While Mom and Dad are busy preparing for your Thanksgiving feast, you can get ready for holiday entertaining with these crafts and activities.

Turkey Talk Place Setting
Items needed: Brown, red, yellow, and orange construction paper; ruler; pencil; scissors; glue; small wiggly eyes; stapler; yellow or orange drinking straw; and cardstock.

On brown paper, draw and cut out a 7-inch half circle and a 2-inch oval. Wrap the half circle end to end to make a cone shape for the turkey’s body and secure with glue. (Note: leave a small opening at the narrow end of the cone to insert a straw later.) Glue two wiggly eyes onto the brown oval to form the turkey’s head. Cut out a small orange triangle and a red teardrop shape to represent the turkey’s beak and wattle. Glue these to the face then attach the head to the narrow portion of the cone. Trace around your hand on the remaining paper to form turkey feathers. Cut these out and attach to the back side of the turkey’s body with a stapler. Make a 3/4-inch slit across one end of the drinking straw then slip it into the top opening of the cone. Cut cardstock to 3 ½- by 2-inches. Write “Gobble, Gobble” and your guest’s name on the place card and slip it into the straw slit. Repeat these steps for every guest attending your Thanksgiving banquet.

Gobblin’ Good Checkerboard Game
Items needed: Yellow and orange construction paper, ruler, pencil, scissors, glue, and candy corn and pumpkins.

Fold the long side of the yellow paper in half. Draw 1-inch lines that begin at the fold and stop approximately 1-inch from the opposite end. Repeat this step across the paper until you have seven lines. With the paper still folded, cut the lines beginning at the fold. Open and set aside. Mark off 1-inch lines across the shorter width of the orange paper then cut across each line until you have eight strips. Begin weaving the orange strips in and out of the openings on the yellow paper, alternating the weave with each row until all orange strips have been used. Place a dot of glue on each strip end to secure. Play the game similar to checkers. Use candy corn and pumpkins for game pieces and enjoy the sweet rewards of gobbling up your opponent’s captured pieces. The one with the most candy left on the board at the end of the game wins!

A Tisket, A Tasket, A Thanksgiving Basket!
Items: Small, empty cardboard boxes (such as pudding or gelatin boxes), brown construction paper, scissors, tape, Thanksgiving-themed stickers, markers, yellow or orange tissue paper (shredded), seasonal candy, mints or other small treats.

Tape the sides of the box closed. Cut out one large side to be the basket opening. Wrap the box in construction paper, secure with tape and decorate with stickers and/or other designs. Make a basket handle by cutting a strip of paper that measures 1-by 6-inches. Across it, write “Happy Thanksgiving.” Tape the handle to the inside of the box. Insert shredded paper for basket filler then top with candy. Repeat these steps so all your holiday guests have a Thanksgiving treat to take home.

Gratitude Galore
Every nation has its own way of saying “Thank you.” See if you can pronounce these:

Cantonese Chinese: do jeh (daw-dyeh)
Mandarin Chinese: xie xie (syeh-syeh)
French: merci (mehr-see)
German: danke (dahn-kah)
Greek: efharisto (ef-har-rih-stowe)
Hebrew: toda (toh-dah)
Italian: grazie (gra-see)
Spanish: gracias (gra-see-us)

Abundant Reads
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson
If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern
Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving by Eric Metaxas
Turkeys, Pilgrims and Indian Corn: The Story of the Thanksgiving Symbols by Edna Barth