I adore the latest crafting trend of handprint and footprint art for kids. Nothing is cuter than my kids hands and feet, fingers and toes. I am guessing that if you have littles at home, you probably feel the same way. I also know that Thanksgiving day is one of the more hectic here at my house. My kids are eager to get the festivities started, and I am busy cooking a feast. To ease the crazy stressfulness of that day, I have come up with some fun crafts for my kids to do while the bird is roasting.

First are hand print turkeys, an oldie but a goodie. Using washable finger paint, you paint the palm and thumb of your child’s hand brown, and each finger the bright color of a feather. Then you smack that hand onto a blank piece of paper. If your child is old enough, you can then allow them to draw eyes, beak et cetera to their turkey. Older kids might need a little more umph for their project. Have them paint on paper the body shape of a turkey (think upside down light bulb). Then, once they are happy with that they can use their thumbs dipped into finger paint to make the feathers. There is the opportunity for some great layering and artistic freedom here. My daughter always tends to make her turkey plumage huge and bright.

Other fun hand print Thanksgiving day art would be Pilgrims and Native Americans. For the pilgrims, paint the fingers of your child’s hand black, the upper palm a skin tone, and the base of the palm the color of your pilgrims hair. Leave the thumb free of paint. Stamp it on your paper. At the base of the fingers have your child’s draw the brim of the pilgrims hat. Add a buckle to the hat, some eyes and a mouth and you’re done! For the Native American, you paint the base of the fingers a strip of black. The upper fingers get feather colors, and the palm gets skin colors. You leave the thumb free of paint again. Now your Native American needs some braids, eyes and a mouth Nd you’re done!

Have your kids make your Thanksgiving dinner place mats. If you have a more fancy set table, and don’t really want kids art everywhere, consider letting them decorate the kids table instead.

-Stephanie Wright