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A Fun Kid's Craft for Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving is a couple of weeks away...OH MY!
Our Grand was here one Sunday and we try to do a craft.
I found a large bag of OLD Vintage plastic ball ornaments at a thrift store, 3 dozen or so for $4.00. Well, over half were lime green (for my D-in-law), with a few gold and 8 orange.
Knowing I was never going to have an orange Christmas tree, I dug in my craft stashes, and decided to REDO them into Turkeys for the table with the Grandgirl.
I had everything on hand, I shop end of season sales
(70-90% off) for kid's craft supplies,
and keep a huge tub in the kitchen corner buffet.
I had a bag of brown feathers, chenille stems, google eyes and lots of foam sheets,
foam glue and brown paper drip coffee filters. Rather than throw them out when that coffee pot passed on---I saved them for crafts-a GREEN thing to do.
I precut the black, (I didn't have brown) foam sheets into proportional squash shaped heads. The Grand wasn't ready for scissors yet, she had just turned 4.
Here are the supplies ready for crafting. I corral supplies into plastic tubs, to keep the table organized and easy to go fishing in. The Grand picked out the eyes, she made sure she matched them---sometimes eyes don't match though, which can be fun.
I cut each chenille stem in half with a wire cutter and twisted the two pieces
together leaving the ends open and sticking out for turkey feet.
Here the Grand traces her hand on two-layers of foam sheet.
You need two hand shapes for each turkey.
She does a pretty good job, we used washable markers.
We use wax paper or parchment paper for work surfaces.
Nothing sticks to it, and makes for easy clean-up.
While Gramma cut the hands out, Grampa and the Grand glued feathers on the opened coffee filters.
This worked great, the foam glue is thick and tacky, and the feathers stuck super.
We each did two or three. The Grand was very patient in placing her feathers without help.
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They look very fluffy. The shape of the filter is perfect for a tail. We let these dry for over an hour.
I made one google-eyed turkey face with the precut beaks and wattles. The Grand knew the red thing was the wattle from story hour at the Library.
She patiently did all the beaks, eyes, and Wattles...
"That's a funny word Gramma," she giggled.
I squeezed the glue, because it was thick and sticky. She doesn't like getting sticky, lol.
I love that they are all different, I didn't use patterns and we free handed the shapes
I tried to use the foam glue, but as a crafter I'M IMPATIENT, so I got out the hot glue gun.
First I put the feather layer paper on, and then the two foam hands behind, thumbs pointing out. The Grand helped by pushing on the pieces. She pushed on all the faces after okaying their placement.
Yes, those are cookies she is working on too, we multi-task around here. I always have a plan B when working with kids. You just never know when they will want to do something else.
Gramma hot-glued the turkey feet on by herself.
I used an extra hot glue-stick as a finger to pushdown on the 'feet' and save my own fingers.
No burns that way.
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Results, some NEW roly-poly turkeys for the Dining Table or a Tree, that can sit up straight on top of a REUSE canning jar rim.
The foam glue will dry completely clear, eventually. (my Impatience-again).
These in any scale would be great for a Fall tree.
A Happy Face and Gobble-Gobble Turkeys!
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Gobble-Gobble! Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Supplies for a Roly-Poly Turkey
Safe disposable surface for gluing, I used parchment paper or wax paper.
ball ornament(s)-orange, gold or brown would work, these were soft-ball size, but you could use any, you will just have to scale down the papers and foam pieces.
Yellow, green, orange, red was glitter and what I had, also black/brown plastic foam sheets. Quantity depends on how many you are doing
Google eyes (I buy assorted packs on sale.)
Paper coffee filters from a drip coffee pot, or cut a fan circle shape from a paper bag in scale with your ball. You could also use Cardstock scrapbook paper-something with a little body to glue feathers on.
2 chenille stems for each turkey
Foam Glue
rubber bands to hold pieces in place if you use foam glue, or hot glue used by an adult.
Feathers, we used a bag of assorted brown feathers or leaves will work also.
Washable marker,
scissors
canning jar lid ring for a base.
Tips:
Have the small pieces cut out ahead of time.
Make a sample to show what stages of a finished project might look like for kids to get excited.
Put leftover supplies in zip-plastic bags, for easy finding, in your craft tote.
Thanks always for visiting.
I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.
All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle
I will be sharing at these fine Parties
Sandi
