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Turkey Dinner Craft

Looking for a fun, simple Thanksgiving craft to do with your students this November? Try this adorable turkey dinner craft, using only a few materials! Keep reading for all the how-to instructions and ways to use them in your classroom!

Thanksgiving time is so much fun in school. The kids love learning about turkeys, saying what they are thankful for, and doing fun activities. This turkey dinner craft made out of paper is sure to be a winner! Students can make a turkey and all the fixings, and it looks like a real Thanksgiving dinner! Just make sure they don’t take a bite haha. It’s also a great time to talk about some themed vocabulary for the month. Coming up, we will walk you through exactly how to make your perfect Thanksgiving dinner craft!

Make sure to also check out these other Thanksgiving Activities + Freebies:

This activity goes well with these Simply Kinder resources:

How To Make A Turkey Dinner Craft

Supplies:

These are really simple and cheap to make! We like to raid our overloaded back cabinet to see if there is anything we can use that resembles Thanksgiving dinner, like tissue paper or pipe cleaners! Get creative and use what you have. Here are some examples of what we used:

  • Paper Plates
  • Construction Paper
  • Cotton balls
  • Brown lunch sack bags (or newspaper)
  • Masking tape
  • Liquid glue (works better than stick glue for this project)

Some items you may need to follow up with after are hot glue or a stapler for.

Turkey dinner plate

Preparations

It might be best to get a head start on some of the steps. Since your materials may be different, you will have to prep with what you have. Here are some thoughts:

  • Create some tracers for the items you want to use. We will trace the shape we want on a piece of cardstock and then the kids will trace it onto paper and cut it out. Some students are usually well trained to do this.
    • Turkey Leg Bone (Another option is to use the bone from this free turkey leg popcorn printable. Grab it here.)
    • Triangles for Pie
    • Circles for Cranberry

  • Plan out your other sides. Cut out different shapes of the construction paper or provide the color for students to cut on their own. Here are some thoughts on what you may need:
    • Yellow squares for butter
    • Green strips for green beans
    • Red circles for cranberry sauce
    • Little brown squares or crumples tissue paper for stuffing
    • Orange squares for sweet potatoes
    • Yellow circles for corn
  • We like to put handfuls of the above on craft trays to put out at all the tables. Students can then pick what they need for their plate as we talk about it. Some additional thoughts:
    • Make sure you have enough of each item for all the students at the table so they don’t have to get up
    • Include more than what’s listed above like cotton for mashed potatoes, pipe cleaners for green beans, and anything else you have.

Let the Fun Begin

I like to make this craft as a whole group. We model at the front and then help each other (or the teacher helps) as we go. This is so we can talk about vocabulary by saying what it’s called, talking about how it tastes, etc.

  • Start with the turkey leg. They cut out the bone, then crumble the paper bag to make it have the right texture. Don’t put anything in the bag because we don’t want it to be weighed down on the plate. Then insert the bone and use tape to attach it. (Another option is to staple it too, just to be sure). Since the turkey is so big, you may want to staple it to the plate. (It may be tricky for your students to use the stapler on a plate). A hot glue dot may be best here too.
  • Next we add the mashed potatoes. We get one or two pieces of cotton and stretch it out so it has the right texture. We put a small puddle of glue and then put the cotton on it. Next we add the yellow square for butter.
  • We go through each side just like this. We talk about what it is, what it tastes like, if we like it, and then glue it down to our plate.

Show and Share

Hurray! Your turkey dinner craft is ready! You can even add a writing prompt if you want. Display these around the classroom, or send them home to the students’ grownups. Enjoy!

turkey dinner plate

Even Easier

If you’re looking for an even easier idea, grab this Thanksgiving writing prompt and activity! Students cut out their side choices to glue onto the paper and then write about what they chose. Easy, no big mess to clean up, and fun! Get yours here!

Share how you’re using this craft in the Simply Kinder Teachers Facebook Group or tag #Simplykinder on Instagram!

Turkey dinner craft

This post was written by Johanna, an experienced early elementary teacher who loves learning about new teaching ideas for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade!

At Simply Kinder we work together to bring you ready-to-use resources to partner with great teaching for any curriculum, a Facebook community where teachers talk all things Kindergarten, and low-prep learning ideas that your students will love. Be sure to stay up to date with all things kindergarten on InstagramFacebookPinterest, and through email. Simply Kinder: where teaching Kinder is definitely better together!

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