Pre Feast Crafts for Kids

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Pre Feast Crafts for Kids

Hi everybody, it's Heather from The Beating Hearth and it's my turn over here at Inspiration Cafe.

This round, all the members of Inspiration Cafe are talking about what inspires them. This has been so much fun to read for me and hopefully for you as well. My inspiration comes from a couple of places really.

My family is my primary inspiration. I love to create a happy, warm and loving home for every member of my family. What does that mean? I am making quilts to keep them toasty, crocheting life-like dolls for my husband to take to work....ummmm...and cooking tasty food for us to eat together.

My second inspiration is selfish. I am motivated to keep myself sane. I do this by crafting and sewing. I have found the saying "If Mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy" to be very true. So, I get to have fun playing with fabric, express my creativity, make pretty things and take some time for myself....which refreshes me and gives me the strength to continue on when things get sticky.

Today, I have two projects for kids to do during the Thanksgiving pre-feast wait.

The wait for Thanksgiving dinner can be so painful for kids. They are starving because you only gave them a tiny lunch in preparation for the feast to come. They're antsy because so much is going on...Grandma is running around making sure the gravy doesn't burn and that her rolls are rising like they should...and the kids don't have anything to do...except for watch the parade on TV...and if there isn't candy being thrown (I don't know about your kids), but mine are not interested in a parade.

So, here's a fun tradition you can start with your own family as we are starting with mine. Making Christmas decorations before the feast begins. The children in my family are young, so there is nothing too advanced here, but they're sparkly and kids love sparkly. This is while things are still cooking and dinner is still a ways away.

Buy some felt. Whatever color you like. Fold a piece in half and cut out the first initial of each of the children who will be making an ornament. You want to make the lines of the letters fairly thick so you can get a nice layer of sequins on. I just free-hand cut my letters, but you could draw them on the felt first to make sure you like what you've got. This is something you will probably want to do in advance unless your kids are capable of cutting these out on their own. It only takes a minute.

You want to have two pieces exactly the same because you are going to glue the two pieces together to give your ornament some stability.

Use craft glue.

Have them put a dab of glue on the back of a sequin and put it on the felt letter and continue on until it is completely covered.

Using some glittery thread and large needle, make a loop so they can be hung from the tree. Put somewhere they can dry. Feast. Take home special Christmas ornaments.

Now, once you've got dinner almost ready, and you want to round up the kids to get them close, here's the next project...

If this is your table setting, notice the canning jar in the corner. You are going to make one of these for each of the kids in your family. To make things really fancy, you can also make your own cloth napkins

You will need a pint size canning jar for each child. You will need 16 crayons per each jar. You will need construction paper as well.

Cut several pieces of construction paper in half length-wise. I put 4 pieces of paper per jar.

Write a note for each of your children letting them know all the reasons you are thankful for them. This is a nice thing to read during your Thanksgiving meal.

Put 16 crayons on the perimeter of each jar. Roll up the 4 pieces of construction paper. Take your list and roll it up and place it in the middle of the construction paper.

Tie a piece of burlap and a bit of gold ribbon around each jar...you know...to make it festive.

Put these next to the place serving of each child and a few minutes before the feast begins, have them draw pictures of what they are thankful for. If they are old enough, they can write what they are thankful for as well.