Thanksgiving Garlands for Kids with Finger Painted Thankful Hands

We’ve been making Thanksgiving garlands with the kiddos in our children’s art class. And I just love how they turned out!

It was a multi-step process, but well worth the extra steps and involvement.

A big thank you to Dixie Crystals Sugar Kids in the Kitchen for sponsoring this post! As always, all opinions expressed are my own.

Plus we used homemade edible finger paint! 

The finger paint is made with only sugar, cornstarch, water and food coloring. Super easy! You probably have everything you need in the kitchen right now.

Since this finger paint is edible, you can offer it to the youngest toddler without worrying that they’re going to be tasting and testing as they paint with their hands.

You could even offer some to an older baby in a high chair. Simply tape a piece of paper to the tray, add a spoonful of paint or two, and encourage them to smush the paint around with their hands.

Just because it’s edible, doesn’t mean you want to encourage your little one to eat art supplies, but you’ll feel better knowing that the finger paint is completely nontoxic and edible.

Here’s how we made these kids’ Thanksgiving garlands…

Kids Thanksgiving Garlands

MATERIALS

• Homemade edible finger paint made with Dixie Crystals Sugar
• Paper or cardstock
• Sharpie marker (we used gold metallic markers)
• Hole punch
• Embroidery thread or yarn
• Large, blunt embroidery needle
• Pom poms & large beads

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1: Finger paint

First, have a finger painting session with your homemade finger paints. You can paint on finger paint paper as we did, or onto heavier card stock (as I kind of wished we had).

Our art class of 2 to 4 year olds started out with regular finger painting. Always a fun art and sensory experience!

Then we did some finger painting on bubble wrap for double the fun and double the sensory experience. (And made some bubble wrap prints by pressing paper on top of the paint-covered bubble wrap.)

Step 2: Let dry

Step 3: Trace kids’ hands

The parents and teachers traced the hands of the kids in our toddler art class. If you were doing this with older kids, they could trace their own hands.

Cut out the hand tracings.

Note: Finger paint paper is a bit flimsy, so I pasted card stock on the back before cutting out the hands. If I did this project again, I’d probably have the kids finger paint directly onto card stock or poster board.

Step 4: Write words of gratitude

Ask the kids what they are thankful for (see the gratitude prompts below) and write their words of gratitude on their hands with Sharpie markers. (Older kids can write the words themselves.)

Step 5: String a pom pom garland

Use a large, blunt embroidery needle (best for young kids) on the end of some doubled up embroidery thread to string a garland of pom poms and big beads.

Step 6: Add thankful hands to pom pom garland

I punched holes at the top of each thankful hand, strung a 6 inch length of embroidery thread through it, then tied the hand to the pom pom garland.

Step 7: Hang your Thanksgiving garlands!

Display your new Thanksgiving garlands where everyone can see them and be reminded of what they are thankful for.

Gratitude prompts for little kids:

The gratitude part is easy for older children to understand. If you ask 6 year olds what they are grateful or thankful for, they’ll tell you their family and friends, toys, and favorite foods, etc.

But for younger kids who don’t yet grasp what gratitude means, it’s a bit trickier.

Here are some questions we can use to help little kids understand what gratitude means:

What do you think? Would you make Thanksgiving garlands like these with your kids? How about one with thankful hands from the entire family?

For more fun Thanksgiving ideas for kids and families, check out Dixie Crystals’ Thanksgiving Craft Projects and Thanksgiving Edible Art Projects here.

Kids in the Kitchen – Thanksgiving Fingerpainted Hand Garlands

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Again, thank you to Dixie Crystals Sugar Kids in the Kitchen for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions expressed are my own.