All the stores are packed with Christmas decor already but I don’t want to skip over Thanksgiving crafts! This Turkey craft for toddlers could also been done with older kids but toddlers get an extra kick out of squeezing and spreading the glitter glue as well as the sticky texture of the contact paper. Make sure while you are crafting that you use the opportunity to use these words. You don’t have to direct the exploration but as they explore add a little narration here and there.

1. Gather your materials. You will need some construction paper, contact paper, glitter glue ( ours is from our friends at craftprojectideas.com) , scissors, googly eyes and glue.
2. Start by folding a sheet of construction paper in half and cutting out feathers.
3. Next cut the middle out of that. You will want to keep it folded to make this easier. You should end up with a frame.
4. Cut out a turkey body ( think bowling pin shape) a nose and a gobble ( upside down heart). I used scrap paper for this. If you don’t have red and yellow paper grab some white and color it
5. Lay your contact paper on the table sticky side up add the feather frame.
6. Time to add the glitter glue. She loved this. What she doesn’t know is that unscrewing the caps, squeezing the glue and even spreading it are all working on her fine motor and eye hand coordination skills. Yay!
7. Another skill this works on is color recognition. ” What color are you using?” it’s as simple as that.
8. Explore as long as you want. she spent longer than I expected on it and specifically told me I was not to help with the caps, unless they fell on the floor and then it was ” Mama job go get the cap.”
9. Next add the body.
10. Beak and gobble.
11. Cover the whole thing with another sheet of contact paper. Press. Glue the eyes on the outside and let dry.
12. Cut out . Pop it on the window for a little extra sparkle Thanksgiving style!