Fun Turkey Day Craft

Time to get ready for Thanksgiving break!  I don't know about you, but my kids are going to be off all day on Wednesday and the 'I'm getting bored so I'm going to pick on my brother/sister' stuff has started already.  To combat this, I like to give them some sort of crafty activity to do to keep them occupied.   This year, we are going to be making paper bag turkeys to decorate the house. 

This is an easy activity that uses materials that you probably already have around the house (we like those kinds of activities!).  This activity is so simple that I actually do it with the toddlers I work with on home visits.  It is a great way to work on following simple directions, language, thinking skills, etc.  With real little ones, it is really about the process not the product so keep that in mind when they are gluing the pieces on.  Here's what you will need:

Materials:

• Large paper grocery bag
• Small brown lunch bag 
• Newspaper 
• Masking tape 
• Cut out feather shapes and wings from construction paper 
• Marker or cut outs for beak and eyes. 

Directions:

•  Have child crunch up newspaper and fill large grocery bag. This will be the turkeys body.
• Have the child crunch up newspaper and place in the lunch bag. This will be the turkeys head.
• Twist the open end of the large bag closed once filled with newspaper. Lay the bag on it's side.  The bottom of the bag will serve as the turkeys behind. 
• Place the small lunch bag over the twisted end of the grocery bag. Wrap the “neck” with masking tape.
•  Have child glue construction paper feathers on the flat part (bottom) of the large grocery bag.
• Have them glue the wings on the side of the bag.
• Draw or glue on the beak and eyes on the small paper bag head.

Voila! You have a quick, easy and fun turkey centerpiece!