Give Thanks Centerpiece
By: Amanda Formaro
Difficulty: Easy
Age: 7 and up
;)
This easy centerpiece makes a fun and chic statement and is a wonderful family activity. The relatives will be impressed that the kids helped make it!
Celebrate Thanksgiving and fall with even more fun crafts, printable activites and great Thanksgiving-themed crafts as well.
What you'll need:
- Red and yellow stiff felt
- Tan and maroon felt
- Yellow split peas
- White craft glue
- Scissors
- Two 12"-wooden dowels
- Instant grab glue
- Jute twine
- 2 slender glass jars (olives, pepperoncinis, etc.)
- Egg noodles, or other small dried pasta
- Black paint (optional)
How to make it:
- Place maroon felt on the work surface. Pipe white craft glue in the shape of the letter "G" toward the top left corner. Place yellow split peas into the glue. Continue down the felt, spelling out the word GIVE, doing one letter at a time so that the glue doesn’t start to dry or soak into the felt. (See photo.)
- Repeat step 1 for the word THANKS on the tan felt. Set aside to dry. (See photo.)
- Optional: While the letters are drying, paint the dowels black if you like.
- Once the split peas are dry enough that you can handle the felt, trim around the word so that you have an even border all the way around. Place the maroon GIVE strip onto the yellow stiff felt. Position near the top corner, leaving an even border, and glue in place. Trim the sides to match. (See photo.)
- Repeat step 4 with the THANKS strip on the red stiff felt.
- Turn the felt strips over so that the words are facing down. Use instant grab glue to attach the dowels to the back of the strips, positioning them about four inches from the bottom. (See photo.)
- From the remaining stiff felt, cut a strip to cover the dowel, make sure it’s long enough to go all the way to the top of the strip. This will give the strip strength. Glue it in place with instant grab glue. (See photo.)
- Fill the jars ¾ full with egg noodles. Insert the dowels into the jars, wiggling them into the egg noodles. Make sure the dowels are standing up straight, and then fill the rest of the jar with yellow split peas.
- Wrap jute twine several times around the rim of the jar and tie into a bow.
Tips:
- We used split peas instead of dried beans because they are smaller and lighter.
- Fill your jars with whatever shape pasta, beans, or peas that you like. Another idea is to use pebbles or stones.
- Instead of jute twine, you can dress these up and tie with a festive Thanksgiving or autumn-themed ribbon.
