Free Printable Silly Turkey Craft for Thanksgiving
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This turkey is clearly having the time of his life, and that big, goofy smile says it all! Our silly turkey craft is such a fun Thanksgiving project for early elementary kids. With about 20–30 minutes and some colorful paper, they can make a turkey that’s anything but ordinary.
And really, can you ever have too many turkey crafts in November? Take a look at our Thanksgiving crafts for kids for even more funny and creative ways to celebrate.
Good To Know
- Themes: Thanksgiving, turkeys
- Activity: Cut out and glue together the turkey’s head, body, wings, colorful feathers, and feet to make a goofy turkey
- Craft: Includes a free printable turkey template to make assembling the craft easier
- Ages: Preschool, pre-K, kindergarten & early elementary school
- Time: 20-30 minutes
- Skills: Fine motor skills, scissor skills, hand-eye coordination, following directions, creativity, and spatial awareness
Goofy Thanksgiving Activity
Just look at those giant, mismatched eyes and that wide-open beak! The bright red and yellow feathers make this turkey stand out even more. Kids can have fun arranging the colorful pieces and giving their turkey its own personality. A silly face is practically required for this one.
While kids are busy putting their turkey together, they’ll also get some good practice with their scissors and glue. Cutting out the different shapes and figuring out where each piece belongs helps them work on their fine motor skills without taking the fun out of crafting.
This project uses simple paper shapes that come together to make one very expressive turkey. And the nice thing about a silly craft? Nobody has to worry about making everything look perfect. A slightly crooked eye might actually make this turkey even funnier!
Supplies
- Colored cardstock or construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Markers
- Silly turkey template (click the “click here to get your freebies” image at the end of the post)
Directions
Start by printing the template, then gather the materials for this fun activity. Get those scissors ready, and let’s help the kids bring this silly turkey to life!
Glue the eye pieces onto the turkey’s head, just below the eyebrows. Let your child position the eyes to give their turkey a funny expression!
Take the beak piece and let your child color it using an orange marker or crayon. Don’t forget to color the little tongue red to make that silly smile stand out!
Glue the beak onto the turkey’s face, just below the eyes. Look at that big, goofy smile! Kids will love seeing their turkey’s funny expression come together.
Look for the red snood piece and glue it beside the beak so it hangs down along one side. You can explain to your child that the snood is the fleshy part that hangs over a turkey’s beak.
Take the two brown wing pieces and glue them behind the sides of the turkey’s body so they peek out on the left and right.
It’s time to add some color! Look for the feather pieces and glue three behind each side of the turkey.
Arrange them so they spread out, with the red feathers at the top, yellow in the middle, and orange at the bottom.
Finally, look for the two orange feet pieces. Glue them behind the bottom of the turkey’s body so they stick out underneath.
This goofy turkey is sure to bring some giggles while kids practice their scissor skills, gluing, and creativity. It’s a simple Thanksgiving paper craft that keeps little hands busy and makes an adorable holiday decoration!
Don’t forget to check out the related Thanksgiving crafts and activities below. You’ll find more easy ideas to add to your fall lesson plans, preschool activities, or holiday fun at home.
Thanksgiving Books for Children
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!
Fun Thanksgiving Projects
Paper Plate Turkey Craft: A paper plate makes such a cute turkey, especially once all those colorful feathers are added! Kids can paint the plate brown and give their bird a happy little face. And honestly, a turkey with a big fan of feathers is pretty hard to resist.
Pumpkin Craft For Preschoolers: Okay, that curly little vine on top might be my favorite part! Kids put together their own smiling pumpkin using colorful paper and our printable template. It’s simple enough for preschoolers, but the finished pumpkin looks so cute that older kids will want to make one, too.
Kraft Paper Bag Scarecrow Craft: I don’t think this scarecrow is going to scare away a single bird! With his big smile and straw hair, he’s about as friendly as they come. Kids turn a brown paper bag into their own scarecrow puppet, and then they get to play with him afterward. That’s always a bonus!
Turkey Headband Craft: Can you imagine a classroom full of kids wearing turkey headbands? The pictures alone would be worth it! Kids make their own turkey with colorful feathers, then attach it to a headband they can actually wear. There’s also a version they can color themselves, which makes each turkey a little different.
Free Printables Activities For November
There’s just something satisfying about filling in all those little circles with dot markers. These turkey do a dot printables let kids do exactly that while practicing letters and numbers. I especially like the letter T page because it’s such an easy way to work on letter recognition without pulling out another traditional worksheet.
Thanksgiving patterns are a lot more interesting when turkeys and pumpkins are involved! With these Thanksgiving worksheets for kids, kids figure out which picture comes next and cut and paste it into place. It’s a little bit of problem-solving mixed with scissors and glue, which is much more fun than just circling an answer.
Have you read How to Catch a Turkey? That poor turkey certainly gets himself into quite a situation! These How to Catch a Turkey activities are a fun excuse to spend a little more time with the story. There’s even a pilgrim-themed dot marker page where kids practice recognizing the letter P. Such an easy addition to Thanksgiving storytime.
You have to give the turkey in Turkey Trouble credit for trying so hard to avoid Thanksgiving dinner! These Turkey Trouble worksheets play right into his ridiculous disguises. Kids can label the parts of a cow, which is especially funny considering that’s one of the animals Turkey tries to become. It’s a great way to get a little more mileage out of a book that’s already so much fun to read.
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Silly Turkey Craft
Video
Materials
- Colored cardstock or construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Markers
- Silly turkey template
Instructions
- Print the template and gather the materials for this fun activity.
- Begin by gluing the eye pieces onto the turkey’s head, below the eyebrows.
- Use markers to color in the beak and tongue.
- Look for the beak and glue it onto the turkey’s face, just below the eyes.
- Glue the snood beside the beak so it hangs down along one side.
- Take the wing pieces and glue them behind the left and right sides of the turkey’s body.
- Glue three feather pieces behind each side of the turkey, arranging them so they spread out.
- Finally, glue the feet behind the bottom of the turkey’s body so they stick out underneath.
Did you make this?
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Free Silly Turkey Template
Meet Sam
Sam is the crafter and founder of Simple Everyday Mom. She has been featured in Oprah Mag, Good Housekeeping, The Spruce Crafts, Country Living, The Bump, and more.
