Gobble, gobble! It’s the time of year when we roll up our sleeves and dive into fall crafting fun. This paper plate turkey craft is perfect for entertaining little ones, teaching colors, and developing hand strength as they use scissors and glue. It’s perfect kids craft for Thanksgiving or would fit in well with a farm theme, too!
Fun-Filled Paper Plate Turkey Craft and Scissor Practice
Nothing says fall and the beginning of the Thanksgiving season like turkeys! Turkeys represent family gatherings, thankfulness, and loads of fun arts and crafts ideas for little hands. Paper plate crafts are always so fun and easy to incorporate!
We have put together a super fun and important Thanksgiving craft. It’s devoted to helping build hand strength and developing concentration as the children add layers of glue and string to their terrific turkeys.
Frequently Asked Questions about Teaching with Turkeys
Celebrate Thanksgiving the preschool way by including fun games and activities. Include crafts or activities that promote appreciation, gratitude, and teamwork like the first thanksgiving snack. Try a gratitude activity with your preschoolers and help guide them into learning to be thankful.
Discuss the importance of the meaning of Thanksgiving. Help young children learn that this holiday is all about gratitude and celebration of the family and friends who care and help us each and every day.
Encourage children to share what they feel thankful for and find ways to share those feelings with the important people in their own lives. Invite children to share special traditions or games that are special in their families.
Turkeys are such a fun symbol of Thanksgiving and they are ideal for fun hands-on crafts! Try a colorful turkey process art activity or play a silly game of Catch the Turkey! Use beads and work on that hand eye coordination and fine motor skills with a beaded feathers Thanksgiving hat.
Other Turkey and Thanksgiving Activities
Don’t miss these related activities for your turkey and Thanksgiving themes!
The Ultimate Turkey Craft for Thanksgiving
With simple fall materials, this craft is perfect for a artsy afternoon when getting messy is just part of the fun!
Materials
- cardboard tube
- liquid glue
- scissors
- fall colored yarn
- brown paint
- paper plates
- googly eyes
- orange construction paper
- red construction paper
The Set-Up
Start by prepping all the materials needed. Cut the paper plates in half and cut the yarn into long pieces, one for each child to cut into smaller pieces. Draw beaks on orange construction paper and snoods on red construction paper, one for each turkey. The kids will cut them out later.
Making the Paper Plate Turkey Craft
Start by inviting your preschooler to paint their cardboard tube brown. If they do this first, the paint will be dry when the time comes to use the tube! This step is optional, you can certainly leave the tube as its natural tan cardboard color. But the brown paint gives it a distinct turkey look!
Invite your preschooler to start snipping the fall-colored yarn into small strings of 3-4 inches each. Encourage them to cut LOTS of strings! These will be the turkey’s feathers.
This step is super important for developing the hand muscles that are needed to become proficient in cutting, writing, and gripping. Plus, preschoolers love interacting with scissors!
We used thick yarn that had fall colors mixed in. At first, some of the children wanted to cut the colors right on the line that separated them. Then they began to get more creative and cut so that their strings had more than one color showing. They were certainly mesmerized at this creative yarn choice!
Invite your preschooler to begin gluing the cut string onto half of the paper plate and cover the entire plate with colorful fall strings.
It’s important to allow the preschoolers to squeeze the liquid glue as independently as possible. Squeezing glue bottles is great for developing hand strength!
This may require several layers of glue and string! Invite the children to press down on their creation as they go and fill in missing glue spots. Make sure they cover the whole side of the paper plate!
This adorable turkey craft is almost complete! Time to glue the cardboard tube to the paper plate. Once it’s on, add the beak, snood, and googly eyes.
Don’t Forget Thanksgiving Picture Books!
High quality literature is so important for kids, and is a perfect addition to every preschool theme! We’ve hand-picked some of our favorite Thanksgiving books for you. There are of course books about turkeys and Thanksgiving food, but we’ve also included books about gratitude and thankfulness that are perfect for this time of year.
More Thanksgiving and Turkey Activities for Preschoolers
These done-for-you activity packs are packed with themed activities that are sure to be a hit this fall!
Paper Plate Turkey Craft
This adorable turkey craft is ideal for scissor and glue practice which also works on developing hand strength. With fall colored materials, this turkey craft is perfect for celebrating Thanksgiving too!
Materials
- cardboard tube
- liquid glue
- scissors
- fall colored yarn
- brown paint
- paper plates
- googly eyes
- orange and red construction paper
Instructions
- Paint a cardboard tube with brown paint, or leave the tan color.
- Cut a large paper plate in half.
- Invite your preschooler to cut fall-colored yarn into small strings of about 3-4 inches each.
- Glue the string onto the paper plate half and cover the entire plate with fall-colored yarn. This may require several layers of glue and string.
- Draw a turkey beak on red construction paper and a snood on orange construction paper. Have the child cut them out.
- Glue the cardboard tube, googly eyes, beak, and snood on top of the yarn on the paper plate.
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I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
