Easy Kids Paper Plate Turkey Craft For Thanksgiving

Make this easy Paper Plate Turkey Craft for kids this Thanksgiving season! Kids will love creating unique patterns as they paint their turkey feathers!

The holiday season is ripe with inspiration for crafting! Here’s a cute idea for a Thanksgiving Day craft for kids that will entertain them while also helping to work on fine motor skills.

This Thanksgiving paper plate turkey craft uses a small paper plate, some construction paper and paint to make an adorable simple Thanksgiving craft that you can use as decoration for the holiday.

It’s simple enough for young children (toddlers and preschoolers), but older children can adapt it by adding some fun accessories (glitter, anyone?). Get ready to add a lot of color and a little wobble to your holiday ‘gobble gobble’ with this adorable paper plate turkey craft!

Paper Plate Turkey Craft Supplies Needed

Paper plates – for the turkey and to use as a paint palette
Scissors
Variety of round sponge brushes – different sizes
Crafting acrylic paint – in fall colors (red, orange, yellow, and green)
Construction paper – brown paper, red paper, and orange paper
Googly eyes
Glue – school glue or glue sticks
Lid from a jar – for tracing a circle for the turkey head
Pencil

How To Make A Paper Plate Turkey Craft

Let’s make some cute turkeys to decorate for Thanksgiving dinner with this easy and fun craft!

Step 1 – Prepare the Workspace

Lay down newspaper or a disposable tablecloth to protect your work surface.

Put on a paint smock or an old t-shirt to protect your clothing.

Step 2 – Cutting the Paper Plate

Take a paper plate and cut it in half using scissors.

One half will be used to create the turkey feathers, and the other half can be used for paint.

Step 3 – Painting the Feathers

Pour small amounts of red, orange, yellow, and green paint onto the second half of the paper plate.

Using a variety of dry sponge brushes, dab and paint different colors onto the first paper plate half. NOTE: Feel free to be creative with the patterns and placement of colors to represent the turkey feathers.

Set the painted plate aside to dry completely.

Step 4 – Creating the Turkey Face

Using a lid from a jar, trace a circle onto a piece of brown construction paper with a pencil.

Cut out the circle with scissors.

Step 5 – Making the Beak and Waddle

Cut out a small triangle from the orange construction paper. This will be the turkey’s beak.

Cut out a small, rounded shape from the red construction paper to create the turkey’s waddle.

Step 6 – Assemble The Face

Glue the orange beak onto the center of the brown circle.

Glue the red wattle just below the beak, slightly to one side.

Attach the googly eyes above the beak, spacing them evenly.

Step 7 – Putting The Paper Plate Turkey Together

Once the painted half paper plate is dry, position the brown circle face towards the bottom flat edge of the plate, aligning it to look like the head of the turkey with the painted section as the feathers.

Apply glue to the back of the brown circle and press it onto the plate. Hold it in place for a few seconds to ensure it adheres well to your adorable turkey craft.

Step 8 – Dry Completely

Allow the entire turkey craft to dry completely before handling. This wonderful paper plate turkey craft is done!

Simple Paper Plate Turkey Craft Tips

Here are some ideas for success with this fun Thanksgiving craft as well as how to make this turkey paper plate craft uniquely yours!

Colors – Encourage kids to experiment with different patterns and color combinations for the feathers to make their turkey unique.

Texture – For a more textured look, consider using different types of sponge brushes, cotton ball, or even crumpled paper to dab the paint onto the plate! Or try using different painting techniques, such as using a small craft brush. You could even glue some balls of tissue paper on the paper plate.

Eyes – 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.

Turkey’s Tail – If you want to accentuate the turkey’s body with more than paint, add some turkey’s feathers on top of the (dried) paint.

Glam – Add some glitter, sequins, tail feathers, or anything else you can think of to add even more pizazz!

Enjoy making your colorful and fun turkey craft! Happy Crafting!

Easy Kids Paper Plate Turkey Craft For Thanksgiving

Paper Plate Turkey Craft Supplies Needed