Kids Thanksgiving Crafts: Turkey Table Topper, Turkey Can

Kids Thanksgiving Crafts
Turkey Table Topper

Not only can this festive bird really dress up a Thanksgiving table, it also does double duty serving up your dinner rolls.

CRAFT MATERIALS:
Large brown paper bag
Piece of corrugated cardboard
Paper plates
Stapler
Mod-Podge glue
Colored paper
Orange or red balloon and googly eyes
Glitter, stickers, or other notions
Craft clothespins
Tacky glue

1. The Turkey's Body:

Trim the bag so that it measures about 8 inches tall. Then fold down the sides so that they are half the height and double the thickness. Cut the cardboard to fit in the bottom of the bag and insert it. Next, fold a paper plate in half and fit it inside the bag where the tail will go, bending the sides as needed.
2. Staple the plate in place. Then staple a second plate (don't fold this one) to the outside of the bag behind the first plate. For wings, fold 2 paper plates in half and staple one to each side so the bag is sandwiched between it.

3. For the turkey's head, fold and staple another paper plate, as illustrated. Decorate all the paper plates, including the head, by gluing o torn bits of colored paper. Then add a balloon wattle and googly eyes.

4. The Feathers:
Have your kids glue colored paper shapes on paper plates, layering different prints or creating bold patterns if they like.
5. When the glue is dry, cut feather shapes out of the plates and stick a craft clothespin to the back of each with tacky glue so your child can attach the feathers to the paper plates. For an extrafancy finish, they can add decorative notions or even their names.

Felt Turkey Candy Can
Gobble gobble! This adorable little turkey-themed craft for kids is perfect for filling with wrapped candy. Place him on the Thanksgiving table and everyone will comment on just how cute he is!
What you'll need:
* 1 vegetable can
* Felt: brown, red, orange, tan, goldenrod, white, black
* Scissors
* Tail pattern
* All other patterns
* Scissors
* White craft glue
* Hot glue gun

How to make it:
1. Inspect the opening of the vegetable can and be sure there aren’t any sharp edges. If there are, use a piece of sandpaper to wear them down. Remove label, wash and dry completely.
2. Lay can on its side on the short end of the sheet of brown felt. Roll up to determine how much felt you will need, trim the end so that you have about an inch overlap at the top, bottom and around the perimeter as well. Glue the brown felt to the can, folding over the excess and gluing to the bottom and inside the lip of the can. Look for the seam, this will be the back of your turkey.
3. Using pattern, cut out the tail from a piece of cardstock, you will need this to glue your felt to as the felt is too flimsy to stand on its own. Using the other patterns, cut out a red waddle, white eyes, black pupils, brown head, black eyebrows, goldenrod beak, tan collar, and orange feet. For tail feathers, cut out 2 red, 2 tan, 1 orange, 1 goldenrod and 1 brown.
4.