Keep children occupied until the meal is ready with a hands-on activity that doubles as décor. Ahead of time, sketch turkeys, leaves, and other appropriate shapes on brown or white kraft paper with a pencil—older kids can do this for themselves (or give little ones objects to trace). Set the sheets out with cups of crayons or washable markers and let the fun begin. In case any artists ask to take their handiwork home, you can roll the paper up and tie it loosely with twine.
Kids
make ACORN crafts
For a fun Thanksgiving (or any day) activity, give kids a bunch of acorns in different sizes—or send them outdoors to gather their own. Then add “heads” to turn them into an acorn family. Mini acorns become babies, and bigger ones adults: Just pop off the caps (known as cupules) and glue them to wooden balls in corresponding sizes. Draw on facial features and hair with markers, then hot-glue the heads onto the nut “bodies.”
Martha Must
When handling a raw turkey, to keep the juices from making a mess, I work on a large piece of parchment; then I carefully crumple up the paper and discard it and all the juices inside.
