Thanksgiving Day Wooden Turkey Craft DIY
QUICK & EASY Thanksgiving Day Wooden Turkey Craft
My kids LOVE this little guy – and wouldn’t he look super cute at the centre of the table at Thanksgiving dinner? He’s also so easy for little hands to help create. Not to mention – he’s cheap!
Here’s what you’ll need to create your own DIY Thanksgiving Day Wooden Turkey.
Supplies
- Wooden block (this one is about the height of my hand, for reference)
- Craft paint (brown, orange, red, yellow)
- Large craft sticks (you can buy these coloured, saving some time and supplies)
- Large googly eyes
- Felt (orange, yellow, red)
- Paint brush
- Glue or Glue Gun
- Scissors
I was able to find the supplies around the house, so this was a super economical craft for our family. But you could buy pretty much everything you need new and still spend less than $10 – and have enough materials to make a dozen or more turkeys!
Instructions
- Paint wooden block brown.
- Paint large craft sticks in various colours (we did two yellow, two orange, and one red).
- From the felt, cut a small yellow triangle for a beak, a red snood (did you know that’s what that thing is called?), and two orange feet. I just freehand these and think the lack of perfection is perfect, so don’t stress over it!
- Use the glue gun (I’m sure some regular white glue could work, too, but I love the glue gun for staying power) to attach the feathers, the feet, the snood, beak, and eyes.
That’s it!
Here’s our finished Thanksgiving Day Wooden Turkey!
If you try it, be sure to share yours with us!
You could add a few neat elements to this basic craft, too, like writing out a person’s name across the ‘feathers’ so the turkey acts as a place holder. You could also have your family write things they are thankful for on the feathers before adding them to the turkey; wouldn’t that make a lovely centrepiece for Thanksgiving dinner?!
While we’re talking turkeys and being thankful, I need to give a shout out to two family favourite books: Todd Parr’s The Thankful Book and Allen Morgan’s Matthew and the Midnight Turkeys. All of Parr’s books are fantastic, sharing messages of inclusion with colourful drawings and simple language that my kids (and I!) love. Matthew is a holdover from my childhood; did you ever read it? Great fun and a wonderful way to spark a conversation with your kids about how they’d try to capture turkeys. Maybe you’ll even build a turkey trap next!
These would be so pretty on the table! Thanks for the great idea!
This is such a great way to keep the kids busy. I can see that a tissue paper roll is also a good alternative for the wood. I’ve kept 2 or 3 tubes, I think (I don’t know why I keep them), which can just be painted. I think I’ll have to go for smaller craft sticks, I just hope they don’t look too small.
This is adorable! And so simple to make 🙂 Love it.