Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to get creative with crafts that are both fun and meaningful, like this adorable Name Turkey! This craft is a fantastic way for kids to practice spelling their names while building a colorful turkey to display proudly. Whether your child is just starting to recognize letters or is a pro at spelling their name, this activity combines holiday fun with a bit of learning. Plus, it makes for a cute keepsake that shows off their hard work.
This Name Turkey Craft is easy to set up and gives kids a chance to practice fine motor skills, scissor skills, and letter recognition. The best part? Each turkey is totally unique, just like your little one! They’ll love personalizing their feathers with their name and piecing together their own little bird with bright, colorful plumage.
Why You’ll Love This Turkey Craft
This craft isn’t just a fun Thanksgiving activity; it’s also a lovely way to celebrate your child’s progress with letters and names. You’ll love seeing the pride on their face as they put together their own turkey, adding each letter feather by feather. It’s simple enough for little hands to tackle but also allows room for creativity and personalization!
Materials
- Red, orange, yellow, and brown construction paper
- Glue
- Marker or foam letters
- Scissors
- Googly eyes
- White paper
Instructions for Making the Name Turkey Craft
- Prepare the Feathers
Start by cutting out feather shapes from the red, orange, and yellow construction paper. You’ll need one feather for each letter in your child’s name.
- Add the Name Letters
If you have foam letters, pick out the ones needed to spell your child’s name. Invite your child to place each letter in the correct order and glue it to a feather. If you’re using a marker, write each letter on the top part of a feather.
- Make the Turkey Body
Cut out a turkey body, beak, snood (the wobbly red part), and feet from the brown and orange construction paper. Glue them together to form the turkey’s body. This is a step your child can help with—either by cutting and gluing or by simply gluing if they’re still practicing their scissor skills.
- Assemble the Turkey
On a sheet of white paper, arrange the feathers in a fan shape in the order of their name at the top to represent the turkey’s plumage. Then, glue the turkey body on top so that it sits in front of the feathers. Your child can finish by adding googly eyes to the face for a bit of character!
This Name Turkey Craft is a perfect combination of fun, creativity, and learning. It’s an activity you’ll enjoy doing together, and the result is something you’ll love displaying all Thanksgiving season!
Play2Learn Toddler & Preschool Programs for Curious Toddlers
There is no limit to your toddler’s energy and curiosity. That energy and curiosity although a joy can be challenging at times. Their interest in just about everything around them is what makes them great learners. One and two year olds can soak up so much just from their senses!
But as a teacher or parent that thirst for learning can be exhausting. That is why I created this toddler and preschooler program. To help you get the most out of this time with your curious toddler without having to come up with creative ways to play and interact with them.
Play2Learn for Toddlers includes 20 Units for toddlers. Each 2-week toddler unit has 20 super easy to set up and engaging activities for toddlers 18 months to 3 years.
Play2Learn Preschool which includes 20 Units for preschoolers. Each 2-week preschoolers unit has 20 unique and easy to set up and engaging activities for preschoolers 3 years to 5 years. That’s over 800 learning activities for your toddler and preschooler at your fingertips! So many ideas you and your child will never be bored again!
These toddler and preschool lesson plans and activities will definitely keep you and your toddler and preschooler busy playing and learning!
Click here for more information: Play2Learn
Book: Exciting Sensory Bins for Curious Kids
Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids. Or grab your copy at Amazon.
Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.
Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.
Book: Super STEAM Activity Book for Kids
Learning all about science, technology, engineering, art, and math sets kids up for scholastic success―and it can be so much fun! Watch kids enjoy building STEAM skills as they color friendly fish, help water find its way to tree roots, solve math problems with mazes, and more.
Find out more and grab your copy here.
Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.
Book: Big Book of Riddles for Kids
Riddle me this: What’s an exciting way to practice critical thinking while having a blast? The Big Riddle Book for Kids, of course! From hilarious puns to tough brain teasers, kids can build problem-solving skills with hundreds of riddles tha. t show them how to think outside the box.
- 350 riddles for kids—Have hours of fun with riddles, puns and jokes, and math and logic puzzles that’ll get their wheels turning!
- Level up their skills—Riddles get trickier as kids progress through the book, challenging them as they get better at solving puzzles!
- Double-check their work—Kids can check their answers in the back of the book with a handy answer key.
Help children expand their minds while having fun with this puzzle book for kids!
Designed for kids ages 6 years old and up.
TV Show: Curious Crafting
I’m so excited to share my crafting TV show Curious Crafting which launched in July 2022 on TVOkids and TVOkids YouTube! Season 2 aired in August 2023! My show was also nominated in 2023 for Best Live Action Preschool Series by the Youth Media Alliance Awards of Excellence.
Curious Crafting Season 1 is also now airing in Australia on ABC! Watch it here!
Set in the ultimate crafting space, Curious Crafting is a short form pre-school age series about the joy of making crafts. I lead a rotating cast of adorable little preschoolers (including my own) making magic out of common household objects.
In each episode we transform recycled items into magical crafts like a milk carton school bus, paper bag puppet or cotton pad turtle. The crafters learn and laugh their way through each activity while demonstrating what their young imaginations can create.
Curious Crafting shares the adventure and joy of making art with takeaway lessons for creating crafts at home.
This show designed for toddlers and preschoolers 2.5 years old and up.
