Thanksgiving Crafts for Children - Math
Use Thanksgiving crafts for children to teach math as well as art.
The examples below show how to use art projects to teach or review the concepts of pattern, counting and addition.
Once all children have made turkeys, use them to decorate your bulletin boards and add some colorful Autumn leaves. Download the free leaf tracers on the bottom of this page.
Repeat Pattern Turkeys 
Materials
- Download the body and feather tracers (optional - you can just cut your own shapes)
- Background paper
- Precut feathers - cut three colors of 9 x 12 construction paper in half horizontally, then accordion fold the paper
- Cut out lots of feathers at one time
- Scraps of orange and red paper for beaks and wattles
- Pencils
- Scissors
- Glue stick
Directions:
Feathers First
- Have children draw a small circle on the bottom part of their papers
- Children arrange the colored feathers in a repeat pattern around the circle (depending on their abilities)
- Repeat pattern examples:
yellow red, yellow red OR
yellow red blue, yellow red blue - Children glue the feathers at the base only (this way the tops of the feathers can flop around a bit)
Body / Head
- Each child traces, then cuts out one turkey body/head
- Have child draw eyes, cut out and glue on a small orange triangle beak and red raindrop shape wattles
- Tip!
Give the kids a short lesson before the craft showing them a close up view of a turkey head. Talk about the triangle shape of the beak and the
raindrop shape of the wattle. Show them a picture of a turkey claw also.
Extension of above Thanksgiving craft:
When students have completed making repeat pattern turkeys, have each child place his/her turkey in a category, depending on the type of pattern he/she chose. As a group, count how many of each kind, and record the numbers.
Thanksgiving crafts for children in the Math Center...
- Make, then Mactac™ or laminate a turkey body/head, and about 20 feathers in three different colors of card
- The children explore making many different repeat patterns ABAB, ABB ABB, or ABC ABC with the laminated feathers
- Children record their favorite feather patterns by coloring the feathers on the turkey recording sheet provided
Turkey Counting & Addition
Use Thanksgiving crafts for children to review counting and addition. After the students give their turkeys a wonderful display of feathers, have them count the number of each color, then record their answers.
Materials
- Background paper
- Body/head tracer and feather tracer (same as above)
- Accordion fold 2 colors of construction paper, then cut out lots of feathers at one time
- Scraps of red and yellow paper for beaks and
wattles - Pencils
- Scissors
- Glue sticks
- Crayons
Directions:
Body & head
- Same as pattern turkeys
Feathers
- Depending on their ability to count, have each child choose a specific number of feathers but allow them to only use two colors.
- Children draw a small circle on the bottom part of their papers (same as above)
- Children glue the two colors of feathers around the circle on their paper
- Students glue the body section on and finish the head
- Students count and record the number of each color of feathers by printing the number on their page, then drawing a feather around the number and coloring it in (see sample).
- Children print the number of feathers used altogether on their turkey's body.
Thanksgiving Crafts for Children - Leaf Tracers
Download the free leaf tracers for your students to trace, then cut out. Decorate your bulletin boards with the turkeys above and add lots of colorful Autumn leaves.
Go from Thanksgiving crafts for children back to Thanksgiving Potato Turkeys and Thanksgiving poems.
