Arts and Crafts for Thanksgiving: Easy Turkey Ideas for Kids

Looking for easy arts and crafts for Thanksgiving that the whole family can join? Turkeys are the simplest place to start. A paper plate, some paint and a few scraps of colored paper cover most of the projects below.

Pick a craft that fits your child's age:

- Babies: the footprint turkey, with an adult doing the painting and stamping.
- Toddlers: the sponge, fork or doily turkey. They stamp and dab while you handle the cutting and gluing.
- Preschoolers and older kids: the pinecone turkey, the thankful turkey and the handprint place cards, which have more steps and a little writing.

Stay with young children for every craft, and keep scissors, glue guns and small pieces in grown-up hands.

1. Sponge painting turkey

For this craft, you’ll need a sponge, cut up into small rectangular pieces. Then you’ll need a paper plate, some paints, and some brown construction paper. Cut the brown paper into the shape of a turkey’s head. Draw on some eyes and a mouth, and glue to the bottom portion of the paper plate. Let your child dip the sponge pieces into the paints (think shades of red, orange, and yellow!) and use them as stamps all over the paper plate to look like the turkey’s feathers. 

2. Footprint turkey

If your little one is too young for craft projects, handprint/footprint artwork is a great option! All you’ll need is some brown paint, and colorful construction paper. Cut pieces of construction paper in oval-shaped pieces to look like the turkey’s feathers. Glue onto the paper, then paint the bottom of your baby’s foot with washable, water-based brown paint. Stamp it on top of the feathers, and your baby’s foot will become the turkey’s body! Add plastic eyes and a beak made out of orange paper, and you’ll have an adorable keepsake memory of your baby’s tiny footprint for years to come! 

For more baby-friendly handprint art, see Thanksgiving Art Ideas for Babies and Toddlers.' linked to https://keababies.com/blogs/keamommies-blog/thanksgiving-art-ideas-for-babies-and-toddlers.

3. Fork painting turkey

This project is similar to the sponge painting turkey, but instead of painting with sponges, you’ll use a plastic fork instead! Grab a white paper plate, and draw a turkey’s face or cut a head out of brown construction paper, and glue onto the bottom part of the plate. Next, help your child dip a few plastic forks into different colors of paints, and press the fork onto the paper plate to create an interesting texture that looks like a turkey’s feathers! 

4. Pinecone turkey

This is a great time of year to go on a nature walk to collect pinecones. Pinecones are a wonderful material to use for fall crafting! You can use a pinecone for the turkey’s body and use colored craft feathers and plastic eyes to create a cute little turkey craft. It might be easiest to use hot glue for this project, but hot glue guns should only be used by adults. Your little one can help you stick the feathers into the pinecone and choose what colors to use. 

5. Doily turkey

Paper doilies make the perfect base for this turkey craft. The rounded, decorative edges will look like the turkey’s feathers. Cut out the turkey’s head and body using brown construction paper, and you can add an orange beak and folded orange strips of paper for the legs. Then, let your little one use stamps, dot markers, or paint to color the doily to look like the turkey’s colorful feathers.

6. Breakfast turkey

While this isn’t exactly a craft project, it’s still a fun snack time activity to do with your kids. You’ll need sliced fruit, candy eyes, and plain waffles. For the turkey’s body, use a big waffle. Then using a second waffle, cut a small circle for the face, and small triangles for the wings. Chop up some fruit (strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, or pineapple) into triangular pieces, and arrange in lines to look like the turkey’s feathers. Add eyes to the small circle with banana slices, or with candy eyes for older kids. This makes for a healthy snack or breakfast treat for your little ones! 

7. Thankful turkey

Cut a large turkey body out of brown paper and tape it to a wall or door, then cut a stack of feathers from red, orange and yellow paper. In the days before Thanksgiving, everyone writes or draws one thing they're thankful for on a feather and adds it to the turkey. Write down your toddler's answers for them. By Thanksgiving dinner, you'll have a full tail of feathers to read aloud at the table.

8. Handprint turkey place cards

Fold a piece of cardstock in half so it stands up like a tent. Trace your child's hand on the front, or let older kids trace their own. Color the fingers as feathers and the thumb as the turkey's head, then write a guest's name underneath. Making a card for every seat keeps kids busy while dinner cooks, and each guest gets a keepsake to take home.

Safer craft supplies for little hands

A few simple choices make Thanksgiving crafting easier and safer with babies and toddlers:

- Use water-based paints and markers made for kids. Look for "conforms to ASTM D4236" or an Approved Product seal from the Art and Creative Materials Institute on the label.
- Keep googly eyes, pom-poms, beads and loose pinecone pieces away from children under 3, who can choke on small parts. Glue them on yourself, or draw the eyes on instead.
- For the breakfast turkey, skip the candy eyes for babies and toddlers, and cut the fruit into small, soft pieces.
- Wash everyone's hands with soap and water at cleanup time.

Happy crafting!

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