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It’s been many years, now, since I’ve been the chief cook and bottle washer for Thanksgiving feasts in Oklahoma. Even with all of that time behind me, I still remember how difficult it could be making a huge feast with kids running around. It took only a single Thanksgiving of me yelling things like “Careful!” and “OUT!” :)
My family has a history of holidays and hospitals. One Christmas my sister got her brand new Swiss Army Knife embedded in her hand. And then, many years later, she went into labor on Christmas Day. Last year, my nephew was in the hospital for days after an accidental poisoning. And one Black Friday I went shopping in the wee hours of the morning and then went to have surgery to have my pinkie reattached to my hand. My recently purchased Christmas gifts were still in the trunk of the car.
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With as accident-prone as my family having activities to keep littles busy and out of harm’s way is totally necessary. Heck, it could be beneficial to keep the adults out of the way, too :)
SIX years ago I decided to make some simple Thanksgiving crafts to keep my nephews busy. And this year with a lot of renewed interest in my old post I saw an opportunity to tweak it a little bit. If you’re wanting to create a turkey puppet using felt rather than real feathers, you can still read that post over here.
Supplies needed to make a turkey puppet:
- Feathers (Natural | Gold | Silver)
- Kid-Friendly Low Heat Glue Gun
- Winter Gloves
- Craft Felt in Orange and Red
- Scissors
The winter gloves you purchase for this craft don’t need to be expensive. My burnt orange gloves were $3 a pair in the junior’s section of Target. The lovely dusty rose gloves were similar in price for a pair of 2 in the women’s accessories section of Walmart. You can also purchase children’s gloves if your littles still have little hands!
I’m also linking to the glue gun I saw online being marketed as safe for children. In all honesty, hot glue gun and kids don’t seem to equal safety, to me, so I decided to test it out. The very first thing I did, albeit accidentally, was squeeze a glob of glue right onto my hand. The glue was warm but not hot. The thing it most reminds me of is hot wax when you get your eyebrows done, or whatever. The metal tip on the glue gun does get hot-ish and when I decided to touch it to test it, it didn’t hurt and it didn’t leave any kind of mark. All in all, I’d really recommend this Kid-Friendly Low Heat Glue Gun IF you can trust your kid with things like scissors. But remember that it is always a good idea to supervise children when using crafting tools.
Leave the Cat Craft Assistant Out of this Project!
Leave the cat craft assistant out of this project, they’ll just steal your feathers!
How to Make a Turkey Puppet from a Winter Glove.
Cut a triangle shape out of orange felt for the turkey’s beak. Cut a small slit in the middle where it will connect with the face.
Create the beak for your turkey puppet. Attach the orange triangle onto the thumb of the puppet like you see in the image above.
Cut the turkey’s wattle out of red felt. You can make a mirrored piece by folding felt in half and then cutting out your shape. It might take a few tries to get a wattle you’re happy with, but felt is super inexpensive, so keep trying until you get a shape you love.
Attach the wattle to the turkey’s face on the thumb, over the beak.
Glue feathers onto the fingers in any pattern or way you’d like. Though the glue in a cool glue gun isn’t super hot, still be careful as the glue can squeeze through the feathers easily.
For a turkey puppet that is pretty on both sides, flip over and add feathers.
That’s a fine pair of turkeys!
Take care when putting your turkey puppet glove on. The feathers can be damaged or removed with rough use.
But also remember that the supplies for this craft are super inexpensive and feathers come lots to a pack. If any get damaged simply replace them as needed. I am guessing that even turkeys like a makeover every now and again. :)