• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Platein28
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Crafts
  • Screen Time
  • Blog
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Crafts
  • Screen Time
  • Blog
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • Ă—

    Home » Kids Crafts

    Felt Turkey Craft with Squash

    Published: Nov 13, 2020 · Modified: Dec 15, 2020 by Julie Park · This post may contain affiliate links

    Pin
    Share
    Tweet
    squash decorated with felt to look like a turkey

    Skip to Craft

    Now that Halloween's over, my kids wanted to do something in the spirit of the next holiday: Thanksgiving. With our Best Creamy Butternut Squash Soup Recipe, I wanted to showcase squash and do something fun with it. And we were so over cutting/carving after the Halloween pumpkin messes. With this craft, you can decorate your squash with felt and eventually use it to cook! Behold our Felt Turkey Craft made with a Squash!

    squash decorated as a turkey with drawn-on eyes and fall colored felt tail, beak and feet

    Note: This post contains affiliate links.


    Helping Kids with their Felt Turkey Craft 

    I will say that this craft is more for kids ages 6+. My 4 yo struggled with the cutting the felt, and I had to draw all the shapes on felt for her. But she did love the gluing parts! My 6 yo was much more competent at cutting, and he was super amped to be creative with decorating the face of the turkey (see the below, slightly obscured, right side turkey, lol). I left the face steps completely in his hands. But even he got frustrated with the tail steps: drawing/stenciling/cutting of the felt. My point is: set aside some extra time to help your kids out with this felt turkey craft.


    How to Draw (or craft!) a Turkey

    Creating a turkey out of a squash, paper or any other materials isn't as complicated as you'd think. For our squash turkey craft, we focused on combining the following four features:

    1. Body. We wanted our turkey to have a rounded, pear shape! In fact, most of the other seasonal, food-based turkey crafts are made from pears...also, apples and pumpkins. 
    2. Beak (and eyes!). A small triangle with a wobbly, red wattle is a simple way to create the turkey's beak. We crafted our turkey's beak using colored felt. To create the turkey's eyes, we used a black sharpie.
    3. Feathers. To make our turkey's beautiful feathers, we staggered four colored cutouts of felt feathers on top of one another, and glued them together. 
    4. Feet. We created two turkey feet, each with three big toes. We used brown felt for our felt turkey craft's feet. 

    Easy Peasy and Fun (a great crafting website) has a great step-by-step guide on how to draw a turkey that we highly recommend checking out!


    Ways to Craft with Felt

    Recently, felt has become a staple in our craft supply. There are so many cool ways we can use felt for art projects and crafts. It's not terribly expensive, and you can find felt at places like Michaels or online at Amazon. The fabric's soft and flexible texture make it great for cutting, gluing, sewing or shaping into just about anything. Here are some other kid craft ideas to consider trying out with felt:

    Play Food

    You can turn felt into just about any pretend food item you'd like. We recently made Felt Hot Dogs, which have given our kids endless hours of fun. There are also tons of other great food-themed felt projects out there, like this adorable Make Your Own Felt Pizza and this Felt Banana DIY Craft.

    three Felt Hot Dogs

    Seasonal Decor

    My kids have made beautiful ornaments and holiday decor out of felt. Check out Fun Thrifty Mom's adorable DIY Easy Felt Christmas Ornaments for inspiration!

    Also worth checking out are these adorable Felt Butterflies and Valentine's Day Heart Pockets. 

    Toys, Tools and More!

    Kids can also make their own toys or tools out of felt without needing to sew or stitch. These No-Sew Felt Puppets are beyond adorable, as is this DIY Unicorn Pouch.

    Of course, if you have older children looking for more of a challenge, check out some of these more intricate projects, like this Hand Sewn Jelly Fish Craft or these Kids Felt Pencil Toppers.


    DISPLAY YOUR FELT TURKEY CRAFT!

    Once you complete your felt turkey craft, be sure to display it! Your squash turkey might make a great centerpiece for Thanksgiving or Fall table decoration. 

    You might also consider gifting your felt turkey craft to grandparents, neighbors or teachers. Our squash turkeys make great gifts because they are decorative AND edible!


    SHARE FUN FACTS ABOUT SQUASH WITH YOUR KIDS

    When crafting with food, we usually discuss some fun facts about the foods we are working with, like their origin and nutritional benefits. These discussions often spark more questions and curiosity about how foods are produced and harvested. According to Dr. Jennifer Cohen, the Fussy Eating Doctor, parents can start teaching kids about food by discussing the parts of food and what they do for kids’ bodies. According to Cohen, this can send a more personal and meaningful message to kid.  Some good sites for this info are: Choose My Plate (by the USDA) and Science Kids. 


