Thanksgiving crafts for kids : Paper roll turkey

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We are back with another Thanksgiving craft, this time for a preschooler. What’s  Thanksgiving without a turkey anyway ? The ever (in)famous paper roll never disappoints us with it’s infinite crafting possibilities. We made a paper roll turkey craft.My 4 year old had an amazing time making this thanksgiving craft and we are planning on using them as our place cards at our big Thanksgiving dinner. [ Access all our paper roll crafts here]

Simple yet cute, these birds will be the talk at your dinner table!

Turkey Craft for Thanksgiving

 Step 1: Getting the parts ready

Halve the toilet paper rolls. Cut a body for the turkey from brown construction paper. Glue the turkey body to the paper tube.

Step 2 : Add the features

Add the eyes, beak, wattle and feet.

Step 3: Making the feathers

We used colored printing paper so little hands could easily manipulate them and of course for their vibrant colors..  To make the feathers , fold in a zig-zag pattern to make fans or in this case, turkey feathers.

Now depending on the length of your toilet rolls you can cut the fans or keep them long. We cut ours because we liked our turkeys to be little cutie- patooties! Staple different colored fans and gently separate the folds to open out the fan. Place them on to the paper tubes.

Since we are using our turkeys as placecards, we cut out a small labels with names and attached it to the belly. Big S loves to set the table for dinners and she is looking forward to setting the table for our big Thanksgiving dinner.

Which bird gets the raves at the table? – Will it be my 10 pounder Butterball or Big S’s cutie-patootie TP roll bird?

Feel free to pin this image!

Heres’ a thought:

You can expand on this idea to make a center piece, or placecards like we did, or even turn them into party favors for your guests. Just close the the bottom of the paper tube and place some treats or thank you notes for your guests to to take home.

Thanks for reading

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Check out our resourceful e-book filled with many preschool play ideas.

We have also collaborated on another e-book with simple and practical baby play ideas.

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