Tiny Toms (Turkeys): Kid's Holiday Craft Project for Thanksgiving

Tiny toms or tiny turkeys are a fun and creative craft project for young kids to celebrate Thanksgiving, holidays or any time of year. It is a fun activity that will keep children busy for a few hours, the perfect distraction until Thanksgiving dinner is served. Tiny toms may be created with many different materials, making this a perfect project for whatever materials you have on hand. It's a great activity that can be improvised on the spur of the moment for little or no cost. Below is but just one way to create a tiny Tom of your own. (Note: use the numbered diagram attached to this article for reference.)

Materials:

Paper or foam cup
Acrylic paint (brown)
large pom-pom (brown, yellow, red or orange)
small plastic wiggle eyes (if not available, use construction paper)
construction paper (brown, red, orange, yellow)
all-purpose glue
Scissors

Directions:

1. Body: Place a cup upside down and paint brown. Allow to dry. (I will be referring to the top of the cup from its upside down position).

2. Feathers: Take the brown construction paper and cut it into the shape of a hand or crown with each tip cut to a point. This should be about half the circumference of the cup and about two inches higher than the cup.

3. Wings: Take the brown construction paper again and cut it into an oval shape with one long finger-like shape on one end. Make two of these or double the paper to make both at the same time. They should be about two or three inches long and two inches wide.

4. Feet: Take the orange construction paper and cut it into a crown shape with a square at one end. Make two of these. They should be about two inches long and one or two inches across. Fold it in half where the squared off edge meets the beginning of the crown end.

5. Eyes: The eyes can be made with small plastic wiggle eyes or, if not available, and some of those construction paper. Use white construction paper to make two circles about half an inch across. Black construction paper can be used to make two circles about a quarter-inch across to form the irises. Glue the irises onto the middle of the white circles. A black marker may also be used in place of the black construction paper.

6. Beak and gobbler: Take the red construction paper and cut a heart-shape out of it with the bottom point being squared off, approximately one and a half inches and two inches long, to form the gobbler. Next, take the yellow construction paper and cut a small triangle out of it, approximately one inch across, to form the beak. Glue the beak (flat side up) onto the squared off edge of the gobbler, so that the flat edges are flush.

7. Head: Take a large pom-pom and glue the beak and gobbler to the lower half of it. Glue the eyes of the upper half of the pom-pom, so that they are equidistant from one another.

8. Assembly: Take the upside-down, brown-painted cup and glue the feathers to the back of it, so that the tips rise above the top of the cup and the slightly wraparound the sides of the cup. Glue the wings to the sides of the cup. Take the feet and glue the square edge to the inside of the cup, so that the crown sticks out from beneath the cup. Glue the head top of the cup with the eyes facing forwards and the beak and gobbler also hanging over the front edge of the cup.

Tips:

The turkey body may be made up of anything that is somewhat oval-shaped, like plastic Easter eggs or pinecones.

The feathers and wings may be painted with multiple autumn colors.

The measurements used in this article are just for reference. Make each part is small or large as you want.

Be creative. The sky is the limit for this project. Use markers, paints, cardboard, sequins, glitter, pipe cleaners or whatever you want to decorate the turkeys.