Thanksgiving is a great excuse to spend more quality time with the kids! And what better way to do that than by making this turkey popsicle stick craft?

We love creating Thanksgiving crafts and this one is so fun!

We’re giving you a free printable template to use so you don’t have to worry about being artistic. Just download, print, and get crafting!

And there are two different ways you can make this turkey’s feathers, so there’s an option everyone will love.

Gather around the table and make this cute craft with your preschool, kindergarten, and elementary-aged kiddos!

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

Turkey Project For Kids

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Supplies

• Popsicle sticks
• Permanent glue dots
• Glue stick
• Paint
• Paintbrush
• Colored cardstock or construction paper
• Scissors
• Turkey template (enter your email in the form at the end of this post to have the link emailed to you)

Directions

Line 4 popsicle sticks up to create a rectangle. Grab another popsicle stick and cut it into thirds with the scissors. Stretch a glue dot along the length of the 3 short popsicle sticks and use them to glue the 4 popsicle stick rectangle together. Glue one at the top, bottom, and middle.

Flip the 4 popsicle rectangle over and paint them all brown. If you’re using popsicle sticks for his feathers, paint 7 more popsicle sticks in red, orange, yellow, and blue. Let all the pieces dry completely before moving on. If you’re using craft feathers, skip this step.

Assemble the turkey’s pilgrim hat by gluing the inner buckle to the outer buckle, then glue this to the hat band. Glue the hat band onto the hat and cut off the paper that hangs off the end.

Take the completed pilgrim hat and glue to the top of the brown popsicle stick turkey body.

Place the eyes just below the hat bottom and glue in place.

Glue the snood behind the beak and then glue these pieces in the middle and slightly overlapping the eyes.

Position the turkey’s feet on both sides of the bottom of the turkey body and glue in place.

Create the turkey’s feathers by gluing the popsicle sticks (use the permanent glue dots) or by taping the craft feathers in a fan along the back of the popsicle sticks.

Isn’t this such a cute and colorful Thanksgiving craft?

Thanksgiving Unit For Kids

Want to create an entire Thanksgiving unit study around this turkey craft? If so, keep reading below for some great ideas to get you started.

Reading to children helps your child blossom! It can help them become curious about learning new things, listen better, and develop a larger vocabulary!

For those reasons and more, we recommend starting each new theme 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!

Kids’ Thanksgiving Crafts

Crafting with kids is a lot of fun, plus it helps with their development. Crafts can develop fine motor skills, creativity, and stress relief!

Add in more fall crafts to make this Thanksgiving season bursting with fun!

Turkey Handprint Craft – This easy Thanksgiving craft is perfect for kids! No messy paint needed – just paper. This turkey handprint craft is so much fun, and it’s a great way to keep little ones busy while you’re preparing for the big feast. These make adorable Thanksgiving decorations, or you can use them as place cards at the table. Either way, this simple craft is sure to bring smiles all around.

Popsicle Stick Scarecrow Craft – This scarecrow craft is the perfect activity for kids to do leading up to Thanksgiving. They’ll have a blast painting and cutting the paper to create the scarecrow’s clothes and features.

Acorn Craft For Kids – These acorns are the cutest Thanksgiving craft for kids! They’re made from paper and pipe cleaners, and they’re so easy to make.

Paper Bag Corn Craft – These corn puppets for kids are so much fun to make! They’re great for encouraging pretend play, and they’re also really cute. On top of that, they’re quick to make and require very few supplies. These cute little corn cobs are perfect for playing with on Thanksgiving Day!

Thanksgiving Kids’ Activities

Looking for some fall activities to get your kids all excited and ready? These Thanksgiving do a dot printables will help them learn letter recognition, counting, visual discrimination – and more. Download these activity sheets today!

Give your kiddos some time for sensory play with this pumpkin patch play dough kit. It’s loaded with goodies that will keep kids entertained day after day!

Gather the kids and play this easy roll a turkey printable game! It’s super easy to play and helps kids learn to take turns, count, and work on fine motor skills.

Get ready for the best time of year with these fun Thanksgiving pattern block mats. This set includes 6 different pictures that are perfect to get kids excited about fall!

Share With Us

Did you make this craft with your kids or students? We’d love to feature them on our social media!

For a chance to have your child’s craft 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!

More Thanksgiving Ideas

Free Turkey Template