First-School.ws
Turkey Craft · Oak and Acorn Theme · Thanksgiving Preschool Printable Activity

Materials:

• printer
• paper or card stock
• scissors
• glue
• coloring tools for black & white templates

This is a very simple craft for young children to introduce or revisit a very special and beloved North American bird, the turkey. It features two overlapping autumn oak leaves (ordinary oak) to represent the turkey's feathers and tail; the turkey's head is an acorn, the oak's fruit and seed. The oak tree is an important source of food for wild turkeys -- acorns are one of their favorite treats. The oak tree is the United States national tree.

Make sure to review and include complementary learning activities below to address and discuss the different elements of the craft before and/or during craft assembly:

Craft Instructions:

Printing | assembly and decoration ideas:

Option 1: Print color templates, cut and assemble. Fold beak and place glue where indicated.

Option 2: Print all black & white templates and review these suggestions:

• Children can color and cut out template pieces (assist when needed). Fold beak and place glue where indicated or,
  
  
• Cut out template pieces and trace onto different color craft paper (older children may be able to do this step themselves) - use autumn colors if the activity is seasonal or,
  
  
• Letters or numbers practice > Color-by-the-Number or Color-by the Letter Activity
  Before distributing the black & white template, write numbers or letters in the template pieces to represent colors making it a color-by-the-number or color-by-the letter activity. On a separate piece of paper (or on the template page) make a simple graph with the number or letters and the designated color so the children can refer to it.
  
  
• Shapes and learning about birds > The SHAPES of the templates help us discuss the basic parts of the bird and more. The beak (triangle), the body is an EGG (a sort of oval), birds hatch from hard shelled eggs, the feet (stars), the tail/feathers are shaped liked two ordinary type oak leaves -- only birds have feathers. The head is an acorn, the fruit of the oak tree and a favorite food of wild turkeys.

Assembly steps:

1. Glue paired leaves behind the oval body
2. Glue head over the body.
3. Glue beak and wattle next to the beak (glue ahead of time for very young children)
4. Glue feet slightly under or over the body

Other ideas for decorating the craft:

Older children (ages 4.5 - 6) need more challenge to make the process more interesting and explore other art techniques or simply set up various materials and different brushes, etc., and allow them to discover ways to paint and decorate.

• Mosaic: fill the body and/or leaf template with real oak leaves or crushed leaves or cut up shapes of tissue paper, or left over craft paper, and cut out excess.
• Use a sponge roller or pieces of sponges cut into basic shapes, and mix shades and/or roll paint.
• Use a dropper to paint the oak leaves.

Templates:

• Close template window after printing to return to this screen.
• Set page margins to zero (minimum) if you have trouble fitting the template on one page or review Print Help.

Template 1:     color     B&W

Template 2:     color     B&W

Complimentary activities:

Science and Social Sciences: Visit lesson plans and resources for > What is a turkey? and What is Thanksgiving?

Alphabet Printable Activities:

Letter A Acorn > long a sound (the fruit of the oak). The turkey's head template is an ACORN the fruit (a type of nut) and the seed produced by an OAK tree.

Letter L is for Leaf > The feathered tail of the turkey is a pair of oak leaves in autumn colors.

Letter O is Oak (long o sound)
The oak leaves in the turkey's tail complements and celebrates America's choice for a National Tree -- the OAK tree.

T is for Turkey

Animals > Birds > Farm > Turkey >