Eco-Friendly Craft - Thankful Turkeys

By Scarlet

“Thankful Turkeys” are a fun, eco-friendly Thanksgiving craft that everyone can participate in. Best of all, they are made using leftovers from around the house and they make a great addition to the mantle or even as a holiday dinner centerpiece.

When they are finished, have everyone in your family write down something that they are thankful for and stick it in the Thankful Turkey jar. The Thankful Turkey can then can be passed around and read at the dinner table for the big feast or later when you are relaxing around the fire!

What you need:

•    Glass or plastic jars for the base of the Thankful Turkey

•    Paper scraps, scissors and glue (crayons are optional or think of other supplies to add your own twist)

When I did the project with my own kids, I put the supplies on the table and explained we were making turkeys out of the old jars. Then I had them wrap their jar in a piece of paper to make up the body of the turkey because it gives the glue something to stick to.  

Right away methods for the turkey body varied. My daughter used a solid sheet for the base of the turkey body and my son used strips to make it look more like feathers! I decided to cut out part of my solid band so that I would be able to see the paper strips with the thankful notes inside.

For the tail feathers, we dove into our paper scraps box, cut out feathers, glued them onto a strip of paper and then glued the strip onto the turkey body.

Next, we designed our turkey wings. My daughter chose to glue several scrap paper feathers to the wing spot on each side. My son cut wings and drew feathers with crayons. I cut wings and glued the tiniest paper scraps from our scrap bin onto the wings for feathers.  

Finally, we all embarked on creating the Thankful Turkey's head. My daughter cut out a flat head, drew the eyes and beak onto it and added a red paper wattle. My son did a flat    3-D head and neck and used more paper scraps for the beak and wattle, finally coloring in the eyes. I chose a round 3-D head and attached it by gluing paper at angle to hold it up.

We finished our green craft by writing things we are thankful for on strips of paper. This is a great craft and exercise to remind us all of just how much we have to be thankful for!

Do you have any suggestion for eco-friendly crafts that you would like to share? I love new ideas!