It seems like more and more holidays are busy, too busy. The past few years I’ve made an effort with my family to slow things down and enjoy the holidays for their true meaning. As we head into November with Thanksgiving just around the corner, I’ve been looking for ways to think about thankfulness all month long with my children.
That’s where the idea for a Thankful Turkey box gobbled its way into my heart. Essentially, it’s a cute Thanksgiving craft for kids (and parents) to foster conversations about thankfulness. It’s simple to put together and you can personalize it however you want.
How To Make a Thankful Turkey Box
Materials Needed:
- Empty tissue box or shoebox
- Brown washable paint
& paintbrush - colorful construction paper or cardstock
- Googly eyes
- Glue
& 
or cardstock
If you’re using an empty tissue box for your thankful turkey, then there’s already a hole for putting “thankful” notes in. If you’re using another box, you can cut out a hole on the top first.
Next, paint your empty box with brown paint & let dry. Depending on your box, you may need a second coat of paint. Ours did because the tissue box decoration was still showing after just 1 coat of paint.
Once the paint is dry, you’re ready to start creating your turkey.
The body of the turkey is a figure 8 shape. Have your little artists draw a large “8” on the back of a light colored piece of construction paper (we used beige) & cut out. Use school glue to adhere it to the painted box. (We tried a glue stick but that doesn’t work well.)
The beak is a diamond shape, folded in half. Because I have three daughters, they requested a “girl turkey.” So we opted to swap out a wattle for a red bow, made with ribbon. This is where you and your children can personalize your turkey to whatever you prefer.
Glue everything on. Don’t forget to add the two goggly eyes too.
Allow everything to dry.
Next we’ll add the turkey feathers.
We cut out turkey feathers using different colors of construction paper.
Once a preschool teacher told my daughter the turkey she was coloring wasn’t real because it had rainbow feathers. So I followed up by showing my daughter the fun colors of feathers on wild turkeys; they really are colorful! If you’re cutting out rainbow feathers for your Thankful Turkey, I salute you.
The shaping of the feathers is an oval shape with a pointed tip. We used five for our turkey. Glue each feather onto the back of your turkey box.
Once you’re Thankful Turkey craft is completed, you’re ready to discuss numerous blessings and reasons to be thankful. We used strips of paper to write down ideas.
We plan to add to our turkey box each night after dinner.
Since my youngest can’t write yet, she had fun stuffing fake feathers in and telling us what she loved. The Pilgrims will be proud that in 2016, “Jake and the Neverland Pirates” tops the list of what we’re thankful for.
This Thankful Turkey box is a wonderful way to embrace Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday season with your kids. I love how simple this concept is, yet how how effective.
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