Thanksgiving is undoubtedly a time of giving thanks, but it’s also a time when you might find Uncle Freddy in the kitchen playing with the turkey to make it dance to the latest mainstream hits. Likewise, kids like to play with their food, so instead of them trying to play with the turkey, plan a few turkey craft for kids!
Not only will it keep them busy, but how cute would it be for them to make decorations or favors for the family to take home with them? There’s lots of turkey crafts for kids, so let’s explore the possibilities! We also have lots of great virtual thanksgiving activities for families!
Turkey Craft Ideas
Tiny Turkey: If you’re nuts about turkey, then this is the perfect craft! You simply hot glue a walnut onto a flat base so it stands up, then glue a hazelnut on top of the walnut, toward the front to be the head. Next, glue two different colored fake fall leaves on the back with points facing up for the tail feathers, a red teardrop-shaped piece of felt for the wattles, and a yellow or orange triangle piece of felt for the beak. Don’t forget the googly eyes!
Turkey Apron: Perfect for the littles who like to help out in the kitchen, all you need is blank canvas aprons and craft paint. Each child will decorate their own apron: Many yellow, orange, and red handprints for the turkey’s tail, once dry, paint on a brown peanut shape over the handprints but not covering them; this is the body of the turkey. Then, paint on the feet, wattles, beak, and eyes and it’s done!
Thankful Box: Have some old tissue boxes laying around (the tall ones, not the long ones)? Paint them brown and decorate them as a turkey! Cut out red, orange and yellow feathers from construction paper, these will be the tail feathers that will be glued in a fanned out formation to the back of the tissue box. Then, cut out a peanut shape taller than the tissue box decorating it with the wattles, beak, and eyes, then glue this to the front of the box and voila! Everyone can write something they are thankful for, place it in the box, and these can be read out during dinner.
TP Roll Turkey: Don’t have tissue boxes? Well, everyone has toilet paper rolls! Follow the exact instructions for the Thankful Box to make a turkey that stands on it’s own! Check out Pinterest for some cool ways people decorated their toilet paper roll turkeys!
Handy Turkey: You remember these from the good ‘ol days, right? Each child traces their hand on a piece of paper and colors it like a turkey! This is definitely one of the easiest crafts you can do with your kids this Thanksgiving, even the really young ones will enjoy it!
Turkey Feet: This is cute but can get pretty messy with the paint. Each child will make a footprint on a piece of paper with whatever fall color they desire. Once dried, they will then glue feathers around the footprint to be the tail feathers and give the footprint a turkey face!
Candy Jar: Have the kids scribble some fun, fall colors on a piece of paper. They will then trace their hand over the scribbles and cut it out. This is then glue onto the back of baby food jars or tiny mason jars. On the front of the jar, glue on some googly eyes and a felt beak with wattles. Don’t forget to fill with candy; that’s the real fun part!
Thanksgiving Keepsake Plates: Using acrylic paint and plain, white, ceramic plates from a dollar store, make a handprint on the plate and paint on all of the turkey’s features. Next, using either the acrylic paints or puffy paints, write a thanksgiving message including the year: I am thankful for… 2015, for example.
So many turkey crafts for kids and so little time, whatever will you do? Have a Happy Thanksgiving and let the kids have at a few different crafts, that’s what’s up this Thanksgiving!