    Butternut Squash 

    • Butternut squash is an orange winter squash that is grown in the summer and harvested in the fall. 
    • If you're looking for a nutrient-dense food, butternut squash is a great option! It's rich in Vitamin A, which we need for healthy vision, bones, teeth and skin. 
    • Butternut squash is known for its sweet and nutty flavor. 
    • Although botanically butternut squash is considered a fruit (since it has seeds and develops from the flower-producing part of a plant), it is cooked as a vegetable. 

     


    đź’ˇOverview of Felt Turkey Craftđź’ˇ


    Ingredient
    :
    Butternut Squash

    Corresponding Recipe: The Best Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

    Skills supported: Fine motor (tracing, cutting, gluing, drawing), following instructions, math (composing shapes)


    ✂ Supplies for Felt Turkey Craft ✂

    • Butternut squash (pick one that can stand easily on its own)
    • Colored felt (brown, yellow, orange, red, dark red)
    • Scissors
    • Tacky Glue
    • Permanent Marker

    Note: This post contains affiliate links.


    📝 instructions for Felt Turkey Craft 📝

    Consider setting up the craft before cooking so kids can get to work right away.

    1. Start by making the turkey tail. On your yellow felt, outline the largest part of the tail (like below), and cut out the shape.

    2. Place your yellow tail on top of the orange felt and use it as a stencil, tracing it onto the orange felt. Now cut the orange shape out, cutting maybe 1-2 centimeters inwards from the tracing. Repeat this stenciling/cutting with the red felt and then the dark red felt.


    3. Stagger all the colored tail parts on top of one another, and glue them together using Tacky Glue.

    4. Cut a small yellow triangle for the beak, a wobbly long, red shape for the wattle, and 2 brown shapes for the feet. Glue everything onto the squash.
    5. Draw eyes onto your turkey with a permanent marker.
    6. Glue a line on the back of the squash and lay it down on top of the tail. This glue takes a while to set, so leave the turkey alone. We left ours overnight, horizontal on the table, so the glue could dry. 

    *For toddlers especially, these tasks may require adult supervision and/or assistance.


    OTHER FOOD CRAFTS YOU MAY LIKE:

    • Fruit Turkey Craft Turkey Fruit Plate 2
    • Eggplant Witch
    • Falling Leaves Tree
    • Marshmallow Snowman Craft

     

    You May Also Like

    • Fun with Melting Crayons on Pumpkins
    • Fun with Melting Crayons in the Oven
    • How to Dye Pasta for Crafts
    • Adorable DIY Fish Puppet

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Welcome!

    Julie & Marcie in kitchen

    We are two sisters with young kids who want to help simplify mealtime for busy families! Platein28 is our family’s unofficial guide to wading through mealtime chaos. Here you will find quality recipes that take 28 minutes or less, with activities to occupy your kids so you can actually cook.

    More about us →

    Winter Recipes

    • 35 Easy Italian Sausage Recipes for Dinner
    • Reasons Why Your Steak Is Coming Out Tough and Chewy
    • Coconut Curry Recipe for Kids
    • 10 Easy Ground Turkey Soups (30 minutes!)
    • Creamy Vegetable Pasta
    • Old Fashioned Sloppy Joes Recipe

    Popular Recipes

    • Old Fashioned Sloppy Joes Recipe
    • Easy Cinnamon Pancakes with Vanilla
    • Creamy Chicken Pea Skillet with Rice (One Pan!)
    • How to Cut Carrot Sticks
    • The Easiest Turkey Burger Sliders
    • Best Philly Cheesesteak Recipe

    Kids Crafts & Activities

    • Cow-Themed Tissue Paper Vase
    • Adorable Mushroom Craft for Kids
    • Paper Plate Sunflower Craft with Pasta
    • Rainbow Spaghetti Art with Words
    • Make DIY Play Food Pasta: Mac & Cheese
    • Fun Play Dough Activity: DIY Burgers and Fries

    Footer

    ^ back to top

    About

    • About Platein28
    • Privacy Policy
    • Accessibility Policy
    • Graphics courtesy of Fred Chao

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Contact

    Have comments or questions?

    Send us an email!


    We earn a commission through purchases made through partner and affiliate sites.

    Copyright © 2020-2022 Platein28 on the Foodie Pro Theme

    We use cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to use this site, you consent tocookiesbeing used. Visit our Privacy Policy for more information.
    ACCEPT
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT