Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays for helping children be mindful of the abundance in their lives.

We take some time during this season to sit and reflect on our greatest blessings in life. For many of us, one of the best things we have is our family.

And one of our favorite ways of celebrating family is to sit down together and do a fun activity like this brown paper bag turkey craft!

It’s a simple craft that will bring the family together, allow for creative expression and set the tone for the Thanksgiving season.

Read on below or watch our video to see how simple it is to make this turkey at home or in the classroom!

Also, check out all of our turkey activities for kids for even more ideas.

Brown Paper Bag Turkey

We love paper bag puppet crafts like this one because all you need to make it is paper and a brown paper bag!

Supplies

• Brown paper bag
• Colored card stock (in shades of red, orange, yellow and blue)
• Black marker
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Turkey template (download form at the end of the page)

Directions

Download the turkey template and print out all the pieces. Cut these out and set them aside.

Prepare the brown paper bag for the craft by cutting off about 3″ on the bottom.

If you’re making your turkey body blue, measure the top flap of your paper bag and the bottom half of your paper bag. Trace these dimensions onto the blue paper and cut out. If you’re leaving your turkey brown, jump to step 5.

Glue the blue cardstock onto the top flap of the brown paper bag and to the bottom half of the paper bag.

Secure the turkey’s beak to the bottom of the brown paper bag’s flap with glue, so half of it is hanging off.

Glue the red turkey’s snood on to the top, side of the turkey’s beak.

Glue or draw on the turkey’s eyes above the beak.

Arrange the turkey feathers in a fan along the back side of the brown paper bag. Once you’re happy with the arrangement, glue them in place.

You’re done!

This paper bag turkey craft is a fun and simple activity that will provide your child with fun play time even after it’s completed.

We think this is a perfect craft to have set up and ready to go for the kids’ table at Thanksgiving dinner.

While the adults are mingling and dinner is cooking, you can let the kids make their own turkeys, and then they can play with them.

Have them tell a story or go around a circle of all the children and let their turkeys tell something they are grateful for.

There are so many uses to this cute turkey craft!

Turkey Puppet Notes

First off, you may be wondering why we chose to make a blue turkey! The answer is simple: we love adding color and vibrancy whenever possible.

And, did you know, there are some turkeys that have blue faces and necks? Granted, we took artistic liberty to make it much bluer than they actually have, but it makes the whole craft way more fun!

If you don’t like the blue turkey or you want to simplify this craft, by all means, keep the brown paper bag undecorated. This will give you a more traditional turkey look that fits in perfectly with fall and Thanksgiving!

In one of the first steps of this paper bag turkey craft, we suggested cutting off a few inches from the page.

This is entirely optional. We prefer cutting them down because they make the puppet look more proportional and cuter!

Don’t just stop at what we’ve suggested! If you want to make your turkeys extra fancy, you can use markers to draw the veins on the feathers or make eyelashes for your female turkeys.

You can also add embellishments like glitter, craft feathers or giant googly eyes to make your turkey extra special and unique!

Thanksgiving Unit For Kids

Don’t let the fun stop here! Add in more activities to create a mini Thanksgiving unit study. Read on below for some ideas to get you started.

Reading aloud to kids is such a great experience for them. It helps them with their curiosity, helps them learn new vocabulary, and allows them to develop a love of reading. For all those reasons and more, we suggest starting with books.

Below are some of the top Thanksgiving books for kids!

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!

Crafting with kids helps develop important skills like patience, focus, and creativity. It can also help them learn to follow directions, use scissors properly, and best of all, it’s fun!

Add in more crafts with our favorite ones below:

• Turkey Headband Craft
• Pilgrim Craft
• Paper Plate Scarecrow Craft
• Paper Bag Corn Craft

Play dough is great fun, but it’s even more entertaining when you have something to shape the dough into. This pumpkin farm play dough kit has everything kids need to explore creativity with their hands and let their imaginations run free.

These Thanksgiving pattern blocks are a great activity to do with your kids this fall! They’re an easy way to teach them about shapes and colors, while also helping their fine motor skills.

Kids will love these Thanksgiving color by number printables. They’re a perfect activity for kids this fall season and you can even use them in the classroom. Just download, print off, and start coloring in your favorite Thanksgiving traditions like turkey, pilgrims, and more!

Share With Us

Did you make this turkey craft with your kids or students? We love seeing how yours turn out.

Take a picture (extra points if you have a video) and post it to our Facebook page or share it in our private Facebook group.

More Thanksgiving Ideas

Free Printable Turkey Template