Looking for some fun and easy turkey crafts?
The holidays are so much fun to plan fun learning and play activities for your kids. These activities are PERFECT to get your kids excited for Thanksgiving!
Let’s dive into my 18 Simple Turkey Crafts for Kids!
#1: Letter Collages
This turkey craft is PERFECT because it involves Fruit Loops!
You’ll also be able to get some learning in by doing this craft. Creating letter collages like this is an excellent way to work on letter recognition.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
Create a bubble letter T using brown paper! Then, add googly eyes, an orange beak, and a red snood (side note: I laugh every time I write this word).
Make the turkey’s feathers using colored paper!
C. Activity
You’ll first want the kids to glue down the feathers, so it’s in the back of the turkey. Then, paste the letter T on top of the feathers.
Grab some Fruit Loops and have the kids work on color matching skills! Then, they can glue the Fruit Loops onto the turkey, or they can place them on.
RELATED: Sensory Activities for Kids
#2: Sponge Painted Turkeys
This turkey craft is perfect because it uses sponges! The kids love using different supplies to paint.
These turkeys were easy to create, and they are SUPER colorful and fun!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
Make a turkey face using your construction/cardstock paper and googly eyes. Lastly, cut sponges into stripes, so it’s easy for the kids to pick up and paint!
Create some feathers on white paper. Cut them out!
C. Activity
Dip the sponges into the paint and make prints on the feathers! Let them dry, then use a glue stick to glue them to the back of the turkey you created!
RELATED: Thanksgiving Activities for Kids
#3: Handprint Turkey Craft
Handprint crafts always get me. I just love seeing the kid’s little hands in their artwork. It makes for the perfect keepsake!
This turkey craft is easy to create, and they will love seeing their hands all over the turkey.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- paper plates (small)
- cardstock paper
- brown cardstock
- glue stick
- googly eyes
- brown paint
- paintbrush
B. Set-up
Paint the paper plate brown and wait for it to dry. Next, create the turkey face using paper. Lastly, trace the kid’s hands and cut them out!
C. Activity
Have the kids glue on their hands all around the paper plate. Then, have them glue the turkey on!
#4: Thankful Turkey
This turkey craft is a wonderful way to get your kids thinking about their thankful for.
Creating a chain is a fun way for the kids to count down to Thanksgiving!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- paper
- markers
- crayons
- FREE Thankful Turkey Download
B. Set-up
Print off the thankful turkey and get your art supplies ready!
C. Activity
Discuss with your little one what it means to be thankful for something. You should give examples and talk about why those are important things to be grateful for. Then, have them brainstorm some ideas on their own.
If they are old enough to write, have them write their answers on the turkey. You can also do this part if you have a younger child doing this activity!
You can also add something each day to make extend this activity throughout the Thanksgiving season! Hang it up in your house so your kids can see it!
RELATED: Thanksgiving Activities for Kids
#5: Name Turkey Craft
Kids love seeing their name in crafts! It’s also a great way for them to work on recognizing the letters in their name.
This turkey name craft is the perfect turkey craft for kids.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
Create a turkey shape and feathers out of construction paper. You can either have the kids cut the parts out to work on scissor skills, or you can do this part for them.
C. Activity
Have the kids write the letters of their name on the feathers.
The kids can create the turkey’s face. Then, have them use a glue stick to glue the letters of the name in order on the back of the turkey.
When they are all done, they can paste the entire turkey to a white piece of paper!
#6: Leaf Turkeys
Getting the kids outside to grab and create with leaves is SO fun!
This turkey craft is simple and exciting. Using nature in art is beautiful.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
Paint a paper plate brown and let it dry.
Create a turkey face out of construction paper. Glue on the beak, the snood, and googly eyes!
C. Activity
Take the kids outside and have them search for some colored leaves! This time of year around Ohio, we have some beautifully colored leaves.
Don’t have colored leaves? You can paint them! Use acrylic paint to paint the leaves.
Have the kids paste the leaves to the paper plate all around. Then, they will glue the turkey’s face on top of the leaves!
#7: Salt Painted Turkey
Salt painting is such a fantastic process art activity to try.
Making this colorful turkey is such a fun and different turkey craft!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- cardboard
- salt
- watercolors
- paintbrush
- glue
- construction paper
- glue stick
- googly eyes
B. Set-up
Make a turkey using construction paper and googly eyes! Don’t glue it on just yet.
Draw some feathers around the turkey using a pencil. Remove your turkey. Outline the pencil marks with glue. Dump salt all the glue and dump the extra out in the trash.
