Sponge Painted Turkey Craft for Kids [Free Printable Template]
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Kids can create a festive art project that will look adorable hanging on the fridge or pinned to a bulletin board this fall! This sponge painted turkey craft is simple enough for preschoolers yet fun enough to keep older kids engaged. A little paint and a sponge turn into a colorful turkey to celebrate the season.
Kids will love dabbing sponges to make feathers on their turkeys! After trying this fun project, find even more turkey activities for kids to fill November with fun and creativity. Your classroom or kitchen table will feel full of fall cheer.
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Turkey Art For Kids
This sponge painted turkey turns simple supplies into a holiday masterpiece. Kids can dip their sponge into red, orange, and yellow paint, then dab it on to make a bright and colorful turkey feather design. This hands-on activity is great for practicing fine motor skills while celebrating the Thanksgiving season!
This is an easy way to get kids excited for the holiday and give them a chance to show off their artistic side. They’ll enjoy making this art project, where each one turns out special and unique.
Kids will feel accomplished when they create something they’ll be proud to display. Download our free turkey template and follow the step-by-step instructions below to get started. Your little artists will be eager to show off their finished turkeys!
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Supplies
- Colored cardstock or construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Sponge
- Paint
- Paper Plate
- Turkey Template (click the “click here to get your freebies” image at the end of the post)
Directions
Start by downloading and printing the template. Once the template is printed, gather the materials for this fun activity. Get those scissors ready, and let’s help the kids bring this turkey to life!
Grab your sponge strips and dip them into red, orange, and yellow paint. Press them firmly onto your paper to make those awesome textured feather prints, then set aside to dry.
Take those paper eyes and carefully glue them onto the brown turkey head.
Now, let’s glue the red snood below the turkey’s eyes.
Take your yellow paper beak and glue it right above the snood. Our turkey’s happy face is almost done and ready to gobble!
Carefully glue the head piece onto the turkey’s body.
Time for those cute little feet! Grab your yellow paper feet and glue them to the bottom of your turkey’s body.
Let’s give our turkey its beautiful, colorful feather display! Take your completed turkey body and glue it onto the green paper, right over those amazing sponge-painted feathers we made earlier.
Didn’t that turn out amazing? This sponge-painted turkey is such a fun way to get creative for Thanksgiving. We think your kids will love making this, and be sure to check out some of our favorite preschool Thanksgiving crafts while you’re here!
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!
Thanksgiving Kid Crafts
Accordion Turkey Craft – Let’s get folding a cool looking turkey tail! Give little hands a challenge when they fold, glue, and assemble a colorful and cheerful Thanksgiving decoration. Your little turkeys will be excited to show off their creations at home or in the classroom.
Disguise A Turkey Ninja Craft – Kids can help give their turkey a clever escape plan by turning it into a ninja. They’ll design a stealthy disguise, complete with the ninja’s mask and belt, to help hide him in plain sight from becoming Thanksgiving dinner.
Handprint Pilgrim Craft – Turn little hands into pilgrim collars with this adorable Thanksgiving activity! Kids will trace, cut, and glue their handprints to create a boy or girl pilgrim. It’s a fun, hands-on way to celebrate the holiday and makes a sweet keepsake to display year after year.
Tissue Paper Turkey Craft – Your little gobblers will love creating a turkey with bright and colorful tissue paper tail feathers! They’ll make a festive masterpiece and build fine motor control when they scrunch and glue the paper. This Thanksgiving project will provide lots of fun and smiles.
Thanksgiving Free Printables
Bring the silly story to life with these playful How to Catch a Turkey activities! Kids will finish the patterns featuring the book’s illustrations, dot their way through Pp is for Pilgrim, and label the parts of a pilgrim.
Add in some line tracing for fine motor practice and flashcards for vocabulary fun. This engaging activity pack is a great way to sneak in learning during the Thanksgiving season. Your little learners will stay busy, have fun, and sharpen important early skills!
These turkey worksheets turn learning into Thanksgiving fun! Kids will label and color a turkey, practice handwriting with T is for Turkey, and work their way through a Tt letter maze.
These activities will enhance early literacy and handwriting skills while keeping little learners engaged. Use these printables at home or in the classroom for a festive and educational way to prepare for Thanksgiving.
For a fun way to keep kids entertained during the Thanksgiving celebrations, grab these turkey coloring pages! These 4 pages include a turkey with a pilgrim hat, pilgrim bonnet, feather headband, and a silly “Gobble ’till you Wobble” design.
Coloring helps kids practice fine motor skills, creativity, and focus. Print a set to keep little hands busy at your Thanksgiving gathering while the adults cook and chat. Kids will love showing off their colorful creations when they’re done!
Kids will have a blast completing this turkey color sorting printable book! They’ll cut, paste, and sort colorful turkeys to match the page’s color. This activity will have them work on color recognition, thinking critically, solving problems, and fine motor skills as they piece together their book. This interactive activity keeps little hands busy and minds engaged, so learning is fun and festive for Thanksgiving.
Share With Us
Did you make this activity with your kids or students? We’d love to feature them on our social media!
For a chance to have your child’s project featured, simply snap a picture of the completed project and post it to our Facebook page, email it to us directly by clicking here, or use #simpleeverydaymom on your social media!
Sponge Painted Turkey Craft
Materials
- Colored cardstock or construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Sponge
- Paint
- Paper Plate or paint well
- Turkey Template
Instructions
- Download the template, print it, and cut out the pieces you need.
- Cut your sponge into a thin rectangle for the feathers. Our sponge measured about 3.75" x 1.25".
- Dip the sponge strip in paint and press it onto paper to make a feather. Repeat this process with the same or a different colored paint four more times, pressing to create the remaining feathers. Set aside to dry.
- Glue the eyes onto the turkey head, under the eyebrows.
- Next, glue the snood in between the lower part of the eyes.
- Take the beak and glue it on top of the snood.
- Now glue the head piece onto the turkey's body.
- Attach the feet to the back and bottom of the turkey body.
- Once the feathers are dry, finish by gluing the turkey onto the background paper over the feather prints.
Video
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Free Sponge Painted Turkey Craft 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.
