Paper Plate Turkey Craft

Looking for a fun and easy Thanksgiving activity for kids? A paper plate turkey craft is the perfect way to keep little hands busy while encouraging creativity! This simple project uses materials you probably already have at home, and it’s a fantastic way to work on fine motor skills. Whether you’re a teacher planning a classroom activity or a parent looking for a fun activity at home, this paper plate turkey will be gobbles of fun!

Materials:

paper plate (cut in half)
scissors
round sponge brushes
washable paint
brown, orange, and red construction paper
googly eyes
glue
jar lid (for tracing a circle)
paint palette or disposable plate

Activity Directions

Here are the directions for making the turkey’s feathers:

Take a paper plate and cut it in half. This will be used to create the turkey feathers.
Pour small amounts of red, orange, yellow, and green paint onto a paint palette or disposable plate.
Using a variety of sponges, dab and paint different colors onto the paper plate.
Set the painted plate aside to dry.

To make the turkey’s face, follow these directions:

Use the jar lid to trace a circle onto a piece of brown construction paper with a pencil. This circle will be the turkey’s face.
Cut out the traced circle with scissors.
Cut out a small triangle from the orange construction paper for the turkey’s beak
Cut out a small, rounded shape from the red construction paper to creat the turkey’s waddle.
Glue googly eyes, beak, and red waddle to the brown circle.

After the paint is dry, place the brown circle face towards the bottom flat edge of the plate, aligning it to look like the turkey’s head with the painted section as the feathers.

Apply glue to the back of the brown circle and press it onto the plate.

I think it’s so adorable! This would be a cute craft to make for parents or grandparents and it would also look fantastic on a bulletin board!

Additional Tips

Encourage students to experiment with different patterns and color combinations for the feathers to make their turkey unique.
For a more textured look, consider using different types of sponge brushes or even crumpled paper to dab the paint onto the plate.
If you don’t have googly eyes, you can cut out small circles from white paper and draw black dots in the centers for eyes.