Wait for it to dry (this takes a while- I leave it overnight usually).
C. Activity
Have the kids use watercolors to color the feathers! We did the colors of the rainbow, but they can choose any color!
Watch how the colors flow through the salt! It’s such a relaxing and fun process for the kids.
#8: Fork Printed Turkey
You can see I’m really into paper plate crafts! I love using them for kids’ crafts because they are easy for the kids to use, and there are SO many ways to create with them.
Making fork prints is one of our go-to activities. The prints turn out really cool.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
Create the turkey’s face by creating a circle out of brown paper. Cut it out and make a beak, snood, and add on googly eyes!
Put paint in a paint tray.
C. Activity
The kids will dip their forks into the paint and make prints all over the paper plate. They should try to spread out the colors!
Once the paint dries, have the kids paste the turkey’s head at the bottom of the plate!
Such an easy and fun Thanksgiving craft for kids.
#9: Pasta Turkey Craft
I love working with sensory fillers like pasta, rice, and macaroni for crafts.
The kids always love using these supplies! They were perfect to create feathers for turkeys.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- cardboard
- acrylic paint
- sponge
- scissors
- googly eyes
- construction paper
- glue
- ziplock bags
- art tray
- parchment paper
- different types of noodles (bow tie, penne, and spiral)
B. Set-up
Create a circle using a marker on a sponge and cut it out.
To create the colored pasta, add some to a ziplock bag. Dump some acrylic paint inside and shake it up. Then, on an art tray, place a piece of parchment paper down, dump out the noodles to dry. Repeat this process for all the colors!
Lastly, create the beaks, snoods, and grab some googly eyes!
C. Activity
Make the turkey by dipping the sponge in brown paint and placing it on cardboard. Then, wait for it to dry and add on the facial features for each turkey!
Once the pasta noodles are dry, the kids can either glue them down to be the feathers, or they can place them on, so you can reuse the pasta for another activity.
This is a great pattern-learning activity for kids.
RELATED: Kindergarten Activities for Kids
#10: Scissor Skills Turkey
This turkey-cutting craft is a perfect Thanksgiving activity for your kids!
They will also enjoy creating these turkeys together with you.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
Make a turkey face using your construction/cardstock paper and googly eyes.Create some feathers on construction paper. Cut them out!
Use a marker to make different lines on the feathers (curvy, boxy, zig-zag, etc.).
C. Activity
Have the kids cut on the lines to give the turkey a “hair cut”! This is a fun way to work on cutting skills.
They should try to stay on the lines as much as possible.
RELATED: Fine Motor Activities for Kids
#11: Thanksgiving Toilet Paper Roll Crafts
I’ve been really into crafting with toilet paper rolls lately! It’s so nice because you always have them on hand. These TP crafts are the perfect Thanksgiving activity for kids.
The kids love putting these characters together too! After making them, they can use them for pretend play, which is always so much fun.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- toilet paper rolls
- googly eyes
- paper plate
- construction paper
- Sharpie
- glue
- hot glue
- shredded paper
- hot glue gun
B. Set-up
Decide on which characters you want to create! We made a Pilgrim, a scarecrow, and a turkey! These are simple to create, which is important to me because I am not super crafty.
C. Activity
1. Pilgrim– glue googly eyes and make a smiley face on the TP roll. Cut a piece of black construction paper to fit on the bottom part of the roll. Make a white bib with a white piece of paper (as you see above) and draw black buttons. Make a hat by creating a circle on black construction paper and glue on top. Cut another piece of black construction paper and make it into a circle and tape or glue together. You can add on a little white piece of paper and a yellow buckle as well! Glue that part of the hat onto the circle.
2. Scarecrow– glue on googly eyes and create a smiley face with a sharpie. Create whatever color shirt you want and cut the piece of construction paper to fit at the bottom of the roll. Add on a different patch color if you want! Stuff shredded paper in the roll and straighten it a bit so it looks like hair. Place a hat on top!
3. Turkey– glue on googly eyes and create the rest of the turkey face with construction paper. Cut a small paper plate in half. Cut little squares of different colored construction paper and glue them to the plate. Hot glue the plate to the toilet paper roll!
#12: Paper Bag Turkeys
It’s always fantastic to find an activity that you can do right away because you have all the materials already at home!
I love this one specifically because the kids can play with it after they are done creating. It’s such a great turkey craft.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
On construction paper, create eyes, a beak, and a snood. Layout the feathers for your little ones to pick from!
