the crafts are done
• Thanksgiving kids table ideas, the whole setup
• Canadian Thanksgiving crafts, mostly nature crafts and zero turkeys
• Canadian Thanksgiving printables, including the gratitude tree
• Thanksgiving word search and puzzles, with American word lists too
• Fall leaf crafts for kids
• Fall coloring pages

Thanksgiving Craft FAQs

What crafts can kids make for Thanksgiving?

Turkey crafts are the big favorite, especially paper plate, handprint, pinecone and toilet roll turkeys. For something about gratitude, go for a thankful turkey or a gratitude jar. Kids who want a real job can make place cards and napkin rings for the table.

What are some easy Thanksgiving crafts for toddlers?

Try the handprint turkey, fingerprint corn or toilet roll pumpkin stamping. Each one’s done in 10 to 15 minutes and there’s no cutting for the child to do. Skip googly eyes for under-3s and draw the eyes on instead.

What is a thankful turkey craft?

A paper turkey whose feathers each say (or show) something the child is thankful for. Our free template includes the body and blank feathers, ready to print.

Are there Thanksgiving crafts that aren’t turkeys?

Plenty. Try the cornucopia, pie slices, scarecrow, gratitude jar or leaf wreath. Our Canadian Thanksgiving crafts page has more turkey-free ideas.

When is Thanksgiving in 2026?

US Thanksgiving falls on Thursday 26 November 2026. Canadian Thanksgiving was Monday 12 October 2026.