Thursday, November 7, 2013

The Turkey's Make Turkeys

We've been reading Thanksgiving books and discussing a lot about Thanksgiving and what it means to give thanks.....which is pretty entertaining with three year olds! With our Thanksgiving talks in high gear, I felt it was appropriate to start making turkeys. Turkey crafts that is.

Our first turkey craft involved a glue stick (I used, they did not) which can always get interesting when dealing with toddlers. No incidents this time around with the glue stick, but I did have to talk them into doing the craft because of the "icky sticky stuff."

To avoid any issues with the glue stick, I put glue all over the white semi-circle and told the kids to put the pieces of colored paper wherever it was sticky. This worked well for all of us: no worries about them covering themselves, or each other, in glue and simple enough that I let my one year old in on the fun too.

The second turkey craft was much more simple and easier for the kids....it just took a while for the paint to dry on the two pieces before we put them together and the kids do not enjoy waiting!
I first cut out circles for the heads and had them do "dot painting" with the circle brushes. Then I had them do the semi-circles (aka-feathers) in the same way. This gave each child's turkey a very cool and unique effect.

For both turkey projects, I cut out semi-circles for the feathers and circles for the heads, googley eyes, and pieces of scrap paper to make the beak. I did not let the kids use the glue stick with either project, but they excitedly watched me and helped me put on the eyes and beak. We will definitely be continuing with the turkey theme into next week as the kids got a kick out of doing these!