Kids' Turkey Crafts

It seems to me this year the media has tried to make Christmas come before Thanksgiving. I don't think so, guys.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure I'll be in the "Christmas mood" eventually (it kind of pops up every now and then) but right now, I would like to enjoy November before we rush into December 25th.
I'm excited for Christmas, I actually am almost done Christmas shopping I think (!!) and I have plans to try and make this year more about the activities with the little ones and spending time with the family than it is about who's getting what for who.

Don't hold me to that though. There's always something else out there that I think "gee, maybe I should have got them that instead of what I already bought them". BUT I'm trying to hold back and on top of that look at the big picture with the money involved. Do I really want that item or would I rather see savings adding up? --I'm debating challenging myself to try the week without spending again, but I'm kind of addicted to shopping and bargain hunting.--

So, to keep the excitement around for November, I've done a few projects with Aidan to help inspire some Thanksgiving whimsy.

Yesterday as a spur of the moment idea we picked up leaves outside to assemble into a turkey picture.
I just took a piece of construction paper and glued the leaves to the page as shown, using a different type for the body than feathers. Then I cut out the beak and "waddle"? "gobbler"? proper term? from felt and glued those and googly-eyes to make the face. Done. Easy. Exciting for Aidan.

I could hardly get it away from him to take the picture, as demonstrated with the toes in the corner. of the photo.

He was mesmerized by the eyes. He's never seen googly-eyes I don't think.

That's not filth in his hair, I promise. He was in an uproarious mood so I decided "what the heck?" and gave him a Mohawk for the day. He was interested in the morning but worn out by the time he'd conquered those Spaghetti-Os.

That picture about sums up our day.

The next craft we did comes from Kaboose. I thought it was so cute, we had to try it.

Aidan loves saying "gobble gobble"!

I skipped a few steps as given by the creators, but I was improvising with two toddlers running around tonight.

These colored strips are going to be the turkey's feathers.

I cut them down to the fold point and then was ready to move on. You're supposed to color the other side as well (for a better look, do this!) and I'd suggest doing it at this point if you're going to.

I cinched the "feathers" down with a rubber band and arranged them to look turkey-like.

This is where you can see where coloring both sides would be worth your time...

To do the feet I cut triangles and then cut "toes" (talons?) out of those triangles.

I also didn't paint the spoon. I glued the felt pieces and eyes with a glue-stick. Use regular glue if you have it. Glue stick doesn't work so well.... I used a pink heart shape for the "gobbler"? "waddle"?...and an orange triangle for the beak.

Cute!

I imagine you could take this farther and decorate him more...paint feathers on his body, use leaves for feathers, etc.


I'll try to get my Thanksgiving cards done soon and up here and some more Thanksgiving crafts and recipes up. Between school work and mom work and such. Though occasionally I can combine these tasks.

Thanks for reading, as always.