Thanksgiving is a time for the family to gather and share experiences. You can start the sharing by making these simple napkin rings with your child. Not only will you have fun, but you will also make something special for the Thanksgiving table. Use the same basic idea with simple variations for other holidays.
This project is great for family, classroom or group craft time. With a little preparation by the adult or teen leader, this project is easy and fun for children.
Related crafts: There are many more fun crafts in the Fall and Thanksgiving Crafts craft series. For more napkin ring ideas, check out the Quick Napkin Rings craft project!
Read through the project and gather the materials needed for making the napkin rings. If you are doing this craft with a group, pre-cutting the rings and foil rectangles will make the craft go faster. You might also pre-cut small rectangles of construction paper.
Tip: If you plan to use this craft again, next year or with another group, make leaf templates using poster board that will last for many uses.
Cut the toilet paper tubes into 1¼" to 1½"-wide rings. A standard-size tube will make three rings. Measure the rings with a ruler and make pencil marks on opposite sides of the tube. Use the tip of the scissors to punch a hole at one of the pencil marks, and continue cutting around the tube.
Tip: An easy way to make the cut is by using a string or rubber band as a guide. Tie a string or place a rubber band around the tube at the pencil marks, and follow it as you cut.
Cover the rings with aluminum foil, shiny or dull side up—it's your choice. Measure and cut a 4" by 6" piece of foil for each ring. Wrap the foil around the ring and fold the edges to the inside.
Tip: Give the napkin rings a textured effect by first crumpling the foil, but be very gentle or the foil may tear. You can use a brayer to smooth crumpled foil.
Cut out one or two leaf shapes for each ring. Use these leaf patterns printed to cardstock, or cut patterns of your own. Trace around the patterns with a pencil on construction paper. Use at least two different colors of paper in fall colors—yellow, red, green, orange and brown. Cut out the leaves.
Tip: Collect small leaves from your yard to use as tracing patterns.
Instead of cutting leaves from colored construction paper, you can print the leaf patterns to white or colored computer paper and color them with markers!
Add your own special touch! Enhance your leaves with felt-tip markers. Color the stems brown. Add veins on the leaves. Give the leaves the mottled look of real leaves by shading with reds and oranges.
Glue leaves on the napkin rings. Use a white glue like Elmer’s or a PVA glue to adhere the leaves to each napkin ring. Hold the leaves in place until the glue sets.
Tip: Glue the leaves over the place where the foil meets, and turn the leaves so their tracing marks face down.
That's it! Your napkin rings are
ready for the table!