Monday, November 18, 2013

Upcycled Turkey Craft


Welcome to a super fun Thanksgiving craft perfect for toddlers!  I just love every bit of it.  Here's what you'll need:
  • used metal lids
  • gathered leaves
  • googly eyes
  • scrap of red yarn
  • scrap of orange felt
  • pipe cleaner
  • hot glue
This idea started a while back after I saw a pin for turning some canning lids into a pumpkin.  Here's an example with one that I made.


We've been eating up items that we had canned a lot recently, thus amassing a bunch of lids.  I thought it would be cute to use some to make a turkey by painting them brown and glueing on some feathers.  However just glueing on regular feathers wouldn't involve the kids much.  But making feathers out of painted leaves would!


Start this activity by collecting a bunch of different types of leaves from outside.  Then come back in and start all the painting.  First, paint some can lids with brown acrylic paint.  It would be smart to prime the lids ahead of time, though we just gave them several coats instead.


Then go to town painting leaves in various colors!  This activity kept the girls entertained for quite some time since it was so unusual to them.

After everything dries, get out the glue gun.  Glue a smaller lid on top of a big one, then add some googly eyes and pipe cleaner feet.  Take a scrap of felt cut into a beak shape and glue it on top of a scrap of red yarn to make the wattle (sometimes called the gobbler).


Finally, glue the painted leaves on to the back of the lids.


Et Voila - upcycled turkeys!



We're saving more lids to make some snow men after thanksgiving.  I plan on having the girls collect some sticks and rocks when we're ready to make them.  It's so much fun to create something to decorate inside the house with a bit of something from the outside!


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1 comment:

  1. Really cute craft Renee! I love how your girls little turkeys turned out!

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