Turkeys

See also Thanksgiving Theme

Book List

Sometimes It's Turkey, Sometimes It's Feathers - Lorna Balian
A Turkey For Thanksgiving - Eve Bunting
'Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving - Dav Pilkey
One Tough Turkey: A Thanksgiving Story - Steven Kroll
Farmer Goff And His Turkey Sam - Brian Schatell

Songs & Fingerplays

Ten Little Turkeys

10 little turkeys sat in their pen
"Hide, turkeys, hide!" said the little red hen.
One little turkey flew far away
But the other ...(9) decided to stay!

9 little turkeys sat in their pen
"Hide, turkeys, hide!" said the little red hen.
One little turkey flew out of the gate,
And when he was gone, there were...(8).

8 little turkeys sat in their pen.
"Hide, turkeys, hide!" said the little red hen.
One little turkey flew far away
But the other ...(7) decided to stay.

7 little turkeys sat in their pen.
"Hide, turkeys, hide!" said the little red hen.
One little turkey hid with the chicks,
And when she was gone, there were...(6).

6 little turkeys sat in their pen.
"Hide, turkeys, hide!" said the little red hen.
One little turkey flew far away
But the other ...(5) decided to stay.

5 little turkeys sat in their pen.
"Hide, turkeys, hide!" said the little red hen.
One little turkey hopped out the door,
And when he was gone, there were (4).

4 little turkeys sat in their pen.
"Hide, turkeys, hide!" said the little red hen.
One little turkey flew far away
But the other ...(3) decided to stay.

3 little turkeys sat in their pen.
"Hide, turkeys, hide!" said the little red hen.
One little turkey flapped her wings and flew.
And when she was gone, there were ,,,(2).

2 little turkeys sat in their pen.
"Hide, turkeys, hide!" said the little red hen.
One little turkey flew far away.
But the last ...(1) decided to stay.

1 little turkey sat in his pen.
"Hide, turkey, hide!" said the little red hen.
The last little turkey flew off toward the sun
And when he was gone, there were ...(none).

IDEAS:

1. Flannel board activity.
2. Magnet board activity.
3. Dramatize, with children being the turkeys.
4. Use stick puppet turkeys.

NOTE: I can already hear the children chanting: "Hide, turkeys, hide!" said the little red hen. They will love this repetitive line!

NOTE 2: If 10 turkeys are too many for your student's attention span, use only 5 turkeys!

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Alburgue The Turkey - sung to "O My Darling Clementine"

Albuquerque, he's my turkey,
and he's feathered and he's fine
and he wobbles and he gobbles
and I'm awfully glad he's mine.

He's the best pet you could ever get
better than a dog or cat
Albuquerque, he's my turkey
and I'm awfully glad of that.

Albuquerque, he's my turkey
he's so cozy in his bed
because for our Thanksgiving dinner
we had scrambled eggs instead.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

I'm A Little Turkey

I'm a little turkey,
My name is Ted.
Here are my feathers
Here is my head
Gobble, gobble, gobble,
Is what I say,
Quick! Run! It's Thanksgiving Day!

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Mr. Turkey

Mr. Turkey's tail is big and wide. (spread hands)
He swings it when he walks. (swing hands)
His neck is long, his chin is red. (point)
He gobbles when he talks. (open and close hand like a mouth)

~Submitted by Cindy

The Turkey

A turkey I saw on Thanksgiving.
Her tail was spread so wide.
Shhh. . . don't tell that you've seen her.
For she's running away to hide.

~Submitted by Cindy

A Turkey Sat on a Backyard Fence

A turkey sat on a backyard fence
And he sang this sad, sad tune:
"Thanksgiving Day is coming
Gobble,gobble, gobble, gobble
And I know I'll be eaten soon!
Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble,
Gobble, gobble,gobble, gobble,
I would like to run away--
Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble
Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble,
I don't like Thanksgiving Day!"

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Gobble, Gobble - sung to "If you're Happy & You Know It"

"Gobble, gobble, gobble,gobble", says the bird-
"Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble", says the bird.
Mr. Turkey gobble-gobbles
And his head goes wobble-wobble
"Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble", says the bird.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Ha, Ha, Turkey in the Straw - sung to "Skip to My Lou"

Turkey in the brown straw, ha, ha, ha,
Turkey in the brown straw, ha, ha, ha,
Turkey in the brown straw, ha, ha, ha.
Turkey in the straw, my darling.

