Free Preschool Crafts

This Thanksgiving turkey is easy to make with a coffee filter and some construction paper. I was going to spray on the food coloring, but we couldn’t find my spray bottle and just dripped some on instead. You could also moisten the coffee filter and draw on it with water-based markers such as those by Crayola.

What You Need: 1 coffee filter; food coloring (or markers, etc.); brown, red, and orange construction paper; two googly eyes; scissors; glue.

How to Make It: Drip or spray food coloring onto wet coffee filter. Or, use markers. Set aside to dry on a paper towel. Cut turkey shape (kind of like a peanut) from brown construction paper. Cut out and add orange beak and red wattle. Glue on googly eyes. Once coffee filter feathers are dry, glue turkey body to it.

Here’s a fun turkey craft that involves the whole family. I’ve seen several variations recently on Pinterest. We traced Dad’s hand, Mom’s hand, and our son’s hand to make the feathers. A perfect craft for Thanksgiving!

What You Need: 1 toilet paper roll; yellow, orange, and red construction paper; pencil (for tracing); scrap of red paper (for wattle); scrap of orange paper (for beak); 2 googly eyes; glue; scissors.

How to Make It: Trace each family member’s handprint and cut out. Glue, staggered, on top of each other as shown. Glue set to back of toilet paper roll. Cut out wattle and beak (folded or just a triangle) and glue toward top of roll. Glue on eyes.

This easy craft — a “pot of gold” complete with rainbow handle — is perfect for preschool or daycare. And kids can bring theirs home (filled with St. Patrick’s Day treats or cards, perhaps) and hang it on a door handle. All you need is paper plates, adhesive and crayons, markers, or paint.

What You Need: 2 standard paper plates; scissors; crayons, markers or paints; tape or stapler.

How to Make It: First, an adult will need to help little kids cut out part of each plate to create a handle shape. Then, children color a rainbow pattern (great way to practice colors!) on the handle. The rest of the paper plate is colored black, serving as the leprechaun’s pot of gold. Finally, join the two plates together using Scotch tape or staples. Kids could also add shamrock stickers if they’d like.

One of the crafty moms in my son’s class helped the kids make these cute lollipop jack-o-lanterns at the Halloween party. The kids enjoyed wrapped up the treat and creating their own “face” on the pretend pumpkin. A group of these would make a great centerpiece.

What You Need: Small lollipop (Dum-Dum size); square of orange tissue paper large enough to wrap around the candy; pinking shears or zigzig scissors; length of green pipe cleaner; black marker; pencil.

How to Make It: Pre-cut tissue paper with pinking shears for the kids. Wrap tissue paper around centered lollipop. Twist pipe cleaner around base of candy to secure tissue. Wrap ends of pipe cleaner around a pencil for curled vine effect. Add jack-o-lantern face with marker.

My son was at the local gymnastics place for a party last night and the kids did a pot of gold craft in anticipation of St. Patrick’s Day. However, my son was excitedly anticipating running and playing, so his pot of gold is a little under-done. Plus, he ate the gold. Still, a fun craft!

What You Need: small Styrofoam bowl; black paint; black pipe cleaner; shamrock stickers; candy or gold coin chocolates; paintbrush.

How to Make It: Use end of paintbrush or other tool (safety first!) to poke two holes in sides of foam bowl and insert pipe cleaner for handle. Paint pot black. Let dry. Add shamrock stickers.