Create A Cute Paper Turkey Craft For Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a time for gathering with friends and family, feasting on delicious food, and expressing gratitude. It’s also the perfect opportunity to get creative with some festive crafts! Making a paper turkey is an easy, fun craft that kids of all ages can do to add some handmade decor to your Thanksgiving table.
Supplies You’ll Need
To make an adorable paper turkey you just need some simple supplies
- Turkey template (Free printable template available online)
- Construction paper or cardstock in various colors
- Googly eyes
- Glue stick
- Scissors
- Hole punch
- Brad fasteners
Choose fun, bright colors like orange, yellow, red, brown, purple, and green for a colorful turkey. You’ll also need some brown or beige paper for the turkey’s body.
Print and Cut Out the Turkey Template
Start by printing out a turkey template. There are several free options available online. Choose one with the basic turkey body shape as well as feather shapes.
Cut out the turkey body as well as 9-10 feather shapes from construction paper using scissors. You can make all the feathers the same color or use a variety of colors.
If you want to get really creative, draw your own turkey body and feather shapes!
Assemble the Turkey
Once you’ve cut out all the pieces, it’s time to assemble your turkey.
Start by gluing on the eyes and beak onto the turkey’s head. Use orange and yellow paper for the beak and red for the wattle (the flap of skin under the beak).
Next, use the hole punch to punch holes along the bottom edge of each feather. Line up all the feathers and punch holes along the turkey body as well, making sure the holes match up.
Insert a brad fastener through each set of holes to attach the feathers to the turkey’s body. Spread them out so they fan out nicely.
The fasteners allow the feathers to move and spread out, giving your paper turkey a life-like look!
Add Personal Touches
Once assembled, let the kids get creative with markers, stickers, glitter, pom poms, or any other embellishments they’d like to add details.
Younger kids can practice their fine motor skills by gluing on additional features. Older kids can draw fun designs on the feathers.
To make it an extra special craft, have the kids write what they’re thankful for on each feather. You can also use it as a place card by writing each child’s name on a feather.
Hang Your Turkey Art
There are lots of ways to display these adorable turkey crafts:
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Tape or pin them up on a wall or bulletin board
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Suspend them from the ceiling with string
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Use them as Thanksgiving table decorations
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Give them away as handmade gifts
However you choose to show them off, these paper turkeys make a perfect project to get kids excited for Thanksgiving! With just a simple template, construction paper, glue, and a bit of creativity, you can make a turkey craft that looks great and adds a handmade touch to your holiday decor.
More Fun Turkey Crafts To Try
Once you master the basic paper turkey, get creative with these other turkey crafts and activities:
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Handprint turkeys – Use pink or red paint and your child’s handprint for the turkey body and add colored feathers.
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footprint turkeys – Paint your child’s foot brown for the turkey body, adding feathers like the handprint version.
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Turkey hats – Make a headband and attach feathers and turkey features.
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Bag turkeys – Use a brown paper bag for the body and stuff with newspaper or leaves.
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Pinecone turkeys – Paint pinecones brown and glue on eyes and feathers.
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Turkey puppets – Glue craft feathers onto clothespins and add eyes and beaks.
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Corn cob turkeys – Paint dried corn cobs brown and glue on feathers.
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Marshmallow turkeys – Use toothpicks to make a turkey face on large marshmallows.
Get everyone in on the crafting fun by making an entire flock of cute and creative turkeys this Thanksgiving!
Using Colored Pencils
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1 Trace an outline of your hand. Trace around your hands fingers and thumb. The thumb will be the face of your turkey, the hand will represent the body, and your fingers will represent its feathers. You can use any color of pencil you want for the outline, but make sure that the color stands out so people can see it.
- If you use regular computer paper, your final product may be flimsy or fragile. Instead of using regular paper, consider using cardstock or white construction paper.
- Good colors for the outline of your turkey include dark blue or black colored pencils.
- 2 Draw on the eyes and beak of your bird. Draw a small triangle on the end of your thumb, to resemble the beak of the bird. You can also draw a wattle, which looks like a red tear drop under the beak. Draw a circle with a black dot in the middle to represent your turkeys eye.[7]
- The beak of the bird should be orange, while the wattle is usually red.
- 3 Color in the body of your bird. Use a brown or yellow colored pencil to color in the body of the bird. If you want to make colorful wings, choose different colored pencils. Use brighter colors like green, red, yellow and orange to make the colors pop. To make your birds feathers look realistic, use quick strokes. Once youre done coloring the turkey, youre done with the project.[8]
- You can glue candy corn to your fingers to give your feathers a more colorful look.[9]
- You can also draw feet onto the bird with yellow colored pencils.
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Expert Q&ASearch
Co-authored by:
How to Cook an Origami Turkey!
How to make a turkey tail with paper strips?
Glue the ends of paper strips together to make “teardrop” shaped loops. Now to make the turkey tail. Start with the yellow paper strips and glue them in a half-circle shape. Now make another half circle shape inside the yellow one with the orange strips. And one with red ones. Color in the turkey craft template. Cut it out.
What color paper do you use for a turkey body?
Brown or white cardstock (brown if you want to make the turkey body brown and white if you want your kids to color it in themselves) 1. Grab some fun colored papers for the tail feathers of the turkey. Fall-inspired colors are a nice touch, but I would let children pick the colors they prefer to use.
How do you fold a turkey foot?
We’re going to make one more fold on both flaps to complete the turkey’s feet. Fold the right flap upward, keeping the right edges aligned. Then repeat with the left flap. Take a moment here and flatten everything down nicely.
What are some fun facts about turkeys for kids?
Here are fun facts about turkeys for kids that they might want to check out. 8. Attach the following: wings on both sides of the turkey body, the googly eyes on the head, and the beak and wattle below the eyes to complete it. 9. Trace and cut out the tail base from a piece of brown cardstock.