Toddler Theme: Turkeys Galore!

The theme this week from teachingtinytots is Turkeys! We had so much fun making these Thanksgiving Day crafts. We did a few that aren't Turkey's but do have to do with Thanksgiving.

Thankful Turkey-from Teachintinytotshttp://teachingtinytots.blogspot.com/2008/11/thankful-turkey.html
Materials=
__brown construction paper
__scissors

__different colored construction paper

__markers or crayons

*Basically cut out a turkey. I used a template but you could free draw one. Next, cut out some feathers from construction paper. Every day add a feather with something you are thankful for written down. I did cover mine in contact paper to protect it. *Rather than deal with having to put on the feathers everyday and keep little one from having feathers all over the house, we added our feathers all at once. Zhana doesn't know what 'Thankful' means yet, so I asked her what things make her happy and she said, "Pop bubbles", "To draw". This will be a project we keep through the years.

Hands and Feet Turkey-Unknown source (If this was your idea, let me know so I can give you credit).
Materials=
__Construction paper in brown, tan, orange, red, yellow and white
__Scissors
__glue
1. Trace two feet (with shoes on) on brown construction paper.
2. Trace two hands on tan construction paper.
3. Trace two hands on red construction paper.
4. Trace two hands on orange construction paper.
5. Trace one hand on yellow construction paper.
6. Cutout all the pieces
Put the two feet tracings together to make the turkey body and head, placing the heels together one on top of another, and spreading the bottoms apart Cut two feet out of the orange scraps, then cut a diamond shape for the beak. Draw the eyes on white paper and cut them out, or use wiggle eyes. Make the wattle out of red construction paper. Glue each piece on. Glue the red, orange, and yellow construction paper hands behind the brown body to make the tail. Position the two tan hands on either side of the body to make the turkey's wings and glue them in place.

*Ours isn't exactly like the instructions, but Zhana had great fun with this.

Thanksgiving Bubble Wrap Art: This isn’t a Turkey but it is related to Thanksgiving. I love this bubblewrap idea from No Time for Flashcards. *This was my very favorite thing we did. It is so easy for the little ones and they turn out looking great. So many crafts are hard for our little ones and we end up having to do some of the work. This one is PERFECT for toddlers. The link is at http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2008/11/lend-me-your-ear.html
Materials=
__2 pieces of paper
__a crayon

__paint
__a piece of bubble wrap
__a paint brush
__glue
__scissors.

Basically cut out some corn on yellow construction paper. Dip bubble wrap in brown paint. Let the little one paint away. Then cut some stalks out. I used green with brown over the top to make it look more like fall corn and brown painted onto white paper on some.

Lightbulb Turkey-familycorner.com; I didn't get around to doing this one but it is so cute, I thought I'd post if for someone that might have all the materials. Also, this is NOT for a toddler but an older child.
__burnt out light bulb

__small straw hat

__2- 1 1/2"wood hearts
__acrylic paint: brown, orange, white and black

__felt: red and orange

__small silk flower

__6-8 fall colored feathers

__washer

__paint brush

__acrylic sealer spray

__hot glue gun

__white craft glue

__pattern

*Photo by Familycorner.com
Blessings Snack Mix-From http://pie.midco.net/grammalowe/thanksgiving.html#c02Material:

__Bugles chip
__pretzels

_Candy Corns

__nuts or sunflower seeds

__Dried fruits (raisins, dates, apricots, etc.)

__M&M's

__one Hershey's Kiss

This is so cute! I'm bringing this on Thanksgiving as a little gift to everyone. We haven't made it yet.

*We printed out and drew in the details from these templates we found: http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/m-draw-details.htm
Materials=

__paper

__crayons

This was great for my little girl. It has the outline but gave her a chance to draw in details of a face. I'm super proud of how great she did. As she drew the parts, I labeled them and I'm sure this will be treasured in years to come. One added feature she drew I think is really sweet. She loves the blow bubbles (she calls is 'pop bubbles') more than just about anything. She added the pilgrim a "pop bubble" to her drawing.
__paper
__printer
__crayons

*We printed out, glued, and colored this Native American girl. The template can be found at http://www.dltk-holidays.com/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/images/bgirlnative.gif . I used the art2theextreme rainbow crayons I did a review on last week for this project. I obviously colored some of it with her, but the rainbow crayons worked great because she could just rub and have a ton of colors. Then we cut out the Native American woman and baby.

*Here are links to a few Thanksgiving books I have. They are from the Enchanted Learning website. I think they are the free ones. If anyone notices they aren't, please let me know and I'll remove them.

