So far the extent of my Thanksgiving decorating has involved removing spiders, bats, and black cats from our Halloween decor.  Lots of pumpkins left though!  November just snuck up on me and now Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I have somehow failed to do any real Thanksgiving crafts with Reece and Bryce.  I knew I needed to do something this weekend because we have a busy week ahead and we leave next Sunday for Disneyland {yay!}.  So today was the day!

I decided to try for a Pom Pom Turkey.  I love doing pom pom crafts with the boys because they can really get involved and I always have yarn on hand 🙂  It’s nice not having to run out and get supplies for a craft right?  The turkeys turned out really cute and I love that they are personalized with hand print feathers – so fun!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Yarn {I used brown}
• Pipe cleaners for the legs
• Colored foam for the feathers, beak, and wattle
• Googly eyes
• Hot glue

Let’s get started!  First we’re going to make the pom pom.  I have a very detailed tutorial here but basically you are going to wind the yarn around your hand or fingers until you have the desired density.  Pull the yarn off and lay it on top or a piece of yarn that you will use to tie up the bundle.  Place the pipe cleaner across the bundle the opposite direction of the piece of yarn.  This will be the turkey legs and we want it nice and secure.  Pull up the piece of yarn from both sides and tie VERY TIGHTLY several times.  Flip the bundle over and repeat.

Next we are going to cut the loops.  Slide scissors up under the loops and cut all the way around.  Loops will hide so be on the lookout for them!  After you have all the loops cut it’s time to make the feet.  Use a second pipe cleaner to form the feet and twist the legs pipe cleaner around the feet to secure.

Now it’s time for the fun part!  Have your child place their hand on the colored foam and trace around their hand.  Cut out the hand and use it for a template to cut out two other colors of foam.

Glue the hand prints together, fanning them out slightly to create the look of turkey feathers.  Glue the hand prints to the back of the turkey.

Now it’s time to add the googly eyes.  Cut out a yellow or orange triangle for the beak and use red foam for the wattle.  And you’re done!  So cute right?  We have a large collection of googly eyes and the boys always love to pick out fun ones to really personalize their crafts.  I love the ones with eyelashes!

So are you all ready for Thanksgiving??  I feel kind of strange that we will be at Disneyland on Thanksgiving Day but I will of course be preparing a Thanksgiving dinner when we get back.  Of course 🙂

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