Turkey in the white snow, ho, ho, ho,
Turkey in the white snow, ho, ho, ho,
Turkey in the white snow, ho, ho, ho.
Turkey in the snow, my darling.

Turkey in the blue sky, hi, hi, hi,
Turkey in the blue sky, hi, hi, hi,
Turkey in the blue sky, hi, hi, hi.
Turkey in the sky, my darling.

Turkey in the red barn, harn, harn, harn,
Turkey in the red barn, harn, harn, harn,
Turkey in the red barn, harn, harn, harn.
Turkey in the barn, my darling.

Turkey in the yellow corn, horn, horn, horn,
Turkey in the yellow corn, horn, horn, horn,
Turkey in the yellow corn, horn, horn, horn.
Turkey in the corn, my darling.

Turkey in the green tree, hee, hee, hee,
Turkey in the green tree, hee, hee, hee,
Turkey in the green tree, hee, hee, hee.
Turkey in the tree, my darling.

Cut a turkey shape out of brown felt. Cut out of coloured felt a pile of brown straw, a pile of white snow, a blue sky background, a red barn, a yellow bag of corn, and a green tree for the turkey to sit in. Place all the shapes, except for the turkey, on the flannel board. Then sing the song with the chlidren and let them take turns placing the turkey on the appropriate shapes.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Mr. Turkey - sung to "If You're Happy and You Know It"

Gobble-gobble, gobble-gobble
Says the bird,
Gobble-gobble, gobble-gobble
Says the bird.
Mr. Turkey gobble-gobbles,
And his feet go wobble-wobble.
Gobble-gobble, gobble-gobble
Says the bird.

~Becky Valenick

There's A Big Fat Turkey - sung to "Little White Duck"

There's a big, fat turkey
Down on the farm.
A big, fat turkey
Who stays away from harm.
He's always gone on Thanksgiving Day
For some odd reason he just runs away
There's a big, fat turkey
Down on the farm
Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Turkey on the Farm - sung to "The Wheels on the Bus"

The turkey on the farm says, "Gobble, gobble, gobble.
Gobble, gobble, gobble. Gobble, gobble, gobble."
The turkey on the farm says, "Gobble, gobble, gobble."
Thanksgiving Day is near.

The farmer on the farm goes chop, chop, chop.
Chop, chop, chop. Chop, chop, chop.
The farmer on the farm goes chop, chop, chop.
Thanksgiving Day is here.

The turkey on the farm says, "Please help me!
Please help me! Please help me!"
The turkey on the farm says, "Please help me!"
Thanksgiving Day is here.

The children on the farm say, "Come and hide.
Come and hide. Come and hide."
The children on the farm say, "Come and hide."
Thanksgiving Day is here.

The wife on the farm looks all around.
Looks all around. Looks all around.
The wife on the farm looks all around.
Thanksgiving Day is here.

The people on the farm eat Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Kentucky Fried Chicken. Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The people on the farm eat Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Thanksgiving Day is here.

The turkey on the farm says, "Gobble, gobble, gobble.
Gobble, gobble, gobble. Gobble, gobble, gobble."
The turkey on the farm says, "Gobble, gobble, gobble."
Thanksgiving Day has passed.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Five Fat Turkeys

Five fat turkeys were sitting on a fence. (One hand up)
The first one said, 'I'm so immense.' (Point to thumb)
The second one said, 'I can gobble at you.' (Pointer finger)
The third one said, 'I can gobble, too.' (Middle finger)
The fourth one said, 'I can spread my tail.' (Ring finger)
The fifth one said, 'Don't catch it on a nail.' (Little finger)
A farmer came along and stopped to say (Pointer finger of other hand.)
'Turkeys look best on Thanksgiving Day.'

