Thankful Pumpkin Craft for Kids [Free Printable Template]
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Encourage kids to get creative and have a heart of gratitude with this thankful pumpkin craft. Prek to early elementary aged kids will reflect on the people, places, and things they appreciate most and take about 15 to 20 minutes to complete a cute pumpkin. They’ll then write on the leaves what they’re thankful for.
After making this fall craft, be sure to look through even more pumpkin crafts for kids to help them celebrate the season with creative hands-on fun.
Good To Know
- Themes: Thanksgiving, Gratitude, Pumpkins, Fall
- Activity: Write something to be thankful for on each leaf, then add the leaves to the pumpkin patch
- Template: Includes a free printable pumpkin, grass, and gratitude leaf pieces
- Ages: Preschool through early elementary
- Time: 20–25 minutes
- Skills: Gratitude reflection, early writing, cutting, gluing, and fine motor practice
Fall Gratitude Activity
Creating this gratitude activity is a wonderful way for children to celebrate the Thanksgiving season and think about the blessings in their lives. Kids will decorate a cute pumpkin that says, “I’m thankful for…” and write the things they appreciate on the leaves. The finished pumpkins will make a sweet seasonal decoration for your home or classroom displays.
This simple Thanksgiving activity helps children strengthen fine motor skills, pencil control, creativity, and early writing practice. Conversations about gratitude also encourage language development and social emotional learning in an age appropriate way.
Our printable pumpkin template makes this project quick and easy to assemble. Grab construction paper, scissors, glue, crayons or markers, and let little hands make this thoughtful keepsake.
Supplies
- Colored cardstock or construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Markers
- Thankful Pumpkin Template (click the “click here to get your freebies” image at the end of the post)
Directions
Start by printing the template, then gather the materials for this fun activity. Get those scissors ready, and let’s help the kids bring this thankful pumpkin to life!
Repeat until the entire craft is complete.
Look for the cheek pieces and glue one below each eye. As the pumpkin starts to smile, ask your child what makes them feel happy and thankful.
Take the stem piece and glue it to the top center of the pumpkin.
Grab the pumpkin leaf and glue it beside the stem.
Take the grass piece and carefully cut short slits along the top edge to create blades of grass. This is a great way for kids to practice their scissor skills while preparing the base of the craft.
Glue the pumpkin onto the center of the grass piece. Arrange the cut grass blades so they frame the sides of the pumpkin, leaving an opening in the middle for the thankful leaves to slide in.
It’s time for the thankful leaves. Invite your child to write something they are thankful for on each leaf. Family members, friends, pets, favorite foods, and fun memories are all wonderful ideas.
Once the leaves are finished, glue them into the bottom of the pumpkin. Kids will love changing the leaves whenever they think of something new to be thankful for.
Making this thankful pumpkin is a fun way for kids to reflect on what matters most while practicing handwriting and creative thinking.
When you’re finished, check out the related Thanksgiving crafts and educational printables below to build a complete seasonal learning experience.
Thanksgiving Books for Children
Turkey Trouble – If you’ve never read this book, you have to add it to your holiday collection! It’s so cute and fun and kids just love it! Follow the turkey around the farm as he disguises himself as different animals so the farmer doesn’t catch him for Thanksgiving dinner!
How To Catch A Turkey – Kids who love the How To Catch books will want to see all the crazy contraptions kids make to try to catch a turkey loose at the school!
Pete The Cat: The First Thanksgiving -Every Pete the Cat book is fantastic, but this one takes it up a notch with flaps for the kids to open. It’s a great way to get the kids excited about reading and Thanksgiving!
Fall Projects
Scarecrow Cat Craft – Your curious little kittens will love creating this adorable scarecrow cat! Kids will dress a friendly feline in a scarecrow outfit using their favorite colors to make their cat one of a kind. This fun fall activity gives kids a chance to practice fine motor skills and add creativity to fall lessons at home or in the classroom.
Acorn Name Craft – Kids will have a tree-mendous time making this personalized oak tree. This colorful fall tree has acorns added to spell out their names to practice letter recognition and spelling their name. They’ll also work on fine motor skills, scissor practice, and hand-eye coordination while creating a fun autumn project.
Corn Handprint Craft – Turn little hands into an adorable ear of corn with this fun fall activity! Kids will trace their handprint to create the corn, then add a smiling face, the husks, and little details to bring it to life. This hands-on activity strengthens fine motor skills, scissor practice, and hand-eye coordination while creating a sweet keepsake.
Apple Tissue Paper Craft – Create a textured piece of fall art when kids crumple small pieces of tissue paper and glue them onto our apple template. This hands-on activity strengthens bilateral hand coordination, finger strength, and concentration while making something they’ll be proud to show off.
Fun Autumn Activities for Kids
Pick a bushel of fun with these apple tracing worksheets! Little ones will trace the outline of an apple, practice writing uppercase and lowercase letter A, and trace a variety of lines to strengthen pencil control.
After they’re done tracing, they can color the pictures for extra fun. These apple themed pages help build hand-eye coordination, pre-writing skills, letter recognition, and confidence while making fall learning extra sweet.
Keep the story going with these engaging Little Acorn book activities! These book companion activities will have kids hunting for the letter Aa with a do a dot page, finish fall patterns, trace lines, label the parts of a squirrel, and practice vocabulary with themed flashcards.
These printables help strengthen letter recognition, fine motor skills, problem solving, language development, and hand-eye coordination with the characters that your kids love from the book.
Make learning extra fun with these fall matching worksheets! Children will match pumpkins, apples, leaves, acorns, and other autumn favorites while practicing visual discrimination, observation, and critical thinking skills.
Parents and teachers will love adding these engaging pages to seasonal lesson plans, quiet time, morning work, or homeschool activities. They also help strengthen concentration, memory, and fine motor skills, so they’re a wonderful way to mix learning with fall fun.
Let your little pumpkins fall into fun with these pumpkin dot to dot printables! Kids will connect the dots to reveal different pumpkin pictures and practice number sequencing, counting, and pencil control.
After completing each page, they can color in their finished creations. These engaging activities are a wonderful addition to fall harvest celebrations, classroom lessons, or homeschool days to help build fine motor skills, concentration, and confidence.
Share With Us
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For a chance to have your child’s project featured, simply snap a picture of the completed project and post it to our Facebook page, email it to us directly by clicking here, or use #simpleeverydaymom on your social media!
Free Thankful Pumpkin Template
Thankful Pumpkin Craft
Video
Materials
- Colored cardstock or construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Markers
- Thankful Pumpkin Template
Instructions
- Print the template and gather the materials for this fun activity.
- Begin by gluing the eye pieces onto the pumpkin face, below the eyebrows.
- Glue the cheek pieces below each eye.
- Glue the stem to the top center and back of the pumpkin.
- Glue the pumpkin leaf beside the stem, on the back side.
- Cut short slits along the top edge of the grass piece.
- Glue the pumpkin onto the center of the grass piece and push the grass pieces to cover the edge of the pumpkin.
- Have the child write something they're thankful on each leaf.
- Finally, glue the thankful leaves onto the open space on the bottom of the pumpkin.
Did you make this?
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Meet Sam
Sam is the crafter and founder of Simple Everyday Mom. She has been featured in Oprah Mag, Good Housekeeping, The Spruce Crafts, Country Living, The Bump, and more.
