It has been awhile since I've been able to fit a craft project into my schedule, but I just had to do something with my kindergartner for Thanksgiving. So I ended up looking around to see what supplies I had. I decided that it would be nice for my son to create something that expressed what he is thankful for this year. I also wanted to make something a little more substantial than a paper turkey.



Today's Project: Thankful Turkey

Ask your child to create a turkey with colorful tail feathers, on which your child will write what he or she is thankful for this year.


Supplies Needed:

1) Corrugated cardboard at least as large as your child's hand. (We used a flap from a cardboard box.)

2) Foam bracelets (May be substituted with strips of construction paper cut in the shape of feathers)

3) Colorations Washable Markers in fall colors (We suggest yellows, oranges, reds, browns, greens, purple, and black.)

4) A pencil

5) Pair of age-appropriate scissors

6) White glue

Step 4: Have your child color in the turkey with the markers. The turkey can be as simple or detailed as your child would like.

Step 5: Ask your child what he or she is thankful for this year or why he or she might feel lucky. You may need to offer suggestions if your child cannot think of enough reasons.

Step 6: Have your child write each reason he or she is thankful on a single feather. We used 6 feathers, but you can use as many feathers as you would like. You do not need to write something on every feather.

Tip #2: To leave enough space for gluing the feathers onto the turkey, ask your child to leave a thumb's length before starting the writing on each feather.

Step 7: Glue each feather onto the back of the turkey one at a time, trying to place them so they are evenly spaced out and are all a similar length. Allow several minutes for the glue to set.

Tip #3: Although my son did not want to do this, your child can glue an additional layer of feathers behind the first layer of feathers to create a fuller look.

Step 8: (Optiona) Have your child write his or her name on the body of the turkey.

This is the final result of our project:

This turned out to be a very simple and quick craft project. In the end, it is the exercise of thinking about what your child is thankful for that is the real value of this activity.

Thank you to Discount School Supply for providing the markers for this project.