This Suncatcher is the Perfect Turkey Craft for Preschoolers
Get ready for a fun-filled turkey craft for preschoolers that doubles as a vibrant piece of Thanksgiving decoration for your home! This art activity combines simple materials like construction paper, tissue paper, and contact paper to create a beautiful turkey suncatcher.
Suncatchers are some of our favorite art activities for preschoolers. Not only will they enjoy putting it together, but they’ll also love seeing their masterpiece stick to the window, catching and transforming the sunlight into colorful rays.
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Turkey Suncatchers a great way to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday while keeping your little ones engaged and entertained.
This Thanksgiving turkey craft for preschoolers is more than just an art activity; it’s a hands-on learning experience.
As the kids carefully cut out the construction paper and layer the tissue paper, they are improving their fine motor skills.
Plus, sticking the turkey suncatcher onto the window helps them understand the concept of light and color. We also explore this idea in our Cellophane Collages.
And the best part? Their faces will light up every time they see their beautiful turkey suncatcher glowing in the sun, making this craft project a memorable part of your Thanksgiving celebrations.
Thanksgiving Turkey Craft for Preschoolers
You don’t have to be a preschooler to enjoy this these colorful turkeys. Kids will love this Thanksgiving turkey craft because it uses sticky contact paper!
With a little prep by an adult, even young toddlers can enjoy this craft, as well as much older children. Even my eight year old enjoyed creating this super simple turkey sun catcher!
Materials
- brown construction paper
- red and orange scraps of construction paper
- tissue paper
- googly eyes
- scissors
- glue
- clear Contact paper
The Set Up
Older kids will be able to make this craft completely on their own, but for preschoolers, they will need a little prep work done for them.
- Cut the tissue paper into one inch squares.
- Or buy pre-cut tissue paper squares.
- Set them aside.
How to Assemble the Turkey
- Cut your construction paper two inches by five and a half inches.
- Make five of these.
- Fold the slips of paper in half and cut an elongated “c” shape on the fold.
- When it opens the paper looks like an oval with the center cut out of it. These will be the feathers.
- Make the turkey body as seen in the picture below.
- Place the turkey body face side down onto a sheet of Contact paper (the Contact paper should be sticky side up).
- Then, arrange the five ovals over the body to make the tail feathers. Like this:
Flip the turkey body over and place on the contact paper. Then all the feathers.
Now, you might want to consider adding a second body circle to the back of the turkey to cover up what you see in the above photo.
This will also make it so that the sun cannot shine through the construction paper. If you look closely at the top photo in this post, you’ll see what I mean.
Crafting Tip!
If you have a large class, you’ll definitely need to make these in advance. So, place a gallon size zip top baggie over each turkey (after it’s been added to the contact paper) to keep all the pieces from sticking to each other.
Then, when you are ready for your class to make the suncatchers, just remove the gallon baggie and save it for later.
How to Make a Turkey Suncatcher
The prep work is done!
Now it’s time to invite your preschoolers to place the tissue paper on the tail feathers so they stick to the contact paper. Cover all the sticky contact paper on the inside of each feather.
Finally, cut the turkey out of the contact paper, if desired. Add googly eyes to the face.
Hang in window for a colorful Thanksgiving display.
Special note: It is okay if your child gets the contact paper on the outside of the feathers since the turkey can be cut out once finished.
When complete, you can cover the backside of the turkey with another sheet of Contact paper, thus laminating it, or you can stick the contact paper directly onto the window.
Thanksgiving Turkey Crafts for Preschoolers
Do you have a favorite turkey craft for kids to make near Thanksgiving? Try out these easy turkey puppets or paper bag turkeys. My favorite as these paper plate turkeys.
- Paper Plate Turkey Craft
- Feather Painted Turkeys
- Beaded Feathers Turkey Craft
- Thanksgiving Turkey Puppets
Suncatcher Crafts for Preschoolers
Making suncatcher crafts with preschoolers is a delightful activity filled with fun and laughter.
Seeing their eyes light up when colors blend beautifully and their proud smiles as they display their suncatchers on the window make these moments truly precious. Try some of these other ideas.
- Falling Leaves Suncatchers
- Watermelon Suncatcher Craft
- Valentine Suncatcher Craft
- Suncatcher Mobile
- Jelly Fish Suncatcher Craft
Turkey Suncatcher Craft
If you are looking for a turkey craft for preschoolers that can also serve as a beautiful decoration for Thanksgiving, look no further!
This turkey suncatcher craft is bright, colorful and your preschoolers will be delighted to see it displayed proudly at home.
Your preschoolers will get fine motor skills practice as they create their own unique colorful collage of feathers.
These turkey suncatchers also provide a wonderful lesson about color and light once they are hung in a window to let the sunlight shine on through!
Add a beautiful mosaic of color to your thanksgiving celebrations this year with this brilliant preschool turkey craft!
Materials
- brown construction paper
- red and orange scraps of construction paper
- tissue paper
- googly eyes
- scissors
- glue
- clear Contact paper
Instructions
Prep the Tissue Paper:
- Cut the tissue paper into one-inch squares. Or, buy pre-cut tissue paper squares, if preferred.
- Set them aside.
- Cut your construction paper two inches by five and a half inches.
- Make five of these.
- Fold the slips of paper in half and cut an elongated “c” shape on the fold.
- When it opens the paper looks like an oval with the center cut out of it. These will be the feathers.
- Make the turkey body by cutting out a brown circle, an orange triangular beak, two orange feet, and a red snood. Glue the snood, beak, and feet onto the body.
- Place the turkey body face side down onto a sheet of contact paper, sticky side up.
- Then, arrange the five ovals over the body to make the tail feathers.
- Flip the turkey body over and place on the contact paper. Then, do the same for all the feathers.
- Instruct the preschoolers to place the tissue paper on the tail feathers so they stick to the contact paper. Model this, as needed.
- Instruct the children to cover ALL the sticky contact paper on the inside of each feather.
- Finally, have the children add googly eyes to the face.
- Cut the turkey out of the contact paper, if desired.
- When complete, you can cover the backside of the turkey with another sheet of contact paper to laminate it. Or you can stick the contact paper directly onto the window!
Assemble the Turkey:
Invite the Preschoolers to Create Their Turkey Suncatchers:
Complete and Display the Turkey:
Notes
Since the turkey will be hanging in a window, you might want to consider adding a second body circle to the back of the turkey to cover up where all the individual pieces come together.
This will give the back view a more realistic look, with the brown circle representing the backside of the turkey body.
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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.
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