For many, November is a month of giving thanks.
While pilgrims and turkey crafts are fun for kids to make, you can actually use those crafts to help kids think about all they have to be thankful for.
This adorable thankful Turkey Paper Bag Puppet is one of our favorite November crafts for kids preschool-first grade. Over the years it has become one of our most popular Thanksgiving crafts.
This Thankful turkey craft is a fun Thanksgiving craft for preschoolers, but works well for kindergarten and first graders, too.
If you are looking for more ways to teach young kids about gratitude, check out this simple idea for Teaching Kids to Give Back.
Paper Bag Turkey Craft
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Materials Needed:
- Brown Paper Lunch Bag
- Construction Paper
- Self-Sticking Googly Eyes
- Glue Stick and Scissors
- Crayons or Markers
My son did this craft in his first grade religious education class. To help things go a little faster, the teacher used a marker to write a shortened version of Ephesians 5:20 — “Always give thanks to God the Father for everything” on the front of each paper bag ahead of time.
If you are doing this Thanksgiving craft with kids in a public school, or you would rather just not have a Bible reference on it, you could simply write, “I am thankful for…” on the front of the turkey. (And, of course, kids can write it on the bag themselves, too.)
You could also try one of these simple verses:
- Chronicles 29:13 — And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.
- Psalm 9:1 — I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
Paper Bag Turkey Puppet
Once you have written on the paper bag, it is time to add the feathers.
Have the students make 4 or more feathers to glue onto their turkey. I suggest starting with 4 for preschoolers and trying 6-8 for older kids.
For younger children you may want to have the feathers drawn so they just have to cut them out. Or you could just have them all cut out already.
Have your child write one thing they are thankful for on each feather.
If you are doing this at home with a toddler or young preschooler, you can ask them what they are thankful for and write on the feathers for them.
Kids should then glue the feathers to the back of the paper bag turkey so the writing can be read from the front.
Once the feathers have all been added, cut 2 yellow triangles to glue on as a beak.
Glue a pair of large googly eyes onto the turkey to complete the craft. (Don’t you just love googly eyes?)
My son was so proud of his Thankful Turkey Paper Bag Puppet. And this momma loves that childish scrawl on the feathers: family/pets, home, food, God. In fact, this is one of the crafts I’ve saved over the years.
Other Turkey Crafts:
susen kuchta says
so simple but with a beautiful message! I think we will do this on Thanksgiving day for our craft.
OneMommy says
I hope your little one likes it as much as mine did! Happy Thanksgiving!