Thankful Turkey

This little craft is starting to become a Thanksgiving tradition for our family. The kiddos love making their Thankful Turkeys. Plus, once they are displayed, these Thanksgiving Turkeys are a great conversation starter about gratitude and things we are thankful for.

What You Need:

• Toilet Paper Roll (1 per Turkey)
• Colored Paper
• Glue
• Scissors
• Crayons, markers, or colored pencils
• Googly eyes (optional)
• Paperclips (optional) – to help while glue is drying

Directions:

Step 1: Cut out feathers from colored paper and. If a parent or older child is doing this, I found it easiest/quickest to cut  multiple feathers at the same time by folding sheets of paper into thirds and cutting out 3+feathers at a time using one paper feather as the cutting template.

Step 2: Have each child write something they are grateful for on each feather. Aim for the tip of the feather with the wording, so it can be seen well later. My son liked to draw a picture to accompany the words (and as you can see, the picture did not always match the words! lol). This is a fun time to sit down individually with each child…definitely my favorite part!

Step 3: Have your kiddos color/decorate a sheet of paper for your Turkey’s body (optional). Faces can be added later. Then cut the paper to fit the height of a toilet paper roll and attach the paper to the tp roll with glue. We roll the paper onto the toilet paper roll, so we do not worry about the width.

Step 4: Glue the feathers to the Turkey’s body. We found it easiest to start gluing feathers at the bottom on each side and work our way up, overlapping the feathers at the base and trying to make sure all wording was seen. Paperclips and letting the Turkey dry lying on it’s back is helpful, if the feathers are having a problem staying in place.

Step 5: Add googly eyes and the Turkey’s face. My son is drawing a “gobbler”, as he calls it.

Step 6: Let them dry and leave them out for display. Enjoy being grateful and talking about all the wonderful things written on those feathers!

This post was originally posted in November 2011