C. Activity
Before you begin the craft, talk to your child about what they are thankful for. Then, theywill write some things they are thankful for on the front of their turkeys. If they are too young for this, you can do this step for them.
Let your little one create their turkey by adding on the face of the turkey you made. Then, have them add on the turkey feathers by gluing them on the back. After the feathers dry, they can use it as a puppet! They can stick their hand insider the bag and make the head move!
These are the cutest little keepsake to hold onto. We have my kids’ turkeys in the little boxes we have for each of them, and they love looking back at them to see what they wrote.
#13: Wine Cork Turkey Craft
Got some leftover wine corks? I have such a fun turkey craft for you to try with your kids!
They make such easy prints that can be turned into turkeys!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
Dip a wine cork into brown paint. Make as many prints as you want on the paper. Let it dry.
Create some beaks for the turkeys using orange construction paper.
C. Activity
Make the feathers for the turkeys using markers. This can be a pattern activity, or they can just create the feathers whatever colors they want!
Add on googly eyes and glue on the beak to make your cute little turkeys!
#14: Turkey Color Matching
Whenever I mention that snacks are involved in an activity, the kids come running. Literally, running.
I love this turkey color match activity because kids work on color recognition, matching, sorting, and counting skills. It always makes me happy to have an activity that hits so many skills.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
Create a turkey and feathers using cardstock/construction paper. Add on the google eyes as well! Let your little ones help by gluing on the feathers to the back of the turkey.
C. Activity
Have your children sort the Fruit Loops in bowls by color. Then, glue the Fruit Loops on the correct colored paper of the feathers that you created! This is a fun color matching activity! You can also extend the learning by asking your little ones to count how many of each color there are.
RELATED: How to Teach Your Toddler Colors
#15: Thanksgiving Color by Code
I love color-by-code activities! This is such a fun art project to learn and create with your kids!
This FREE Thanksgiving printable is a great way to discuss a few different Thanksgiving images.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
Click HERE to grab your FREE Thanksgiving Color by Code Printable.
B. Set-up
Print off the sheets you want to do and grab your coloring materials.
C. Activity
Explain that your little ones need to look at the key at the top of the page to know what color to color each area of the picture. There is a number for each spot that needs to be colored a specific color.
Have them tell you the number and color they are supposed to use! See if they can identify the picture at the end.
RELATED: Teaching Resources
#16: Handprint Turkey Card
Here’s another Thanksgiving handprint craft for you!
Using the feathers makes this a perfect Thanksgiving craft for kids.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
B. Set-up
Trace your child’s hand on a piece of brown construction paper and cut it out.
Get the hot glue gun ready to use!
C. Activity
Have your child create the turkey face using construction paper and googly eyes.
They will choose the feathers they want to use. You will be hot gluing these feathers onto the finger part of the craft.
Write a message in the center of the turkey, and you have a fun Thanksgiving card!
#17: Coffee Filter Turkey Craft
Coffee filter crafts are so fun and easy for kids of all ages to do!
It’s the perfect turkey craft because they have to scribble on the filter, and it turns out amazing!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- TP rolls
- scissors
- construction paper
- googly eyes
- glue
- glue stick
- coffee filters
- markers
- spray bottles
- art trays
- hot glue
B. Set-up
Have the kids color on some coffee filters using markers. Then, use a spray bottle to spray the filters on an art tray.
Tip: Have one coffee filter on an art tray (the colors can bleed into each other).
Cut a TP roll in half and create a turkey face using construction paper and googly eyes!
C. Activity
When the coffee filters are dry (this will take an hour or two), cut the filter in half.
You will hot glue the filter to the back of the TP roll you created!
These make the cutest Thanksgiving decoration or even centerpiece at your Thanksgiving dinner.
#18: Free Turkey Pack!
Take a look at this adorable free turkey activity pack! There are turkey crafts and learning activities inside.
Grab all of these fun printables to do at home or in the classroom with your students.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- markers
- crayons
- glue stick
- pencil
- scissors
Click HERE for your free turkey pack
B. Set-up
Print off the activities that you want to do with the kids!
C. Activity
Work on writing, tracing, numbers, counting, cutting, pasting, colors, and reading with this fun trkey activity pack!
Even have the kids make their own turkey craft with the free template!
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Creating crafts together with your kids will create wonderful memories for both of you!
These turkey crafts are a way for kids to show their creativity! They will love the process of doing each activity with you.
Do you have a favorite activity that you love to do during the Thanksgiving season? Our community would love to hear about it! Please let us know in the comments about what special traditions you have!
Happy Thanksgiving
Deena
