Decorative Thanksgiving Blocks (Craft With Your Kids!)

For Thanksgiving several years ago, my kids & I made these easy decorative "Give Thanks" Thanksgiving Blocks together. It was a gem of a project & I still use the blocks every year! We originally did this for a sponsored post with products we found at Michaels Arts and Crafts Stores.



It was such a fun project to do together and I wanted to share it again this year so you could give it a try if you'd like. It was from way back in 2013, so re-posting seemed in order! :)

My Goal

I was determined to make it a group effort (not a mom project), and I learned a lot about what my kids are capable of! I think normally, I have a tendency to want to just take over and be in control of everything- especially with something like this that I intend to have on display in my home. This time I wanted the kids to do as much of the work as possible because I wanted them to remember making them so that when we pull the blocks out to display each year, they'll feel responsible for them :) I'm planning for these to be a tool in teaching them about Thanksgiving and gratitude.

(A note from me, in 2020: They have become a tradition, and the tradition is that every morning I come downstairs to see the blocks arranged differently, to make different words ;)

Here's what we used:

Supplies

- 10 2" wooden blocks
- sand paper
- foam paint brushes
- paint (we used FolkArt's Pumpkin, School Bus Yellow, Parchment, Patina, and Burnt Umber)
- brown vinyl & a Cricut (we used the Sophisticated cartridge)
[Note: You could also use a stencil and brown paint, or glitter for the letters- or Mod Podge paper letters onto the blocks]



While the girls were at school, I sanded the edges of the blocks with sandpaper.
When they got home, the project was ready for them! :)

We started by squirting the paint out and letting the kids paint the blocks.
(All I did was decide how many of each colour we would make)



I decided I wanted the colours to be a bit muted, so we added a touch of the brown paint to the orange, teal, and yellow and painted over the first layer of paint. My girls love to paint!



The next day (after the blocks were all dry), we used the brown paint to dry brush the edges of the blocks. You just need a very small amount of paint on the tip of the brush for this, and paint gently along the edges, for that distressed look.

I controlled the amount of paint going onto the brush for this part, and my 4 year old did a very nice job of distressing those edges!



The next step was to create our vinyl letters. I sized them at 1.5" since we used 2" blocks. My daughter got to push the buttons, and was captivated (as usual) by watching the Cricut work ;) When we had our "stickers", I positioned them on the blocks and she pressed them down.



We were so happy with the result! I am impressed with what a 4 year old and a 7 year old can do! :)
I'm excited about talking to the girls more about Thanksgiving and the importance of gratitude. I'm hoping that these blocks will become a representation to them of what Thanksgiving is all about!

What a fun activity to do together, and the beginning of a new tradition :)

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