Your preschooler can make personalized fingerprint place settings with card stock, finger paints and wiggly eyes. Fold a small square of card stock in half for a place tag. On the front of the tag, make a large semi-circle of orange index fingerprints. Then, make a slightly smaller semi-circle of red fingerprints, overlapping the orange prints. Make a final semi-circle of red fingerprints inside the orange prints. In the middle of the semi-circle, make a large brown thumb print. Stick wiggly eyes to the thumb print and draw on a beak to complete the turkey. Make one card for each guest, to mark their place at the table. Write the guest's name in pencil on each card and have your child trace over it with marker. Have your child draw or paint Thanksgiving-themed pictures -- for example pumpkins, fall leaf scenes, cornucopias and pilgrims. Let the pictures dry, then write each guest's name on a picture with marker. Cover the pictures with contact paper or laminate them for a personalized place mat.
Make colorful napkin rings to decorate the Thanksgiving table. Paint five wooden craft spoons, ice cream sticks or strips of cardboard in different bright colors. Cut a toilet roll in half and paint it. Once dry, stick four of the painted craft spoons to the back of the toilet roll as feathers, and one to the front of the roll as the turkey's head. Draw on eyes and a beak, then complete the project by sticking lengths of pipe cleaner to the bottom for feet. Make simple corn napkin rings using a toilet roll, acrylic paints and a pencil-top eraser. Provide acrylic paints in yellow, orange, red and blue, then have your child dip the pencil eraser in paint and cover the toilet roll holder in prints, varying the colors throughout the roll. The prints resemble each kernel in a corn-on-the-cob.
Make a pilgrim puppet your preschooler can play with. Take a piece of plain white paper and cut out shapes of a pilgrim's hat, belt, shoes, arms, hair, collar and basket filled with corn. Have your child color each of the cut-outs with markers or crayons. Stick the pieces onto a brown paper lunch sack -- the smooth side of the lunch sack is the back. Make sure to stick the arms in between the flap on the sides. Finish the puppet by adding wiggly eyes and coloring the eyebrows, lips and nose. Preschoolers can paint a paper plate pilgrim to display. Mix paints to make a skin-colored base coat. Have your child paint the whole plate and let it dry. While the plate is drying, cut out a black pilgrim's hat from construction paper. Stick yarn to the top of the plate for hair, and stick the hat over the yarn. Finally, paint eyes, nose and mouth onto the plate or stick on paper cutouts.
Preschoolers can make a decorative turkey to display outdoors or inside. Paint a clean, empty flower pot with brown paint -- this will be the turkey's body. Paint a wooden or styrofoam ball in the same brown color for the turkey's head. Paint on a beak and feet in a different color, and add wiggly eyes or use a permanent marker to draw them -- making sure your preschooler is closely supervised with the marker. Add the final touches by sticking feathers to the back of the pot and a bow to the front.