Thanksgiving is coming up, and that means tons of extra time with your little ones. Even though holidays are a welcome treat, Thanksgiving can be stressful. Sometimes, it can be hard to balance your kids and kitchen duty, and there never seems to be enough time to get everything done! You can avoid a meltdown AND spend time with your kids by getting every, and I mean every, hand on deck.

Why not do some Thanksgiving crafts with your kids? It will not only give them something fun to do, but you can also kill two birds (pun intended) with one stone by giving them an activity that contributes to the feast. Who knows, maybe they’ll love it so much they’ll take off and do it on their own, leaving you to baste the turkey and bake all that delicious food.

For this constructive project, let’s get creative with the place settings for the big feast! You see, two birds: one stone. Have fun with your children on this one — it’s an activity suited for kids of all abilities.

Here’s what you’ll need for your DIY kids’ Thanksgiving crafts:

• construction paper
• poster paint
• paintbrush or Q-tip
• scissors
• the great outdoors

Your final product!

Steps:

1. Go Outside

That’s right. Throw on a sweater, get out of your kitchen, and enjoy the beauty in your back yard or go for a walk around the neighborhood. The purpose of this little adventure is to not only have a peaceful start to the big weekend, but to collect some interesting leaves with the kids. Take a moment to relax by spending a few minutes with the family and collect leaves in various shapes. Since these will be used for place cards, the leaves can be small.

2. Cut Up

Put on some festive music and get ready to get crafty. Gather the construction paper, and let the kids choose their favorite colors — be it the traditional orange and yellow palette or a fun one all their own — purple and all.

Now, take the scissors and cut the paper vertically down the middle.

Then, fold each piece in half, and cut along the fold.

Fold each piece down one more time to get the final shape of your placecard. Do several of them so you have a collection of plain placecards like this: 

3. Get Colorful

Grab your paint now, because it’s time to get colorful. 

Using a paint brush, Q-tip, or foam brush, paint one side of a leaf and press painted-side down onto the bottom half of a placecard. Press down on all sides.

Carefully remove. If it’s not a complete shape, dab some paint back the leaf and try again, remembering to press down. 

4. Final Touch

Once your placecard has dried — it won’t take long! — use a marker or  paintbrush to add a wee stem to the top of the leaf. You can also add a name to the front of the card now, or feel free to wait until the stem dries and add a name to the inside.

You can also use this project to make cute notecards for thank-you notes or Christmas cards. This size would make a perfect gift card, so if you plan to spend a day getting the home ready for the holidays, why not let the little ones pick up on this craft again to create amazing little tags for your pretty presents?

Do you have a crafty holiday tradition in your family? Drop by our Facebook page and tell us about it!