Hilarious Yarn Turkey Craft for Kids
Inside: Turkey Yarn Craft for Preschoolers Look at this face! Learn to make a perfect little yarn turkey craft
I can't fully articulate how much I love this little turkey friend.
Perhaps it's his goofy eyeballs, or the way he looks like he recently got away from a crazed lunatic trying to cook him for Thanksgiving. You know the chef in The Little Mermaid? He surely just escaped HIS clutches before becoming this little craft!
It's an easy and fun project perfect for kids of all ages, and it takes a little extra time to put together so it's great for those long Thanksgiving afternoons before food is ready.
My kids loved putting their own unique spin on these, and I loved seeing what they could create. These are perfect preschool classroom crafts, or if you stay home with your little, this one is a great craft to add to your Thanksgiving decorations.
We often put crafts like these on their windowsills or along their bookshelves in their rooms so they can have their own holiday decorations without spending too much, or being worried about them breaking my favorite decorations when they get rowdy in their rooms..
Some of the links below are affiliate links. That means I may make a commission if you click and buy. Please see my full disclosure policy for more information.
What You'll Need to Create This Yarn Thanksgiving Craft
There are a few things you'll need, feel free to change things up, or read through these instructions and let your (or your child's) creative heart tell you how to build this adorable little turkey.
- Yarn
- Cardboard
- Foam Sheets (yellow, orange and red)
- Glue Gun
- Scissors
PIN for later:
Pin this Cute Winter Paper Cup Craft to Come Back to Later
This yarn turkey craft for toddlers is a great activity to do when you want to keep little hands busy. It pairs well with our coffee filter turkey, if you're looking for more Thanksgiving crafts.
My favorite part is that you can make it as unique to your child as you want. This is all just a way to spark that creativity.
Change out the colors of the yarn, or paint your cardboard instead of adding yarn. Or use feathers! There are so many different ways that you can customize this.
The cool thing about creating these crafts is you can literally do anything you want! Use this article as a jumping off point, then make your own maniacal looking googly eyed crazy turkey.
Give kids free rein to be creative! Let them choose their favorite colors and decorations. Once everything is glued down, they can proudly display their masterpiece on the mantle, or along the windowsills.
My favorite decorations are the ones my kids made. The cool thing about these little crafts is you can make them every year if you want. They're super easy.
And I LOVE decorating their rooms every season with the crafts that they created.
Yarn Turkey Craft Tutorial Step by Step Guide
If you'd like a printable version, scroll to the bottom!
The first step in creating the most crazy looking turkey of all time is to start with cardboard. Cut out a large egg shape and a smaller circle.
These shapes will be the body and the head.
From here you'll cut your yarn into one inch long segments.
You might want to do this ahead of time, or you can do this while they're gluing.
Now. If you have small children, I recommend something like double sided tape or white glue instead of a hot glue gun. I used this because this was the one I was creating away from my children.
Use what you feel comfortable with, and if that's double sided tape or white glue, go ahead and use that.
Fill the egg shape with the cut up yarn. You're going to need sooo many pieces.
Alternate your colors frequently to achieve a little more texture on your turkey.
My son added more pieces of yarn in clumps or bundles. So he took three different pieces and added them at the same time, with more than one color in each bundle.
This helps when you're adding different colors to get a good mixture without being too time consuming.
Try to make the yarn very flat at the top of the body to make it easy to glue on the face. You can see where I did the above with orange yarn.
From the yellow foam, you'll cut a small triangle, to make the beak. You'll also cut a long teardrop from the red, set that aside, we will add it after we have added all the yarn in.
And don't forget about feet. You can cut this out of the yellow or orange foam. Set this aside too, we will get to it after the head is completed.
Add the yellow beak to the circle cardboard before adding the yarn around it. This will help the beak to easily stay attached.
In the same way that you added the yarn to the body, add yarn to the head.
Once completed, add the red long teardrop to the beak, this is the wattle. Attach googly eyes, too.
Finally, add some glue or double sided tape to the orange we added to the top of the body and add that head to it's body.
Now we will take those cute little feet we created and glue them to the bottom.
And there you have it! Your turkey masterpiece is complete!
I'm all for letting kids go crazy with these crafts. So if it makes your life easier and your kids are old enough to be trusted with scissors (or you're understanding that you'll have a lot to clean up later!) let them take the reins, and decide how they want theirs to look.
Thanksgiving Turkey Yarn Craft Tutorial PDF
Here is a great printable version if you'd like it!
Yarn Turkey Craft
This year you can be the hostest with the mostest when you bring out this craft at Thanksgiving. I love this craft for Thanksgiving because it can take kids FOREVER to glue on their turkey's feathers.
Meaning you can have more time to cook, or you can happily spend this time with your kids.
This is by far the most obnoxious looking turkey I have ever seen, and with a little creativity, you can have one too!
Materials
- Foam Paper (yellow, red, and orange)
- Yarn in various colors (I chose yellow and orange)
- Googly eyes
- Cardboard
Tools
- Glue Gun
- Glue (stick or white glue)
- Scissors
Instructions
- Cut out a medium sized egg shape and one small circle from the cardboard. These will be the turkey body and the head.
- Cut up yarn into one inch long segments. You'll need LOADS!
- Fill the egg shape with the cut out yarn. Make sure you alternate colors often, or add in clumps of several colors to add depth to your turkey. For the very top I added the orange very densely to make it easy to add the head.
- From the yellow foam cut a small triangle, this will be the beak, cut a long teardrop from the red foam for the wattle.
- Attach the triangle to the middle of the circle.
- Repeat step 3 and fill the circle with yarn.
- Attach googly eyes and the wattle to the circle, then glue the head to the orange part of the body we made.
- Cut out some goofy feet to go along with the goofy turkey from orange foam, and glue to the bottom.
Notes
Tips:
Be extra careful with scissors and hot glue around little hands. If it makes you more comfortable, feel free to use regular white glue. I also love using double sided tape, it makes the whole process much quicker and easier because you don't have to wait for glue to dry, or get your fingers sticky.
Let your creativity flow here! You are free to change colors. The choice is yours! I love seeing what my little's create after I show them the instructions, it's always fun and unique!
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
