Preschool Turkey Craft That Teaches Thankfulness

Once the glue is applied, let the children select what color tissue paper circle they want and have them press it onto the glue. Add a bit more glue to the top of the tissue paper circle for the eyes and beak. Add the feet to the bottom of the circle. (Although many of our preschoolers wanted the feet on the circle, or below the circle but not touching. I did not correct them, and I certainly did not rearrange them.) This year when I planned our easy thankful turkeys craft for preschoolers, I wanted to add some simple counting as well. I’ve done this with several other art projects, such as our ladybug craft. I love to combine learning domains while doing preschool activities. This particular activity involved several steps: assembling the turkey, counting the sticks (“feathers”), and then sharing what we are thankful for and writing those on the sticks. It was spread out during the course of one week while we enjoyed reading books on thankfulness and talking about what we love in our lives. 👉 FREE I am Thankful printable! Scroll down towards end of post for the download.

colored popsicle sticks colored tissue paper circles orange construction paper brown construction paper googly eyes white glue

Prep work:

Cut turkey beaks and feet from orange construction paper. However you want them to look.

The process:

Have the children apply glue to brown sheets of construction paper. I love using brayers when applying glue to a large area, and it’s a nice change from brushes.

After counting the sticks, have the children place them on the outside of the tissue paper circle. Again, some of the children placed them in different areas and I did not correct them. Allow the artwork to dry completely.