My FAVORITE Thanksgiving craft for kids makes the perfect decoration for your Thanksgiving table!
You and your little turkeys will GOBBLE this homemade craft up!
EASE FACTOR: Thanksgiving Turkey Pinecones are so cute and fairly easy to construct.
KIDS LOVE THIS: For the kids, this is the the perfect activity to build excitement! They’ll love bright vibrant feathers with which to decorate the turkeys.
MAKE IT A TRADITION: I love the idea of making an original craft to save and bring out year after year, and add to the “flock” each Thanksgiving!
ADULT SUPERVISION: This craft requires adult supervision, as the pinecone edges can be sharp for little fingers. Also, I have found using a hot glue gun makes this project move along MUCH faster, so consider using a hot glue gun vs. using regular glue, and keep the hot glue gun out of reach from your kiddos.
Here are the craft materials you will need to gather ahead of time.
Material list:
- Pinecones
- Felt
- Googly eyes
- Craft feathers
- Pipe cleaners
- Log rounds
- Hot glue gun
- Scissors
How to Make a Thanksgiving Pinecone Turkey
1.) Pick your pinecone for the turkey body. Each pinecone will have a unique shape. You can lay the pinecone on its side or standing upright. We did several little pinecone positions and we loved how it added more variety to the fun of this unique craft.
NOTE: Bags of pinecones are available around this time of year, and BONUS…some have a cinnamon scents! If you are making these off-season, search “Pinecones for craft, Bulk” on Amazon. We made a whole family of turkeys: The little pinecones were the “babies” and the giant pinecones were the “grown ups!”
2.) Hot glue the pinecone to the log rounds. The log rounds come in a variety of sizes. I found the coaster size is best to glue your turkey to! This part takes quite a bit of glue so keep extra glue sticks handy for your hot glue gun. Adding the turkey pinecone to a log round coaster is optional, but we found this will help protect your turkey and keep it looking new, year after year. You can also write names on the log round with a permanent marker and hand them out as gifts; they also look great as place settings. I found our log rounds on Amazon and ordered them in bulk.
3.) Cut orange or yellow felt for the beaks. I made a diamond shape and folded the felt over and glued on the beak in between a gap in the middle of the pinecone wood scale.
4.) Add googly eyes to the front of the pinecone at the edge of the wood scale.
5.) Pick out craft feathers in a variety of colors. Place the feathers’ points in between wood scales and glue them with your hot glue gun. The feathers look great staggered throughout the pinecone; layer as many feathers as you want. Fan feathers out and pick a variety of colors to add dimension. We also added metallic pipe cleaners and wedged those in between the feathers. Very cool effect!
6.) Make feet! Use any color of pipe cleaners (yellow, brown, black) for the feet or little pom poms from the craft supply store.
7.) Optional: Use red pipe cleaners for the gobbles on the side of the turkey beaks
Enjoy your adorable turkeys!
P.S. The feathers will fly EVERYWHERE in your house, but it is so worth it, I promise. As always, create lasting memories and document your moments with your kids.
