Thankful Turkey Craft: Toilet Paper Roll Craft

This post may contain affiliate links in it. If you click on them and purchase I will make a few cents.

Thanksgiving is a Time to Teach Gratitude

Thanksgiving is a time where we can think about all the reasons we are thankful. This is when most people are talking about pilgrims and Indians but I like to focus on something else this time of year, gratitude.

This Thankful Turkey craft helps to remind us what we are thankful for this time of year. It is a great way to introduce your child to having gratitude and great practice for those that have already been showing it.

This Thankful Turkey is not only cute but easy to do and helps with fine motor skills. This could be good cutting practice for those just learning, I recommend safety scissors for them.

Many of the craft items you may already have at home making this craft great for the small budget. Save those toilet paper rolls the next time you run out of toilet paper instead of throwing them away for this fun Toilet Paper Roll Craft.

Items Needed for Toilet Paper Roll Turkey Craft:

• toilet paper roll
• glue
• glue stick
• googly eyes
• construction paper
• scissors
• sharpie

Instructions for Thankful Turkey craft:

1. Take the construction paper and fold it in half (long ways). Cut out the feathers. Once feathers are cut out, lay them the way you want them to be displayed. With the sharpie write down what they are thankful for.
   
   For older children you could even have them expand the reasoning why they are thankful for that particular person or thing on the back of the feather. This would be great writing practice but also helps them dig a little deeper on why they are thankful.

2. Place the toilet paper roll in the center and begin gluing the feathers to it. (I found a glue stick is easier to use and sticks better here) Using Elmer’s glue, glue on a pair of eyes.

3. Cut out a small square to make the triangle for your turkey’s beak. Cut out the “snood’s” (the red skin under the turkey’s beak) a squiggly line. Glue the snood on the toilet paper roll somewhere under the eyes. Glue the beak on top of it.

4. Wait for the glue to dry before standing them up otherwise you may have google eyes sliding down the face.

Tip: If you have little kids that are still not good with scissors you may want to cut out the feathers for them. This project will only take 10 minutes or less, if the feathers are cut out before hand.

Teaching Thankfulness and Reminder to Pray

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)

This little Thanksgiving thankful turkey craft is a great reminder of who or what we are thankful for. This can help start discussions around the room as you create it. Ask your child why they are thankful for them. This is a great way to teach gratitude.

The Thankful turkey craft acts as a 2-in-1, explain to your child that each feather is someone or something they can pray for.

Ex: Dad. Ask them how they can pray to God for their dad? Maybe they can pray that he gets sleep the night before. Pray for protection on the drive to work. His health is another prayer, etc.

Related post: Teach Your Children to be Grateful with a Gratitude Journal

Thankful Thanksgiving Craft Ideas for Kids

I have found that when my kids do things with their hands they tend to remember it more. It doesn’t matter if it is a craft or a flash card.

• Thankful Turkey Toilet Paper Roll Craft by Mommy Snippets- Tracing your child’s hand instead of drawing feathers adds a personal touch. I love that she adds Popsicle sticks to place inside with each person they can be thankful for.
• Thankful Turkey Kid Craft and book by Resourceful Mama- This craft allows for construction paper and feathers which always get a giggle.
• Thanksgiving Turkey Paper Bag Puppet by Free Kids Craft- Instead of using a toilet paper roll you use a paper bag and decorate it. Don’t forget to write on the body of the bag what they are grateful for.
• Thanksgiving Pie Thankful Paper Plate Craft by A Thrifty Mom- Walks you through making a thankful plate that looks like a pie!
• Thankfulness Chain for Thanksgiving by The Joy of Boys- What a great way to have your kids count down to Thanksgiving while writing out all the things they are thankful for.

Thankful Thanksgiving Craft ideas for Teens

Don’t forget that teens like craft projects too. By this age, many are dabbling into journaling of some sort so that is a definite idea. The beauty of this age is they are all able to comprehend the different crafts and apply them to their daily life. We just need to help them a tiny bit by introducing them in a fun way what it means to have gratitude.

• Thanksgiving Tree by More like Grace- Not only does she show you what the tree looks like with step-by-step instructions but she goes through the meaning of one. Amy explains what gratitude is and why we should be teaching it to our kids.
• DIY Gratitude Tree Craft by Go Grow Go- This gratitude tree is done inside a frame which means you can keep it up and add to it all year long.
• Gratitude Journal – To keep a record of all those things you are grateful for.

Don’t forget, as always I would love to see all those little Thankful Turkey Crafts ya’ll made. Feel free to drop them on The Life of a Home Mom’s FB Page.

How do you teach your child to be thankful?