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

A Turkey is a Silly Bird

A turkey is a silly bird
his head goes wobble wobble

this turkey knows only one word
Gobble Gobble Gobble

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

The Turkey

A turkey I saw on thanksgiving,
Her tail was spread so wide.
Shhh....don't tell that you've seen her,
(Make a shhh sound with forefinger to lips)
For she's running away to hide.
(make fist for turkey and spread fingers of other hand for tail)

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Arts & Crafts

I'd love to have pictures to go with these crafts. Please submit your turkey craft pictures to janalyn686@yahoo.com

Grocery Bag Turkey Take a walk and gather fall leaves. Cut out two circles from grocery bag about 5 or 6 inches across. On the head glue eyes beak and waddle cut from construction paper. Glue the leaves to the outer edges of one of the circle with most of the leaf sticking out over the edge ...glue the other circle on top. Add two legs from construction paper. ~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare Hand Turkey Thanksgiving Card Trace childs hand and color brown body and colored feathers (fingers) Write in card: This isn't just a Turkey As anyone can see, I made it with my hand Which is part of me. It comes with lots of love Especially to say, I hope that you have a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY!! ~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare Pine Cone Turkey Take one red Chenille bump & shape into an "S". Glue this to the rounded end of a pinecone with the bump protruding somewhat above the cone for the head of the turkey. Take one orange bump & shape into a "V". Glue this under the bottom of the round part of the cone for the legs & feet. Take 5-7 other bumps & carefully bend them so the narrow ends can be twisted together leaving the puffy end somewhat rounded. Glue as many of these as nicely fits close to the flattened stemmed end of the pinecone remembering to use glue on the twisted end of the wire. ~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Circle Turkey

Brown Paper Bags, Scrap Construction Paper, Glue, Crayons, Scissors

Cut two circles out of paper bags; one about 5 inches and one about 3 inches. Cut out a strip (about 1 inch by 3-4 inches) and accordian fold it. Glue one end toward the top of the large circle and the other end in the middle of the small circle. Cut an oval (about 2 inches by 4-5 inches) to be the head and neck and glue it to the middle of the small circle. From the scrap construction paper, cut out feathers on glue them to the top edge of the large circle. Color one yes, beak, ect.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Hand Print Turkey

Heavy Paper, Brown Paint, Feathers

Dip childs hand in paint, and make a handprint on the paper (make sure the fingers are spread). Draw on a beak and glue on feathers. We have also added beads for eyes.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Potato Turkey

Give each child a Russet potato & a pre-cut turkey head with 2 tabs at the bottom of the neck. Using 2 halves of toothpicks, secure tabs to potato. Using another toothpick pock holes in the side of the potato & place a real feather in each hole. Use 4 toothpicks as legs.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Apple Turkey

Use the apple for the turkey body, pre-cut turkey head, and those frilly cocktailtoothpicks for feathers.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Directions Turkey

Enlarge and laminate a large turkey character, and a supply of colored turkey feathers. On one side of the feather write directions such as "Clap twice", or "Turn around", or "Jump up and down". On the other side attach pieces of velcro, and to the corresponding spots on the turkey's tail. Attatch the turkey to the lower portion of the wall. Use this as a game, or a time filler.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

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.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Turkey Trays

Set out leaves, plastic foam trays, and construction paper. Make turkeys by gluing arrangements of real leaves for the feathers onto construction-paper bodies. Then glue bodies onto trays. Draw in features.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Hanger Turkeys

Take a wire coat hanger and bend into an oval with the hook at the top. Stretch a leg of brown, tan panty hose over hanger, tie at the top. Children cut out and glue on six feathers, three each side. Two eyes, pupils, triangle orange nose, red gobbler, and two orange feet. We hang ours from the ceiling - they are adorable.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Gobble-Good Turkey

This friendly little turkey is an ideal hostess gift that you or your children can make in less than an hour. Simple and inexpensive materials make this little guy fun for adults and kids.

PHOTO of this craft is available here: http://www.thefamilycorner.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump.cgi?ID=5089

Materials:

small brown paper bag
construction paper in orange, yellow, and brown
6" brown chenille stick
index card
magazine page with dark brown colors on it
1 cup rice
brown acrylic paint
small piece of sponge
stapler and glue
black marker or two wiggle eyes
hole punch
newspaper
3" piece of red twisted paper
small silk daisy

Body
For the body, cut off the top half of the small brown paper bag and save for use later. Put the 1 cup rice in the bottom half then gather the top of the bag together and to a point then staple at that point. The bag should now be stapled closed so the rice will not come out. Put a small puddle of brown paint on a few layers of newspaper. Dip the small sponge into the puddle of paint then pat on the newspaper to take off excess paint. Now, dab the sponge all over the bag with the rice in it.

