Thankful Turkey - Teaching Children Gratitude

Turkey Craft for Kids

Thanksgiving tends to get lost between the fun of dressing up for Halloween and the merriment of Christmas.  It's important to me that my children remember to be thankful.  I don't want the holidays to be all about getting candy and presents.  (Christmas is about much more than getting presents of course.)  November is the perfect time of year to establish good habits for the whole year.  I am going to do everything I can to put the focus on gratitude.

JZ (5) and J-Bug (3) had so much fun with our Milk Jug Monsters that I decided we could make Milk Jug Turkeys!

Before painting I rinsed and air dried the milk jugs.  Rollers work best on milk jugs to get a nice even coat.  Each boy chose the color he wanted his own turkey to be.  Crayola paint sticks best and doesn't flake.

 

We left the paint to dry overnight then made our turkey faces the next day. 

 I free-handed the turkey heads.  We attached googly eyes and attached foam stickers for the beaks.

We used red craft tape for the snood.

Then we attached the turkey heads to the front of the milk jugs.

I cut feathers from a variety of colors using my Cricut.  If I didn't have a Cricut I would have free-handed the feathers.

For now our turkeys look like this.

Starting tomorrow we will add a feather each day.  On each feather we will each choose something we are thankful for and write it down.

I adhered a few feathers to give a visual of what our turkeys will look like as the month progresses  Until we official attach the feathers they will be stored in the back of each turkey where I cut an opening.

I certainly don't expect that one little activity is going to magically turn my sons into grateful little boys.  What I do hope to establish is the habit of intentionally focusing on what we have been given.