10 Creative Ways to Upcycle Thanksgiving Coloring Pages
Thanksgiving is an awesome opportunity to spend time with the family, and that usually involves tasty food and fun activities. Don’t keep all your finished Thanksgiving coloring sheets locked away at home or in school – put those coloring sheets to good use!
Here are 10 ways you can turn your child’s Thanksgiving coloring sheets into something useful:
1. Festive Thanksgiving Napkin Holder
Transform a simple plastic napkin holder into a holiday centerpiece.
How to: Color and cut out your favorite Thanksgiving scenes (turkeys, pilgrims, or cornucopias). Glue one cutout to each side of the holder. Embellish the borders with orange and brown pom-poms for a textured look. Finish with a light coat of acrylic spray to preserve the artwork.
2. 3D Thanksgiving Pumpkin Ornaments
Create eye-catching 3D pumpkins using construction paper and colored cutouts.
How to: Trace and cut out four or five circles from orange construction paper. Fold them in half, gluing the sides together to create a fan effect. Before opening them fully, decorate the sections with small, intricate cutouts from your coloring pages. Top it off with a green pipe cleaner “stem.”
3. Hilarious Turkey Silverware Holder
Bring some personality to your dining table with this recycled soup can craft.
How to: Clean and dry an empty soup can. Laminate it with a turkey cutout. Add fun details like wiggle eyes, a pom-pom nose, and a puffy paint mouth. Glue orange construction paper feet to the bottom and add two craft feathers to the back for wings. It’s the perfect quirky holder for your forks and spoons!
4. DIY Thanksgiving Candy Cones
A perfect classroom activity, these cones are as tasty as they are decorative.
How to: Shape bright poster paper into cones and staple them shut. Decorate the exterior with cutouts from colored pages. Stuff with brown and orange tissue paper and fill with candy corn. Wrap the base in plastic wrap and tie with yellow yarn for a festive treat bag.
5. Paper Plate Cornucopia Wall Hanging
Celebrate the harvest with this fanned-out decorative piece.
How to: Paint five paper plates orange or gold. Cut one into a “tail” shape and glue the plates together in a fanned design. Use the “mouth” of the cornucopia to display a favorite colored scene. Hang with orange yarn.
6. "Happy Thanksgiving" Welcome Banner
Create a personalized banner to greet your holiday guests.
How to: Trim finished coloring pages into leaf or acorn shapes. Use a hole punch to string them together. Trace and cut out letters to spell "Happy Thanksgiving," gluing one letter onto each cutout for a beautiful, handmade greeting.
7. Comical Turkey Placeholders
Help guests find their seats with these stand-up turkey decorations.
How to: Glue a colored turkey onto cardboard and cut it out. Add a construction paper beak and wiggle eyes. Create "feathers" by folding strips of red, orange, and yellow paper. Attach two clothespins to the bottom so the turkey can stand upright on the table.
8. Thanksgiving Scene Pinwheel Frame
Showcase your child's best work with this colorful frame.
How to: Glue ten yellow construction paper corn cobs in a circle, placing green tissue paper between them to resemble husks. Trim a coloring page into a circle and glue it to the center of the frame. Hang with colorful yarn for a festive display.
9. Silly DIY Turkey Hats
Let the kids get creative with these funny, wearable holiday crafts.
How to: Create a headband from stiff cardboard. Glue a turkey cutout to the front and add oversized wiggle eyes or a red balloon "wattle." Cut your second coloring page into strips and attach them to the back of the band to mimic colorful turkey feathers.
10. Modern Art Thanksgiving Placemats
Turn a pile of coloring pages into functional, decorative placemats.
How to: Cut finished pages into strips and weave them together in a horizontal-vertical pattern. Glue the braid onto brown construction paper and add fringe to the edges. Glue a central cutout in the middle and seal the entire placemat with contact paper for easy cleanup.
Bonus Tips for Thanksgiving Crafting
Prep for Longevity: If you want these crafts to last beyond Thanksgiving Day, prioritize sealing your work. Contact paper (for flat items like placemats) or a light mist of clear acrylic sealer/spray (for 3D items like napkin holders) will prevent the paper from tearing or fading and keep the colors vibrant.
Create a "Scrap Bin": Throughout the holiday season, designate a specific bin or folder for all "finished" coloring pages. This prevents them from cluttering the fridge or floor and makes it easy to grab a handful of supplies whenever you have an hour to dedicate to a craft project.
Curate the Palette: For a more cohesive look, especially for the banner or placemat projects, encourage your children to use a specific color palette (e.g., only warm tones like burnt orange, mustard yellow, and deep cranberry) for a few pages. This makes the final craft look like a designer-made piece rather than a collection of mismatched scraps.
Why These Crafts Work
By turning "disposable" coloring pages into functional decor, you achieve three things:
Sustainable Play: You reduce paper waste by giving old art a second life.
Increased Value: Children feel a sense of pride when their artwork is transformed into something useful, like a placemat or a napkin holder, rather than just being tucked away.
Educational Growth: Many of these crafts—especially the weaving and structural folding—help children practice fine motor skills, spatial awareness, and following multi-step directions.