Turkey Book~More appropriate for older toddler. It has mazes, matching, and more...http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632396/TurkeyBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Thanks is For~This one lists items that have to do with the letters used to spell Thanksgiving. http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632394/ThanksIsForBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Thanksgiving Book~Child has room to draw the different things they are thankful for~http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632390/ThanksgivingBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Thanksgiving Counting Book~http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632388/ThanksgivingBk-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Thanksgiving Activity Book~Connect the Dots and Morehttp://www.ziddu.com/download/2632382/ThanksgivingActivity-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Thanksgiving simple reader~http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632373/ThanksgBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Thankful Book~http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632369/ThankfulBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Pilgrims Book~http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632358/PilgrimsBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

Thanksgiving Feast Book~http://www.ziddu.com/download/2632335/FeastBook-EnchantedLearning.pdf.html

*We printed out, glued, and colored this pilgrim cutout. Great gluing practice. http://www.dltk-holidays.com/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/images/bpilgeasy.gif

*Paper Bag Turkey-From Ramblings of a Crazy Woman-http://jennwa.blogspot.com/search?q=turkey
Materials=
___Small brown paper bag,
___newspaper
___ scissors
___construction paper
___glue
___stapler
___wiggly eyes
We didn't get to this one because I couldn't find a small brown paper bag but included it so others could enjoy it.

*Fingerprint Turkey-From DLTK website at http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/mfingerprint-turkey.htm
Materials=
__Brown finger paint
__Red/yellow/orange fingerpaint
__Something to hold paint
__Black marker
__paint

*I'm pretty proud of this little creation. I love that she did this all by her little self. I think she did pretty good!

*Paper Plate Turkey-From Ramblings of a Crazy Woman-http://jennwa.blogspot.com/2008/11/paper-plate-turkey.html
__Large and small paper plates
__brown paint
__brush
__scissors
__glue
__wiggly eyes
__construction paper

*Another project we didn't get to do to lack of materials.
*Thanksgiving Lacing Project-From DLTC http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/mlacing.htm ; Very easy!

Just print, cutout, punch some holes, and add ribbon/yarn/string
Materials=
__Ribbon
__Hold punch
__Scissors
__Pencil
__Cardstock or construction paper

Turkey color and number activity file folder game at http://www.preschoolprintables.com/filefolder/turkey/filefolderturkey.shtml; We didn’t do this one but it sounds like a great activity especially for toddlers who are a little older and know their numbers.
__Materials:
__Folder
__Printer
__paper

*Make your own Thanksgiving puzzles; Templates at http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/mpuzzle.htm
Materials=
__Cardboard
__Printer
__Paper
__Crayons
__Scissors
__glue

Very easy, just print, glue onto cardboard, and cut out.

*Turkey Handprints

__paint

__paper

I'm sure we all remember this simple one from grade school. Dip your hand in paint and voila, instant turkey! I added this little poem: " This isn't just a turkey as you can plainly see. I made it with my hand which is a part of me. It comes with lots of love especially to say, I hope you have a very, Happy Thanksgiving Day!"

*Matching Cards-unknown source

I'm not sure where I downloaded these from but I have some Thanksgiving matching cards that I printed and made.

*Turkey alphabet; This is great for a flannel board and more; http://www.kidsparkz.citymax.com/f/Thanksgiving_Turkey_Alphabet.pdf
*There are also turkey numbers from this same site at http://www.kidsparkz.citymax.com/f/Thanksgiving_Turkey_Numbers.pdf
*Here is a link to some cute Thanksgiving songs: http://www.kidsparkz.citymax.com/f/Thanksgiving_song_posters.pdf
*For the Doman mama’s here are some flashcards. http://www.kidsparkz.citymax.com/f/Thanksgiving_flashcards_color.pdf
*Link to Thansksgiving Day Turkeys…
http://www.kidsparkz.citymax.com/f/Turkey_colors.pdf
*Games
http://www.starfall.com/n/holiday/turkey/load.htm?f&n=main
I LOVE Pilgrim looking at me in the style of Brown Bear, Brown Bear at
http://carlscorner.us.com/Readers/Pilgrim%20Pilgrim.pdf

*Toilet Paper Turkey-Another Source I can't find! Sometimes I save ideas on my computer and then forget the source. I'm so sorry. If you know where this came from, please let me know. Basically, paint a tp roll brown. Paint a piece of paper in fall colors. Fold it accordian style. Tuck it into the top of the tp roll. Add eyes and ect.

To see more great ideas go over to Tinytots blog and see the other moms who participated in this theme. The link is http://teachingtinytots.blogspot.com/2008/11/toddler-theme-challenge-turkeys.html

Here are a few Turkey/Thanksgiving related books