Paper Plate Turkey

I love doing themed crafts with the kids this time of year, however, as a parent I totally hate having mounds and mounds of papers sent home with my kiddos. Therefore, I've been trying to incorporate more arts and crafts that stay at daycare (to become part of our decorations). I came across a picture on Instagram of someone doing something similar to make a big paper plate turkey. It turns out this was just the thing we needed for our daycare room!

I first laid out the turkey shape with blank paper plates so I would know how many to paint and what colors to use. I kept it simple (I am working with two year olds here) and chose brown, red, yellow, and orange for the colors. Then we* painted.

* We refers to the children, however I'm always right there making sure no one paints themselves, eats the paint, or falls out of their chair. That's why the they becomes we.

Once the paint was dry, we taped our turkey together (on the back so you can't see the tape) by overlapping the paper plates. We also added feet and a face (courtesy of construction paper). Notice it's a bit lopsided and we didn't wind up using as many plates as we painted (we kept them for extra just in case something happens to our turkey in the next few days). That's what happens when the kids get to help with the taping (again, two year olds).

The kids are all so proud of their turkey we all made together. They'll stop playing and randomly wave at the turkey--it took me by surprise the first few times a child did this! Also, my three minis have enjoyed having it in the daycare/play room. During their slumber party over the weekend, the turkey was their target for the Nerf guns.

Who knew this paper plate turkey could have multiple purposes!