Wings
For the wings, take the top half of the bag and cut it at each side so you end up with two pieces the same size. Dab these pieces with the sponge and brown paint on one side as you did for the bag with the rice in it. Let dry. Fold these two pieces accordion style then staple one end together so you have a small fan. Now staple or glue one fan to each side of the body.

Legs & Feet
For the legs, cut two 1/2" X 8" pieces of orange construction paper. Fold legs accordion style. For the feet, draw two 2" cup shapes with three 1/2" toes onto yellow construction paper. Cut them out. Glue one foot to one end of each leg, then glue top of the legs to the bottom of the body.

Editors note: We used a 6 ounce tomato paste can to trace a perfect circle for the feet, and them simply drew on a few toes.

Tail
For the tail, cut the brown colored magazine page to a 5" X 7" rectangle then fold into a fan and staple as you did for the wings. Glue or staple the tail to the back of the body.

Head
For the head, cut out a 4" light bulb shape from the brown construction paper. The head is the bigger part of the light bulb and the neck is the smaller part.

Eyes & Beak
Cut a 1" X 2" diamond from the yellow construction paper and fold in half the long way for the beak. Glue the back of one folded side to the head in the middle in beak position. With the marker, draw on two eyes above and on the sides of the beak or glue on 2 wiggle eyes. You can also color in a red tongue with a red marker or crayon inside the beak.

Recipe
Now your turkey should be finished. All that's left to do is attach the recipe card! On the index card, write the following recipe:

Gobble-Good Turkey Casserole

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 package onion soup mix
1 cup rice
1 1/2 cups milk
2 or 3 cups leftover turkey

Combine all ingredients in a large casserole dish. Bake covered 45 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Punch a hole in the left corner of the recipe with right side facing. Thread the brown chenille stick through the hole, then twist around the neck of the turkey and secure with a knot.

Finishing Touches
To add a simple red bow tie, untwist 3" length of red twisted paper. Twist in the center to create a quick bow tie and glue on throat. For lapel flower, simple glue a small silk daisy or sunflower onto breast area of turkey.

~Copyright 2000, Monica Resinger
FamilyCorner.com Magazine

Flying Turkeys

Needed:
Large Styrofoam cup
Yarn
colorful craft feathers
sequins for eyes
orange paper

Poke hole in the center side of cup. Tie a knot at one end of the yarn. Thread yarn through hole from inside the cup. Poke colorful craft feathers into cup - all over side of cup. Take sequins for eyes and make a paper orange beak and glue to bottom of cup. Hang turkeys.

~taken from "The Mailbox" magazine Oct/Nov
~submitted by "The Kids Place" Home Day Care and Preschool

Turkey Art

Fold a coffee filter in half 3 times so that it is the shape of a small triangle. Prepare 4 small containers of green, red, yellow & blue water. Dip each point into a color and then dip the middle of the filter in the last color. Open and let dry. These will be the turkey's feathers. Give the children a tracer that looks like the shape of a bowling pin. That will be the turkey's body. Have them trace and cut it out of brown paper. Glue the turkey's body to the opened coffee filter and decorate.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Turkey Picture with Dyed Popcorn

Materials: Picture of a turkey with backside feathers visible, tagboard to glue picture on ahead of time, unpopped popcorn, rubbing alcohol, food coloring, crayons or markers. Color the popcorn by mixing it with rubbing alcohol and food color....let dry in an open container. Have the kids color the turkey then glue the colored popcorn on to make his feathers.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Handy Turkeys

Trace shoe on brown paper and cut out to make the turkey's body. Trace hand with fingers spread apart on other colors of construction paper and cut out to make feathers. Glue or staple feathers onto turkey's body. Draw or make a waddle, eyes and beak from leftover scrap paper.

