Every week I watch as dozens of kids leave our church’s religious education classes with smiles on their faces, the youngest grades (and even sometimes the older grades) carrying a craft they made. The teachers do a fantastic job making the kids feel welcome and coming up with creative ideas.
Last year this Thankful Turkey Paper Bag Puppet was one my first grader couldn’t wait to show me. It has become one of our favorite Thanksgiving crafts.
This turkey craft is a fun Thanksgiving craft for preschoolers, but works well for kindergarten and first graders, too.
Related Post: Teaching Kids to Give Back
Thankful Turkey Paper Bag Puppet
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Materials Needed:
- Brown Paper Lunch Bag
- Construction Paper
- Self-Sticking Googly Eyes
- Glue Stick and Scissors
- Crayons or Markers
For this particular thankful turkey, 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.
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.
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.
Next, have the students make 4 or more feathers to glue onto their turkey. 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. Then they will glue the feathers to the back of the paper bag turkey.
Next they need to cut 2 yellow triangles to glue on as a beak. Finally they will stick large googly eyes on. (Don’t you just love googly eyes?)
Tip: If you do this with a toddler or young preschooler, you can ask them what they are thankful for and write on the feathers for them.
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). This one just may be a craft I keep with all his school mementos.
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!