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You are here: Home / Themes / Thanksgiving / Turkey Fine Motor Activity and Craft

Turkey Fine Motor Activity and Craft

By Shaunna Evans 21 Comments · This content may contain affiliate links.

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Are you ready? I’ve been holding off on sharing Thanksgiving activities until Halloween was over, but I’m ready to get started. After all, I see many people are already searching for Christmas activities. I’m not quite ready for that yet, but Thanksgiving I can do! Many of the activities I’ll be sharing this week will remain out throughout the month as play invitations for the kids to choose during independent playtime.

If you know the history of Tinker’s nickname, you know that we call her Tinker because she has always loved playing with small objects and learning how things work. This simple fine motor turkey activity was put together just for her, but I bet you know a little one who’d like it, too.

This post contains affiliate links.

Toddler Fine Motor Turkey Activity

GET A FULL WEEK OF THANKSGIVING THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE PRESCHOOL LESSON PLANS.

Materials for Turkey Craft

  • Empty toilet paper roll
  • Googly eyes
  • Scissors
  • Long feathers
  • Rubber Band
  • Hot glue gun or craft glue, whichever you prefer
  • Piece of brown felt cut into a square large enough to be folded over the end of the toilet paper roll
  • Small scrap of orange craft foam or felt cut into a triangle
  • Hole punch

Assembling the Turkey Body

Older children may want to make the turkey with you. Since this was for Tinker I assembled the turkey body myself. It took about 3 minutes. First I cut about an inch off of the toilet paper roll. I secured a piece of brown felt over the front end of the turkey using the rubber band. Then I hot glued the googly eyes and craft foam to the smaller tube. Next I attached the head of the turkey near the end with the brown felt. The brown felt made the turkey body secure enough to stand on its own. Otherwise I was going to attached two legs with chenille stems, but this wasn’t necessary. Finally I used the hole punch to make three rows of  holes on the opposite end of the turkey body. I only went two thirds of the way around the body, leaving the bottom of the roll without any holes.

Turkey Fine Motor Activity

Feather fine motor activity

As soon as Tinker saw the feathers she was eager to play with them, and she new exactly what to do with all those little holds in the turkey’s body.

Thanksgiving craft and activity for kids

Placing the ends of the feathers into those small holes is excellent fine motor practice.

Note that we did not add any covering the the back of the turkey. This was helpful in the event that one of the turkey feathers got stuck in a hole when Tinker was pulling them out to start over, which she did again and again that first afternoon. We were able to reach in the back and push it out, so she could keep recreating her little turkey.

Turkey craft for Thanksgiving

And when your little one is finished, the turkey makes a beautiful little craft, too! We didn’t secure the loose ends because this activity will sit out with our Thanksgiving invitations to play throughout the month. However, you could add a little air dry clay to the inside of the turkey if you wanted to secure the feathers.

Turkey Craft and Fine Motor Activity for Kids

GET A FULL SET OF THANKSGIVING THEME ACTIVITIES

The 159-page Thanksgiving Lesson Plan Set includes hands-on activities and these additional printables:

1) Pumpkin Pie Letter Matching (in color and b/w)

2) Rhyming Turkey Game

3) Turkey Color Sorting Mats (in color and b/w)

4) Turkey Counting Mats 1-20 (in color and b/w)

5) Look at the Turkey Emergent Reader (3 variations)

6) How to Make a Pumpkin Pie Sequencing Cards (in color and b/w)

7) 0-35 Turkey Number Cards (4 variations)

8) Phoneme Segmentation Turkey Activity

9) Thanksgiving Taste Test Recording Sheet (in color and b/w)

10) Thanksgiving Picture-Word Cards (in color and b/w)

11) Thanksgiving Roll and Graph (2 variations, in color and b/w)

Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Less stress, more connecting this holiday season? Yes, PLEASE!

From the arrival of fall to Halloween to Thanksgiving and Christmas, the last four months of the year can be a wonderful opportunity for making family memories and spending time together, but they can also be stressful as we try to collect ideas, recipes, and activities to try together.

Stephanie Morgan, founder of Modern Parents Messy Kids, a site that’s been voted Best Craft Blog in Parents Magazine and one of babble.com’s Top 50 Craft Mom Blogs, recently released a new eBook to help us have a little less stress and more time to connect with family this year.

Stephanie’s goal is to make it easier on all of us to enjoy the holidays with our kids. Hands-On Holidays is 100 pages full of her family’s very favorite ways to connect as a family over the holiday season. I love the convenience of having so many ideas in one place, and most of them are simple enough for even my toddler to participate in.