~Submitted by Cindy

Wallpaper Turkeys

Have the children cut about a 5" circle from brown construction paper. We provide the children with a precut profile of a turkey head and neck. (You could also use a rectangle for the neck and a small circle for the head.) They glue the base of it to the center of the circle at about a 45 degree angle. This is glued to a large sheet of drawing paper. They then draw the waddle, beak, eyes and feet. The children are provided with a wide variety of feathers cut from old wallpaper. (The stores will often give you outdated wallpaper books.) We then encourage the children add details to their picture like grass, bugs to eat or whatever they like.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Large Turkey Centerpiece

1. Stuff 1 large brown shopping bag with newspaper and twist shut and seal with tape.
2. Stuff a medium brown bag same way, then attach to other bag for head and secure with tape.
3. Paint entire bag with brown paint.
4. Cut out large feather of different colors and glue to back of bag.
5. Glue on large wiggley eyes, a paper beak and a red gobbler.
6. Add paper feet to front of bag.

~Submitted by Sheila from NH

Beaded Turkey

(this project makes a good activity because it improves fine-motor skills, reinforces color recognition, and teaches patterning!)

Trace a child's hand onto cardboard; then cut out the shape. Have the child squeeze a generous amount of plaid tacky glue onto the fingers. Starting at the tops of fingers and working toward the palm, have child press on colorful beads to create a pattern. Then have child glue on a wiggle eye, a felt beak, and a felt wattle. Use hot glue to attach a cardboard right triangle to the back of the turkey so that it is freestanding.

~Submitted by Betheny in NY

In The Kitchen

Popcorn Ball Turkey

Make these fun turkeys for Thanksgiving and watch family and friends gobble them up!

Materials:
Popcorn balls (see recipe below)
Peanut butter cup miniatures (head)
Butterscotch chips (beak)
Cinnamon tic tacks (gobbler)
Small pretzels (feet)
Decorator frosting
Colored paper
Toothpicks
Scissors

Have an adult help you with the preparation of the popcorn balls

Turkey Toast

Get a turkey cookie cutter and let the children cut the toast out to be turkey toast.

~Submitted by Melissa

Cracker Turkeys

Round Cracker, canned frosting, chocolate kiss, candy corn and caramel.

Spread frosting on cracker. Place kiss near the bottom of the cracker. Add candy corn above the kiss to make feathers; place one corn on the kiss for the head. Let frosting dry. Attach a carmel to the back with more frosting to make it stand up.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Turkey Games

Turkey Bowling

Spray paint liter soda bottles with brown paint and add a face and feathers. Fill a fourthfull of sand and the kids can do Turkey Bowling using a small ball! What fun!

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Turkey Feather Game

Cut five turkey body shapes out of brown felt and fifteen feather shapes out of red, yellow and orange felt. Number the turkey body shapes from 1 to 5 and put them on a flannelboard. Place the feather shapes in a pile. To play the game, have the children take turns selecting a turkey, identifying the number on it and adding that many feathers to it.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Turkey Toss Game

Take a large brown grocery bag and glue 2 small lunch bags (gathered at the tops) to sides of the bag to look like drumsticks. We then take turns throwing in the 'stuffing' (sock balls or bean bags we call cornbread! It is a great motor activity and very simple and inexpensive. And if that isn't enough, remember by using the brown bag, rolled up socks ... you are recycling!!!

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Turkey Race

For this game you will need a different color sheet of construction paper for each child. Out of each sheet cut 9 small squares and 1 large turkey. Mark off an 8 step race track using pencils, napkins or whatever. Line the children up shoulder to shoulder behind the first step. Give each child a colored turkey. Shuffle your little colored squares and draw them out one at a time. Who ever has the matching color turkey takes a step when his color is drawn. The first one to complete all 8 steps wins.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Theme Ideas

Turkey Math

Paint each child's hand with brown paper and have them press it onto 1/2 sheet of construction paper. Let them add features with markers and crayons to make the hand prints look like turkey. Use the finished pictures to talk about counting by fives. Hang them in a row with the numerals 5, 10, 15... and so on up to 100. Practice counting by fives.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Links!

Turkey Theme - Kinder Themes
Turkey Activities - ChildFun
T is for Turkey - First School
Turkey Activities - Preschool Express
Turkey Crafts - DLTK
Turkey Crafts - Kid's Domain
What a Turkey Thinks About Thanksgiving - Bry-Back Manor
Grand Turkey Hunt
Turkey Pattern - ABCTeach.com
How To Cook A Turkey - ABCTeach.com

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