Five Little Turkeys Felt Board Story and Printout

FIVE LITTLE TURKEYS 

Five little turkeys standing by the barn door,
One waddled away, and then there were four.
Four little turkeys out under the tree,
One waddled away, and then there were three.
Three little turkeys with nothing to do,
One waddled away, and then there were two.
Two little turkeys in the noonday sun,
One waddled away, and then there was one.
One little turkey better run away,
Soon will come Thanksgiving day.

I made my turkey using a die cut machine and added some color with fabric markers.

(Feel free to print out the sheet below)

Paper Mache Pumpkin

I bought small, brown paper mache pumpkins for kids to color with markers and add glitter to for an evetn I did at the library.  I have some leftover pumpkins and have been dreaming up all the fun things I can do with them.  I decided to continue on with the paper mache route and use orange and yellow tissue paper.  

What you need:

• Orange and yellow tissue paper (or any colors you'd like)
• Mod Podge
• Small paint brush
• Paper mache pumpkin

Cut your tissue paper into one inch strips and then cut the strips into one inch squares.  I did not measure, just a rough guess.  The pieces do not need to be perfect..

Using the small paintbrush add a thin layer of Mod Podge to the pumpkin.  Place a piece of tissue paper on the Mod Podged area and use the paint brush to smooth the paper down.  I started at the top and worked around in a circle until the entire pumpkin was cover.  Once you are satisfied with your pumpkin, give it a nice top coat of Mod Podge to seal everything down.  I used a matte finish on my pumpkin so it's not too shiny.

I'm toying with the idea of adding some chunky glitter to this pumpkin.  Sometimes glitter just adds a nice touch, and by sometimes, I mean all the time!

Enjoy!!

3-D Turkey Cube

Still working on changing up my fall crafts. This 3-D turkey is what I came up with.  I made a 3-D cube out of a cereal box.  Just Google search "3-D cube template"  and you will have many choices and sizes to choose from.  

What you will need:

• Thin cardboard or an empty cereal box
• Cube template
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Exacto knife
• Colored paper
• Foam (for feet or you can use paper for that too)
• Fake leaves (or paper ones)
• Googly eyes
• Craft glue

How to make this cute little turkey:

Print out a cube template and cut it out.  Trace it onto a piece of cereal box or thin cardboard. Cut out the cardboard cube.  Using the exacto knife, score the edges that will be fold by lightly pressing the knife along those lines.  Be sure not to cut all the way through.  Fold all the edges that need to be folded and with some patience, glue the box together.  Pick out about 5 leaves to use as tail feather.  Layer and glue them together.  Glue your stack of leaves to the back of the cube. NOTE: I used a hot glue gun with my leaves because I didn't have good craft glue handy at the time and regular school glue wasn't cutting it. While your leaves are drying to the box, cut out a beak and gobbler from paper and feet from a piece of foam.  Glue two googly eyes to the front of your cube along with the beak, gobbler, and feet.  Let everything dry for a few minutes and you're done!  Look how cute this square turkey is.  :-)

For the library kids I will have fun fall scrapbook paper to cover the cubes with and crayons to give each turkey a little more personality.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving: Books and Crafts

November is one of my favorite months of the year.  Mostly because my birthday is in November, but I also love fall crafts!  Here are a couple of my favorite fall crafts to do with teens and kids along with some great books.

Teens:
Rectangular leaf wreath. This can be made using cereal boxes or any other scrap cardboard, fall colored leaves at any craft store, ribbon, a pumpkin cut out of foam using a die cut machine, and glitter.  I used a hot glue gun to attach the leaves and ribbon.  These make great presents and are fun to make.  The teens would do this craft in Art club or during a school break.

Kids:
This cute little pumpkin is made out of foam and cute into a pumpkin shape using a die cut machine.  These are simple and fun to make.  Sometime I attach ribbon on the back and other times I use magnet strips.  I find that ribbon glued to the back of the foam works best.  Sometimes for a more cost effective craft I use orange card stock and magnet strips.  This way children can have a choice of crayons or markers.  Glitter is always fun to add to these little projects, but it definitely gets messy with several little ones around.  :-)

Fall Wreath:  This is made with a paper plate, fall leaves, and ribbon.  I cut the center out of a paper plate and punch small holes all around it-just big enough for the stem of the leaf to fit through.  I tape the stems down to the back of the wreath and use a glue stick to keep the leaves flat on the plate.  This one has a cute little squirrel and acorns on it, but it would look nice with a small turkey!

Books:

Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch 

    by Mary Peterson

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving 

    by Dav Pilkey

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie

    by Alison Jackson

Splat Says Thank You! 

    by Rob Scotton

Thanksgiving Rules 

    by Laurie Friedman

'Twas the Day AFTER Thanksgiving 

    by Mavis Smith

The Littlest Pilgrim 

    by Brandi Dougherty

Over the River and Through the Wood 

    by Lydia Maria Child

The Perfect Thanksgiving 

    by Eileen Spinelli