The book includes picture book suggestions, DIY decor, activities, and treats. Bonus sections also offer even more ideas to enjoy. Click here to view more details.

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Filed Under: Fine Motor, Thanksgiving, Toddler Tagged With: feathers, Thanksgiving Invitations to Play, turkeys

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Olivia Rose

    July 16, 2021 at 1:14 am

    What a fun turkey activity Shaunna!. He looks so cute and colorful! Can’t wait to try this fun activity with my kids.

    Reply
  2. Merideth

    November 13, 2014 at 12:04 am

    I’ll be doing this with my son and nephews on Friday and I can’t wait. I’m hoping it keeps them busy for a few minute so I can do some clean up. Such a cute craft.

    Reply
  3. Cassi

    November 19, 2013 at 9:42 pm

    This is a great turkey craft for preschoolers! I’ll be sharing this on The Crafty Crow soon!

    Reply
    • Shaunna Evans

      December 23, 2013 at 7:52 pm

      Thank you so much for featuring this craft, Cassi!

      Reply
  4. Rebecca

    November 17, 2013 at 4:04 am

    He looks so cute and colourful!

    I have featured this lovely activity on The Sunday Showcase: 20 turkey activities for kids. http://www.herecomethegirlsblog.com/2013/11/17/turkey-activities-for-kids.html

    Reply
  5. Claire

    November 16, 2013 at 9:26 pm

    This is such a cute idea! I love a good fine motor activity with an adorable finished product! Thanks!

    Reply
  6. Beth

    November 15, 2013 at 6:46 am

    This is such a CUTE Turkey craftivity =) I pinned it and added it to my Turkey Round up here (http://www.123homeschool4me.com/2013/10/35-turkey-crafts-kids-activities-for.html)

    Thanks for linking up to TGIF! I always LOVE seeing what you have come up with!
    Have a GREAT weekend,
    Beth =)

    Reply
  7. jaime

    November 13, 2013 at 5:36 pm

    Hi and thanks for linking up to moms library featured you!

    http://www.frogsandsnailsandpuppydogtail.com/2013/11/thanksgiving-activities-for-children.html

    Reply
    • Shaunna Evans

      November 13, 2013 at 7:36 pm

      Thank you, Jaime!

      Reply
  8. Pinkoddy

    November 8, 2013 at 5:42 am

    Oh that is really clever with the tail and great for my son’s fine motor skills. We have turkey at Christmas so I’m pinning on my TRH Christmas board 🙂

    Reply
    • Shaunna Evans

      November 8, 2013 at 2:39 pm

      Thanks so much! I hope your son has fun.

      Reply
  9. Laura @ Lalymom

    November 7, 2013 at 4:16 pm

    Good golly I am crazy for this craft! It’s adorable and the feathers are such a fun material. Bonus points for using a hole punch too! So cute, going to have to do this for my 3 year old. Pinning to share too!

    Reply
    • Shaunna Evans

      November 8, 2013 at 2:39 pm

      Thank you, Laura! We’re loving it so far, and I hope your little one does, too.

      Reply
  10. Gosia

    November 7, 2013 at 12:04 pm

    I love what you have done, and I think my daughter would love to make one of these:) Great colors! Pinned:)
    Gosia | Kiddie Foodies

    Reply
    • Shaunna Evans

      November 8, 2013 at 2:41 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  11. Lauren Drobnjak

    November 6, 2013 at 12:29 pm

    This is so cute and what a great fine motor component!!!!

    Reply
    • Shaunna Evans

      November 8, 2013 at 2:52 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  12. Renae

    November 5, 2013 at 11:34 am

    This is a super cute activity. I can’t wait to use it. Thanks so much for sharing!

    Reply
  13. Ann @ My Nearest and Dearest

    November 4, 2013 at 7:35 pm

    Oh I know someone who would looove this! Great idea!

    Reply
  14. Sarah @ How Wee Learn

    November 4, 2013 at 8:53 am

    I love this idea Shaunna! So cute! I am starting to focus on activities that are great for many different ages, This one is great, as bigger kids can create most of the turkey themselves, and wee ones can practice fine motor skills, colours, and patterning with feathers.

    Reply
    • Shaunna Evans

      November 9, 2013 at 8:05 pm

      I’m so glad you like it Sarah! One of my goals is to also develop activities that are great for many different ages, so I’m really enjoying your site, too.

      Reply

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