How to Make a Pumpkin Turkey

Decorating Pumpkins for Fall need not involve carving knives. Use pumpkins, paper, felt and googly eyes to create a fun fall decoration the whole family will enjoy, pumpkin turkeys. You or your children should also draw leaves, cut out and color brightly then place them on a table with the pumpkin turkey on top for a pretty and colorful fall arrangement.

Items you will need:

1 small pumpkin
several sheets of construction paper in browns and gray (for turkey feathers)
several sheets of white construction paper for leaves (Or color of choice)
crayons, markers or color pencils
wooden skewers (like the ones used for shish-ka-bobs)
2 small or med sized plastic googly eyes
red felt or yarn
cotton ball (optional)
double sided sticky tape (optional)
Elmer 's Glue or Tacky Glue

Making the Tail Feathers
Trace your child's hands onto brown or gray construction paper with fingers spread open. Do this twice for a total of 4 separate hands. If your child is old enough have him or her cut out the hands, if not an adult or older child should cut out the hands while the younger child picks colors for his pumpkin turkeys tail feathers. Each pumpkin will need 2 sets of hands (4 total).

Making the Head and Neck
While your child is coloring the pumpkin turkey's tail feathers draw a head and neck shape on a sheet of gray or white construction paper. Give your turkey a rather longish neck and don't forget the beak. Cut this out and trace and cut out again so that you will have two that can be glued together back to back (don't glue yet). Have your child color lines on the neck pieces to resemble wrinkles and color parts of the head and neck red. The head can be left as is if using gray construction paper, your choice. Have your child tape or glue down a googly eye on each side of the head. A parent may need to help with the eye placement depending on the age of family members.

Constructing your Pumpkin Turkey's Various Parts
You are now ready to construct your pumpkin turkey's tail feathers and head. Start with the tail feathers by placing one hand, colored side down, on the work surface and taping or gluing a wooden skewer to the middle of it with the sharp end of the skewer protruding from the wrist area. Do this twice. (You may even choose to place two skewers on by having one skewer following the index finger and one following the ring finger.) Now take the other hands and tape or glue over the top of the two previous hands matching up thumbs and fingers. Leave more of the skewer sticking out on one set of hands than on the other. Set aside to dry if using glue.

Next prepare the head by placing one side face down and taping or gluing 1 skewer down the middle of head and neck. The skewer should end near the top of the head but no too close and the point should protrude out from the bottom of the neck. Cut two or three tiny teardrop shapes from red felt. Glue these slightly overlapping from smallest to biggest along the bottom of the head area near the neck. (Trivia Question: Do you know what this red hanging thing on a turkey's neck is called? Find out at the end of the article.) Now cut a thin strip of red felt and place this near the top of the beak. You may also use red yarn for these parts. Next place the other head on top and tape or glue in place. (To give dimension to your turkey's head you may choose to place a small bit of a cotton ball on the head area before gluing top piece down. You could also wrap yarn around the skewer that will be inside the head parts to add dimension along the neck.) Set aside for glue to dry.

Leaves
Colorful fall leaves are the perfect bedding for the pumpkin turkey to sit upon. While the various parts of the pumpkin turkey are drying have your child cut out and color several shapes for leaves. A great way to accomplish this is to have the child hunt for real leaves in the yard and then trace the leaf on construction paper. Of course a parent may need to help with this task for safety sake. Wrap parts of the leaves tightly around a pencil and release to "curl" some of the leaves edges just like in nature.

Finishing Your Pumpkin Turkey
Tail feathers
Once the various parts to your Pumpkin Turkey have dried you are ready to begin putting everything together. Choose a small well rounded pumpkin. You may cut off the pumpkins stem or leave it, your choice. Decide which side will be the back of the pumpkin and stick the two hands with the shorter skewers next to each other and slightly overlapping into the pumpkin near the top but not completely to the top. Next take the two remaining hands and stick into pumpkin a bit lower than the first two, again slightly overlapping the hands (think fan shape). Your pumpkin turkey now has a nice grouping of tail feathers.
Head and Neck
Turn your pumpkin around so that the tail feathers are on the opposite side of the pumpkin. Stick the skewer holding the head and neck into the pumpkin near the top or middle. Your pumpkin turkey can be looking up, straight ahead or down depending on angle of placement of the skewer. Parents will want to help with this task as too much pressure at once may break the wooden skewer. Use a toothpick to start the hole for the skewer if necessary.

Your Pumpkin Turkey is now ready to decorate your home for the Fall Season. This decoration would make a wonderful gift for grandma or a fun centerpiece for the Thanksgiving Dinner table. Make two and have your child take one to school for his or her teacher. This would also be a great craft project for a Cub Scout Pack after visiting the local Pumpkin Patch.

Trivia Answer: Turkeys have a distinctive fleshy wattle that hangs from the underside of the beak, and a fleshy protuberance that hangs from the top of its beak called a snood. (Resource: Wikipedia)