You have come to the right place if you are looking for fun, engaging and exciting Turkey themed activities to do with toddlers, preschoolers and kindergartners. Our activities are used by teachers, moms, dads, child care providers and more!

All our activities are available at no cost and are free to print and share. Select below to get started.

Turkey Arts and Crafts

Paint with Feathers
Allow them the freedom to experiment using either end of the feather.

Pine cone Turkey
Slip pieces of construction paper into the pine cone for feathers. Make the head out of a twisted piece of pipe cleaner. Mount pine cone on its side in a small mound of clay.

Paper Turkeys
Make Turkeys out of stuffed paper bags, Children paint and decorate with feathers ( construction paper or real)

This is My Turkey
Materials:
large sheet of construction paper (17″x 11″)
brown construction paper cut into shape of turkey’s head & feet
photocopies of the poem “This is my Turkey” (below)
small paper plates
brown paint & brushes
smocks
scissors
manila paper
felt pens or crayons
glue or glue sticks
Procedure: Trace and cut out children’s hand prints on manila paper. Children color hand prints, paint paper plate, and then glue turkey head & feet, hand prints (turkey’s tail feathers) and paper plates (turkey’s body)onto large sheet of construction paper. Children can glue poem onto construction paper and then color the paper.

This is My Turkey
This is my turkey
You know what s/he can do?
S/he can spread his tail
And wave at you!

Turkey Feathers
MATERIALS:
1 coffee filter per child
1 turkey shape cut out of brown construction paper
markers
glue
DIRECTIONS: Have children flatten coffee filters and color them with markers. Help children fold and tape their decorated coffee filters to the back of the turkey shape for feathers.

Handprint Turkey Card
MATERIALS:
1 sheet of white construction paper per child, labeled
brown, red, orange, green, yellow, purple paint
red & black markers
DIRECTIONS: Paint the palm and thumb of the child’s hand brown. Then paint each of the fingers a different color and stamp onto the white construction paper. Place the construction paper lengthwise. When dry, use markers to draw eyes, feet, and wattle.

Multicolored Turkey Hand
Paint the child’s palm brown and then paint each finger using one color for each finger: red, green, yellow, and orange. Have child press hand on piece of paper. After the paint dries you can add the eye, beak, and the wattle (that little red dangling thing under the beak).

Turkey Plate
Have your child paint a paper plate with lots of different colors, or have them sponge paint all over the plate. Let the plate dry. Cut out a brown construction pear shape to resemble the body of a turkey. Cut out a yellow triangle and red teardrop shape to form the beak, and punch out two black “eyes” with a hole punch out of black paper. Have the child assemble the turkey and then glue onto the plate as the turkey’s feathers.

 

Turkey Games and Activities

Numbers
Make a chain of 10 turkeys, 10 days before Thanksgiving. Scotch tape together, one below the other and remove one turkey each day until Thanksgiving.

The Turkey Dance
(done to the German Folk Song- The Chicken Dance)
Find a recording of the Chicken Dance and have the children pretend to be turkeys. Teach the children the movements: Make your hands like they are “talking” 4 times.
Pretend to “flap” your wings 4 times.
Wiggle your bottom 4 times.
Clap four times.
Continue until you are tired out or the music stops.
~~~Which ever comes first!

Turkey Wobble
Play music of your choice and encourage the children to move like:
BIG turkeys
Little turkeys
Tired turkeys
Happy turkeys
Scared turkeys
Etc.

Turkey Talk
Choose two children to be turkeys. Have them go to the center of the circle. Recite, with the other children, the poem below. When the poem is done, encourage the two “turkeys” to chat with each other in turkey talk.
Two turkeys went out to play
On one fine sunny day.
When they got together,
This is what they had to say!

Turkey Strut
Use pieces of masking tape to make turkey footprints all over the floor. Start playing some music. Let the children pretend to be turkeys and strut around the room. When you stop the music, have the turkeys find footprints to stand on (one turkey to a footprint). When you start the music again, have the turkeys continue strutting around the room.

 

Turkey Recipes and Snacks

Turkey
Use a prune for body, gumdrops on toothpicks for the legs. Toothpick with marshmallow for neck and head, raisin eyes, cupcake paper for tail.

Turkey Dinner Have a mock (or real if it’s that time of year!) Thanksgiving dinner, complete with dressing, cranberry sauce, and of course, the turkey! Use the dinner to emphasize how we should be thankful every day for the things we have in life.

 

Turkey Songs, Poems and Finger Plays

Five Turkeys In A Tree
Five fat turkeys are we.
We slept all night in a tree.
When the cook came around,
We couldn’t be found,
That’s why we’re here, you see.

Mr. Turkey Gobbler
Mr. Turkey Gobbler, wobbling all around,
He gobbles here, he gobbles there, it’s such a funny sound.
He spreads his tail into a fan, and acts like he is mad,
But I like Mr. Gobbler, he really isn’t mad.

I’m A Little Turkey
(tune of I’m a little Teapot)
I’m a little turkey; I like to play,
I’m very hungry; I eat all day.
When I see the hunter with his gun,
Then I know it’s time to run.

Turkey in the Barnyard
Turkey in the barnyard, what does he say?
Gobble, gobble, gobble all day.
Turkey on the table, what do you say?
Yummy, yummy, yummy all day.
Turkey in my tummy, what do I say?
I ate too much turkey on Thanksgiving Day!
(hold your hand on your belly and make a pained face…the kids love this!)

Gobble, Gobble
A turkey is a funny bird,
His head goes wobble, wobble.
And he knows just one word,
Gobble, gobble, gobble.

Five Fat Turkeys
Five fat turkeys were sitting on a fence.
The first one said, “I’m so immense.”
The second one said, “”I can gobble at you.”
The third one said, “I can gobble too.”
The fourth one said, “I can spread my tail.”
The fifth one said, “Don’t catch it on a nail.”
A farmer came along and stopped to say
“Turkeys look best on Thanksgiving Day.”

Variation on last two lines:
Out came the cook with a great big pan
Away flew the turkeys, their tails in a fan.

Mr. Turkey
Tune: Frere Jacques
Mr. Turkey, Mr. Turkey
Run away, run away.
If you are not careful,
You will be a mouthful,
Thanksgiving Day, Thanksgiving Day!

Run Fast Little Turkey
Act out the following with your children:
The brave little Pilgrim
Went out in the wood
Looking for a meal
That would taste really good.
First she/he picked cranberries
Out in the bog.
Then she saw a turkey
Hiding in a log.
Run fast little turkey.
Run fast as you may.
Or you will come to dinner On Thanksgiving Day!

My Turkey
(As you recite the poem below, have the children act out the movements described.)
I have a turkey, big and fat.
He spreads his wings
And walks like that.
His daily corn he would not miss,
And when he talks he sounds like this
Gobble, gobble, gobble.

 

 

Dear Reader:  You can help us make this theme even better!

All of our theme ideas have come from our imagination and from reader submissions.  Please use this form to contact us if you have crafts, activities, games, recipes, songs or poems that you would like us to add to this theme.