Turkey Family Craft

Gobble, Gobble!

It is November already and the holidays always bring out my crafty side. I absolutely adore doing little projects with my kids with whatever we have on hand. I especially like projects when gives me an opportunity to teach a little bit about a holiday to my kids. So this past weekend we made our own little Turkey Family and started talking with Shane and Keith about Thanksgiving. 

We were able to do this turkey craft in about 20 minutes and Shane loved it! We talked with Shane about what a turkey was, why we eat them on Thanksgiving, the Indians and Pilgrims, and what it means to give thanks. Shane always listens and understands a bit better when we have a hands on activity to go along with a teaching moment. He is such a kinetic learner! So here is how we made our Turkey Family while we taught about Thanksgiving.

For this craft you need some card stock paper or a paper bag, scissors, goggly eyes, foam strips or feathers, 3D foam or glue dots, pipe cleaners, a hot glue gun, and some hands. I like to use what I have on hand so mix and match your supplies as needed!

First, I traced everyone's hands on the card stock. I found some card stock with word definitions such as peace, joy, thanks, love that I chose to use. I think a brown paper bag would work too, just make sure the paper can hold the weight of the feathers or foam.

Then I cut out the hands. To me this is already adorable! I love little hand print shapes especially when they are my kids. 

Then I put some 3D foam squares on and let Shane add the foam strips. I wish I had feathers but I just used what we had and it work fine. I like to use Glue Dots or 3D foam because it is clean and holds up. You could easily use a glue stick with feathers but for the foam strips we needed something stronger.

After they were done they look like this. I bet you would NEVER guess which turkey is Shane's turkey (hint green is his favorite color)!

I used a hot glue gun and glued the eye, legs and beak on as well as the turkey's snood. The hot glue ensured the eyes and pipe cleaners stayed where they should. I also like to add a little dab to the end of the pipe cleansers because they can be sharp.

Then our Turkey Family found a happy view from my office/kitchen window. These turned out so cute! I hope you can make some with your kids and have the added time to teach about Thanksgiving.

In case you missed it these are my three top books for teaching about Thanksgiving and thanks. I highly recommend these books.  

Thank you for stopping by to read today!