Inside: An easy turkey puppet craft for kids just right for inspiring Thanksgiving pretend play.

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We created this cute little turkey puppet craft to get ready for Thanksgiving. These little guys are fairly sturdy and invite lots of pretend play.

To spark those little imaginations, you can read aloud a turkey book such as 10 Fat Turkeys (affiliate). This giggle-inducing Thanksgiving picture book is a silly countdown story that preschoolers and kindergartners will love.

Or you could sing a song like Five Little Turkeys:

Turkey Puppet Craft

Materials

Here’s everything you’ll need for each turkey puppet:

• 3 Notched craft sticks (affiliate)
• 1 Regular craft stick
• Paint & paintbrushes (Acrylic paint works the best, but be sure to put the kids in smocks or old t-shirts if you use it.)
• Puffy paint (affiliate) or glitter glue for embellishments
• Glue – we just used school glue
• Construction paper: brown, yellow, red
• Scissors
• Googly eyes

 

RELATED: Spin Art Turkey Craft

 

Preparation

1. Cut each of the notched craft sticks in half. This is easier than it sounds. I used kid scissors to cut into the stick on each side, then snapped it in half by hand. Trim any edges that are overly sharp.

2. For each puppet, cut out 2 brown circles approximately 2 inches in diameter. Also, cut out a yellow beak and a red wattle. (Does anyone else call the wattle the gobbler? No? Just me.)

 

Instructions

1. Paint the craft sticks. Let dry.

2. Then, decorate each “feather” with dots of puffy paint or glitter glue. Let dry. (Glitter glue dries faster than puffy paint.)

 

RELATED: Story-Inspired Glue Dot Practice

 

4. Glue the craft sticks onto a brown circle, as shown.

5. Next, glue another brown circle onto the top so that the craft sticks are sandwiched in between the 2 brown circles.

6. While the glue is still wet, arrange the “feathers” so that they are spaced well, and make sure the handle is fairly straight. Let dry.

7. Glue on googly eyes, beak, and wattle.

8. Time to play turkey!

I love the fall colors in the turkey feathers, but you could let the kids get creative with a wider variety of colors. A pink and purple one decorated with glitter glue would be cute too.

You could also use these on a Thanksgiving kids table – they’d be lots of fun dropped into this pilgrim hat crayon cup, for instance.

What will you do with your little turkey puppets?

Happy Crafting!

-Heather