I love nature crafting year round for different holidays. I struggle thinking of ideas for Thanksgiving, but I LOVE this one! This is a nice alternative to gluing the feathers around the turkey body.

This is an eco-friendly leaf turkey craft that can be a permanent craft or used as a reusable leaf threading board. Just take out the leaves when you are finished and save it for another day! I promise, this one will keep kids busy and entertained for a while. This will become a fall tradition that you and your family look forward to each fall. 

Ready to give it a try!? Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies:

• • Leaves
  • Markers
  • Sharpened pencil to poke holes in the cardboard.
  • Cardboard– These cardboard sheets are a convenient option if you don’t have any to reuse. 
  • Tape

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Related: Check out Turkey Rock Craft for Kids

Here’s How to Make This Leaf Turkey:

Step 1:

There isn’t much to the prep work for this one! First draw a simple turkey body outline on your piece of cardboard. Then poke holes around the turkey’s body. I used a sharp pencil to poke the holes. We didn’t end up using all of these holes because many of our leaves were on the bigger side. 

Step 2:

Now it’s time to head outside and collect leaves. We found a wide variety of leaf colors in our backyard which made for a beautiful rainbow turkey! One thing that I love about this leaf turkey, is that it will look differently depending upon the leaves available to the crafter. 

Once you have your leaves, start poking the stems through the holes on your board. This is great for working on fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination!

Step 3:

You will notice that the leaves will move around as you add more. We decided to tape the stems to the back of the board to keep the leaves in place. 

You can skip this step if you don’t want the leaves to stay on the board.

I love how this leaf turkey looks when finished! The leaves really do look like colorful feathers! These leaves will curl up as they dry, so I will be placing heavy books on this picture for a week or so to keep them flat. This is the perfect decoration for Thanksgiving day! Don’t you agree?! I hope you give this a try!

Pin it to save it for later!

I hope you give this sweet leaf turkey a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love them as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more fall ideas?! Check out:

How to Preserve Fall Leaves with Beeswax

20+ Outdoor Nature Walk Checklists and Scavenger Hunt Printables

The post Leaf Turkey Craft for Thanksgiving appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

We recently visited a pumpkin farm and saw the most beautiful Indian corn on display! The jewel toned kernels were so beautiful and inspired these nature crafts. If want some fun and simple Thanksgiving crafts, these might be just the ideas you are looking for!

Indian Corn Craft #1: Bean Indian Corn

Supplies:

• Cardboard
• Variety of beans
• Glue
• Brown construction paper
• Exacto knife– This is the easiest way to cut cardboard. *For adult use only*

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Step 1:

Cut out a corn cob shape of cardboard and husk pieces from brown construction paper. Glue the husk pieces on the back of the corn cob.

Step 2:

Squeeze glue on the piece of cardboard. We ended up adding more glue to our cardboard than what’s pictured below. 

Step 3:

Sprinkle the beans on the glue and gently pat them down to help them stick to the glue. Let the glue dry and you are all finished! These make a beautiful decoration for Thanksgiving day!

Indian Corn Craft #2: Mums Indian Corn

Supplies:

• Cardboard
• Mums
• Sharp pencil or something to poke holes in the cardboard.
• Glue
• Brown construction paper
• Exacto knife– This is the easiest way to cut cardboard. *For adult use only*

Step 1:

Draw a simple corn cob shape on a piece of cardboard. Next, poke holes on the shape with a sharp pencil. At this point, you can also glue the brown construction paper husks at the end of your picture. 

Step 2:

Now head outside and pick mums for your picture! We have multiple mum plants in our yard, so we picked a bunch of different colors. My boys loved poking the stems through the holes!

This looks so pretty when finished! You can tape the stems to the back of the board when you are done and let the mums dry on the board. 

Indian Corn Craft #3: Leaf Confetti Indian Corn

Supplies:

• Cardboard
• Leaves
• 1/2 inch paper punch or 1 inch paper punch
• Glue
• Brown construction paper
• Exacto knife– This is the easiest way to cut cardboard. *For adult use only*

Step 1:

Grab 2 pieces of cardboard that are the same size. Cut out a corn cob shape on one of the cardboard pieces. Then trace the shape on the piece of cardboard underneath. This outline will give you an idea of the space you need to cover with leaf confetti. 

Step 2:

Next punch out pieces fo leaf confetti by putting leaves in a paper punch! Some leaves are easier to punch than others. Test out different types of leaves to see which ones are easiest to use in the puncher.

Then glue your pieces of leaf confetti on the cardboard! We used a wide variety of colors to mimic Indian corn. 

Step 3:

Now cover your picture with the cut out piece and glue corn husks to your picture. You can tie your cardboard pieces together like we did for our owl craft! 

Pin it and save it for later!

I hope you give these simple Indian corn crafts a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more simple nature ideas?! Check out:

How to Preserve Fall Leaves With Beeswax

Turkey Rock Craft for Kids

The post Indian Corn Crafts for Thanksgiving appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

Winter seemed to hit us early this year with cold temperatures and a ton of snow. This put me in the mood for winter crafts, but I couldn’t let November slip by without sharing a couple Thanksgiving ideas! This turkey nature craft puts a smile on my face and was a lot of my to make with my four year old.

Are you ready to make one or two?!

Here’s what you’ll need….

Supplies:

• Stones
• Gold Dipped Feathers 
• Googly Eyes
• Decorative Washi Tape
• Regular Scotch Tape and double sided tape

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RELATED: Looking more Thanksgiving ideas?! Check out 12 Fall Low-Prep Keepsake Printables

Here’s How We Made This Thanksgiving Turkey Craft:

Step 1:

Press googly eyes on the stones. You could draw little dots on the stone to guide your child or let them stick the eyes where ever they want!

Step 2:

Next I cut out a simple wattle from matte red decorative tape and had Leo stick it on the turkey. We looked at the turkey anatomy from our fall nature anatomy activities to help us place the wattle on the stone.

I thought this would be difficult because the piece was so small but he got it on his first try!

Step 3:

Leo placed the beak on the wattle. This was a little more difficult and took a couple of attempts. This was no big deal because the tape peals off very easily!

Step 4:

I flipped the stone over and placed a couple pieces of double sided tape on it. The double sided tape helps the feathers stay in place while arranging and taping them down with regular scotch tape. Leo played around with the feathers first and used the feathers to make legs:) He thought this was absolutely hilarious!

After a few laughs, he flipped the feathers around and started arranging them on the stone. We taped them with regular scotch tape to secure them in place.

Each stone needed about 10 feathers. This is how the turkey looks with all metallic feathers, but you can have a mix of metallic gold and regular white feathers if you want to stretch out your metallic supply. Both options look beautiful!

This Thanksgiving turkey craft can be stored and enjoyed year after year! I promise, this turkey will also put a smile on your face! I hope you give it a try.

Pin it to save it for later!

I hope you give this sweet Thanksgiving turkey craft a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love them as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more fall ideas?! Check out:

The Cutest No-Carve Pumpkin Design

How to Preserve Fall Leaves with Beeswax

The post Turkey Rock Craft for Kids appeared first on Little Pine Learners.