A Thanksgiving Craft for Little Feet

When it comes to grandparent gifts, handprint and footprint crafts are ALWAYS a home run. Always. It's a fun way to mark down the those tiny features of our babies and keep them forever! I mean, who doesn't adore tiny toes?

In light of that, I wanted to share a little Thanksgiving footprint craft with you and some tips on how to get good prints from your little ones without making a huge mess. 

I made this craft with Ford for his first Thanksgiving. His footprint was tiny and cute. We made them into 5x7 cards and sent them out to family.

This year, Ford's foot barely fit on a half sheet of paper. Ugh. Why is he getting so BIG? 

Ok, here's what you need:

• card stock paper for the base (cut to envelope size for mailing or use up to a full sheet if you have bigger kids with bigger feet!)
• colorful paper (construction paper or scrapbook paper) for tail
• markers
• brown paint
• paint brush
• googly eyes (optional, but we love goggly eyes around here!)

First, make sure that you have everything prepared before you involve your child. Cut your tail feathers out of scrapbook paper. I free handed one and then traced it. If you feel that you need some help, I'm sure you can google "turkey feather shape" or something like that and find a template. (Bless Google.)

Next, glue your turkey feathers to the card stock in an arch. 

I let Fordycakes help with the glueing. He used the glue stick and then I arranged them on the paper. 

Please notice his paintbrush. I told him we were going to paint a turkey and he got so excited and brought me this huge paintbrush, undoubtably from the construction supplies we have stowed around the house. He was basically disappointed in this whole activity because it didn't involve painting with this big brush. 

Now, once you have your feathers stuck down and they've dried a bit, ready your other supplies. Pour out a smidge of brown paint. Get your brush (Ford bit a chunk out of ours) ready. 

I like to have baby wipes ready to clean up hands and feet as soon as we are done! That way we don't run the risk of getting paint everywhere while you try to get to the sink or run to the kitchen to get paper towels. The baby wipes are perfect for a quick clean up. 

Put your child in their highchair or sit them somewhere that they have to stay reasonable still. It's easier to bring the paper to your child than to try to move them with paint on their hands or feet. 

Put your paper on to a clipboard or tape it to a hard book. Then just take the clipboard with the paper and press your chid's foot in the right spot. (This is so much easier than trying to get them to step on the paper! And the clipboard gives a nice flat surface that gives you an even print.) 

Now take your cute baby foot...

and paint it with a paint brush. This will give you a more even coating than dipping their foot in the paint. It's also a little easier, I think. And it tickles, which is fun. 

I couldn't capture the clipboard pressing to the foot action. I only have two hands. Sorry, guys. 

But you can see the result here! If it doesn't turn out absolutely perfect, it's ok. If you're missing some toes, use your fingertips to add them in, if that bothers you. I cheat sometimes. 

Now draw some feet with a yellow marker and add some sort of Thanksgiving sentiment. 

I cut a beak and a little red gobble out of scrapbook paper and glued those on. You can use a marker for the eyes or add googley ones. 

And there you have it! This is a fun quick craft that makes a great gift for Thanksgiving. I hope you'll try it with your little ones. I'd love to see pictures if you do! 

Long live the footprint craft!

mel