We had so much fun counting down to Halloween last month, that we had to do it again for November (and I’m sure for December too!) We’re removing one feather each day, counting down until the turkey gets gobbled on Thanksgiving.
Supplies for Turkey Countdown:
- Brown paper – preferably cardstock for the turkey’s body and head.
- Colored paper – cut into strips, as many as days until Thanksgiving
- crayons
- gluestick
Draw and cut a large circle out of the brown paper, as big as it can go. Then cut a smaller circle, but with a square neck at the bottom. Bend the square part of the small circle back and glue it to the middle of the big circle, it’s for a 3D head. Now draw eyes on the head, glue on a beak, and glue on a snood – the red thing hanging over the beak!
Cut your colored paper into feather strips and glue them to the back of the turkey body. You can leave these colored feather strips blank or write something you’re thankful for on each one. You could even wait to write what you’re thankful for when you pluck the feather each day.
Now it’s ready for Plucking! Everyday you get to remove a colored feather strip, getting you closer to Thanksgiving.
OR, if you want to keep your turkey intact, here’s an alternative:
- Instead of removing feathers, write what you’re thankful for on a new feather each day. This way Turkey Tom, the family pet, can keep his neck and won’t have such a sad ending!
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
I am DEFINITELY doing this!! Thanks for the idea! I’ll probably have to cut out the feathers and make the turkey myself, but my 2-year old daughter can help with the gluing. This will be a great way to start teaching my children to be thankful.
I love this idea! I think we should have countdowns for everything!! (except maybe seeing the dentist!)
You really have the best ideas. I agree with Maureen- we should have countdowns for everything!
We are so doing this! Thanks for the great idea. I think we are going to do the thankful one so they actually have some inkling of what Thanksgiving is about besides what they learn from Charlie Brown.
I love this idea! I think I’ll make one up at work…the kids at school will love it!
What a great idea! This would be a good way to teach the little ones all about Thanksgiving and to get them excited about the day.
AWESOME! I havent done a countdown this year and I think this one will be perfect~!
i was just getting ready to blog about it tomorrow we do the turkey but we add a feather for each day and write what we are thankful for in the feathers! they are great to read on thanksgiving day!
That is a great idea!!! Thanks so much for sharing!
Add a gratitude scripture to the back of each feather for a quick morning devotional and a bright spot in the morning.
Brilliant idea. Countdowns are such a great way to build excitement and reflect on upcoming events. You have come up with such a creative and fun way to eagerly anticipate celebrations.
I am a big fan of countdowns, always have been. Now you have my mind racing as to all sorts of different ways our family can track how many days till ……
Love the idea of using the countdown as a way to express gratitude. If you were doing a birthday countdown, you could record a different memorable event from the past year. Mmmm, now I am off to create something for our family.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful idea.
Elise.
Yeah, we’re definitely doing this one too! I was thinking about making the turkey out of handprints craft, but maybe we’ll save that for Thanksgiving day. I LOVE the countdown idea.
Nice idea. My son thinks Christmas is coming (since we got some snow.) This would be a good way to keep him on track through the holidays. Thanks.
Fantastic. I’m going to make these with my preschoolers to take to their homes and do! Thanks for another great idea! I love your blog! (By the way – the haunted graham cracker houses were a hit!)
We did this yesterday and my daughter and I had fun plus I used up a lot of scrapbook paper leftovers I was saving “just in case”. Thanks for the great idea!
http://murray-triplets.blogspot.com/2008/11/counting-down-to-turkey-time.html
My kids chose to pluck the feathers, but then write what they are thankful for on each one that we’ve saved in a jar. Then on Thanksgiving we’re going to read them all!
Mindy – We used my scrapbook paper leftovers as well. They work great.
A friend just told me about this site and I love it. I can’t wait to make this turkey with my kids tomorrow!
This is so adorable! I am going to do this with my girls tomorrow, but I will put all the feathers in an envelope and add one each day. I think we will write something we are thankful for on each feather. Thanks for the idea!
I love this idea – thanks for sharing!
This little guy is adorable. I am hosting a “turkey craft roundup” on my blog, and I’d love it if you’d join and your turkey on my page. Thanks for sharing this great idea.
I love this so much. I’ll be putting the link to this on my blog.. how totally cute is that??
GREAT idea.. I can’t wait to do this craft on Sunday with my toddlers and my 5 year old!
What a fun (and easy) Thanksgiving-inspired craft! I bet my 3-year-old would love to make it.
Thanks for the inspiration.
I love it – we just finished making ours and put it up on the fridge! So fun!
we made this year DD loved it, we also had had a death in the family late in the month and this really came to be more than a count down it became so much more with us what we were really thankful for,and we read them on Thanksgiving!!! thank you for a great project and I will never forget this Thanksgiving because of it. on a lighter note we wil do it agin next year!! Thanks
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