Pilgrims and Turkeys for Bulletin Boards

Simple large turkey pattern.

        These vintage outlines of a turkey and children dressed as Pilgrims may be used on your bulletin boards, walls or as window decorations. 

• Visit the Crayon Palace blog to find similar resources of Native Indigenous People and Pilgrims also here
  

Simple figures of pilgrim children.

Vintage Paper Cuts for Fall

Here are a few old-fashioned paper cuts for Fall. A turkey,
haystack and pumpkins for personal craft projects or the classroom.

Paper Cuts of Thanksgiving Turkeys

       Thanksgiving silhouettes/paper cuts of turkeys for the classroom and personal crafts.

Thanksgiving Clip Art for Crafts

       Enjoy celebrating Thanksgiving with your students using my clip art for personal crafts and classrooms. Read the Terms of Use before downloading. 

A pastel drawing of a flocked turkey.

A native American teepee.

Vintage Indian travel doll

A pilgrim's hat, corn and pumpkin

Horn of plenty and text "Happy Thanksgiving"

Doodle a candy corn turkey, landscape, birds, butterflies etc . . .

A completed candy corn, Thanksgiving turkey picture.

       This sweet little Thanksgiving turkey picture is made with candy corn, felt tip markers, white glue and a bit of goofy imagination.  Assemble a similar picture and fight cavities with creative endeavor! Children won't be able to decide which activity they love more, eating or crafting, crafting or eating . . .

      In this project a variety of artistic agenda are combined:

• developing a more complex picture type from a singular design element
• using patterns to identify both themes and space
• tracing and transferring shapes while also adapting individual interpretations of that same design element into more personal drawings
• identifying hidden shapes within a picture

      Students ranging between ten and twelve years of age will complete this art project with abundant, happy elaboration if given time. Encourage them to make creative modifications. For example; suggest them to imagine the challenge within the context of an animation or a comic strip.

The fan tail feathers of the turkey are made from real candy corn. The sun, birds and butterflies are drawn from the candy corn. The trees and body of the turkey are traced from patterns. (included below)

A close up photo of the patterns used to fill larger spaces.

An addition simple set of candy corn patterns for those of you who are working with students younger than fourth grade.

 
More Candy Corn Craft Ideas:

• How to make a crochet candy corn craft for Halloween
• Knit a candy corn creature
• How to make a candy corn trick-or-treat bag
• Make an adorable candy corn costume

Craft a Goldfish Turkey Collage

My teacher's sample of a Thanksgiving turkey made from left over Goldfish crackers.

      This Thanksgiving turkey is collaged with stale Goldfish crackers. Just download and print out my pattern below. Trace and cut the pieces out of a variety of orange, yellow, brown and tan construction papers. Then glue the crackers onto the tail feathers of your turkey pattern. I arranged these on top of ordinary white school glue and allowed the picture to dry over night before displaying it here. I also added a few little details to my turkey with a black permanent ink pen.

Points of View

by Abbie Farwell Brown

By a little girl.

I'm thankful for so many things

'Tis hard to name them all:

I'm glad that I am not grown up,

But still am nice and small.

I'm thankful that I live to-day,

And not long, long ago

Before my dear mamma was born,

And all the friends I know.

I'm thankful for my little pets,

For every doll and toy.

And, oh, I'm thankful I'm a girl,

And not a horrid boy!

By a little boy

I'm thankful that it doesn't rain,

So I can go and play:

I'm thankful that I'm growing big,

And bigger every day.

I'm thankful for a holiday,

For football, dogs and skates,

For candy and all sorts of things,

For our United States.

I'm thankful for my rubber boots

And that my hair won't curl.

And, oh, I'm thankful every day

That I am not a girl!

Craft a Pretzel Turkey Collage

      Are you looking for a way to recycle pretzels? Well, I certainly was after a so many were left over from our school's fall festival. We were afraid to eat the crackers for fear of catching a cold or some such thing. So, I did what any sensible art teacher would do. I made a sample turkey out of the left overs of course!

 Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Print out the template twice so that you can cut all of the pieces out; the images are overlapped within the pattern. 
2. Cut and trace around the pattern thus: the tail fan in orange, the body in yellow, the feet in brown, the snood red and the bill orange. 
3. Paste all of these parts in layers according to the photos shown below. 
4. Draw the eyes of the turkey.
5. Paste a piece of brown twine between the back tail fan and a piece of poster board. 
6. Trim the poster board so that only the fan shape shows after you hang the turkey. 
7. Now use a generous amount of clear drying white glue onto the orange construction paper and arrange the pretzels in a decorative pattern on top. 
8. Allow the turkey to dry over night in a warm dry place before moving it around!
   

You will need the following supplies to craft this turkey: 

• print out the template below
• scissors
• brown twine for the hangger
• white school glue
• a very large piece of standard sized orange construction paper
• red, brown, and yellow construction paper scraps
• lots of stale pretzels
• poster board for backing the project
• permanent ink, black felt tipped pen

The full view of may pretzel turkey collage. Teachers might like to display these happy little fellow in their rooms this fall!

I came up with the design idea after cleaning up a table full of discarded treats at our school's fall candy corn festival.

Although the pretzels were no longer safe to eat, I thought surely I could come up with a way to recycle the snacks?

I don't know how long I can keep him without a insect or mouse discovering him but at least he is festive dressed for for this year.

I've included a template/pattern of my pretzel turkey for you to download and print out for the craft above. Don't forget to back the craft with poster board or cardboard. It needs a little extra support!

Thanksgiving

by Clora Allen

November skies are gray and drear.

November winds are sighing.

November grass is brown and sere.

November leaves are dying.

The corn is gone from vale and hill.

The birds have ceased their calling,

The trees are bare, the brook is still.

The old brown leaves are falling.

The apples are stored in box and bin.

With glee the house is humming.

The nuts are gathered, the pumpkins in,-

Thanksgiving Day is coming!

Craft a Funny Gobbler From Paper Plates

This seated turkey craft is ready to hang. His tail feathers and body are held together and spin on a brass brad.

Supply List For This Turkey:

• a variety of magic markers
• one black permanent ink marker
• one printed copy of the turkey graphic below
• two paper plates, one larger than the other 
• one brass brad

      This funny paper plate craft is so easy to assemble after coloring the template and drawing "feathers" on to the perimeter of two paper plates. Just find the center of the paper plates and turkey graphic and then poke a brass brad through all three and clamp the elements together. Hang the gobbler up and spin him around to make him look dizzy!

For best results print the turkey graphic out on heavy weight paper. Above you can see how he looks before attaching the tail feathers made from two paper plates.

Download and print this funny gobbler graphic for your next Thanksgiving craft today.

Something to Be Thankful For 

by Clara J. Denton

I'm glad that I am not to-day

A chicken or a goose,

Or any other sort of bird

That is of any use.

I'd rather be a little girl,

Although 'tis very true,

The things I do not like at all,

I'm often made to do.

I'd rather eat some turkey than

To be one, thick and fat,

And so, with all my heart, to-day,

I'll thankful be for that!

"When The Frost Is On The Punkin"

When the frost is on the punkin, and the fodder's in the shock,

And you hear the kyouck and gooble of the struttin' turkey-cock,

And the clackin' of the guineas and the cluckin' of the hens,

And the rooster's hallylooyer as he toptoes on the fence,

O, it's then's the times a feller is a feelin' at his best,

With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,

As he leaves the house, bare-headed, and goes out to feed the stock,

When the frost is on the punkin, and the fodder's in the shock.

By James Whitcomb Riley

      What a beauty; I just love this little fall poem and nostalgic picture of a child holding a massive pumpkin! Why not include it in your next fall school newsletter? Be sure to give this blog credit so that other teachers may find use the resources here.

The Turkey's Lament by King Gobbler

I wonder what I can have done

To merit all this trouble--

Shut up where I can have no fun

And bent until I'm double!

This morning all the folks rushed out

And chased me over fences

And here and there and round about

Until I lost my senses.

I ran toward the farmer's wife

And thought she would befriend me,

But even she--upon my life--

Did nothing to defend me!

Instead, she grabbed me by a foot

With no consideration,

And in this prison I was put

Without an explanation.

The farmer's sharpening an ax;

The children talk of "dressing."

Oh, my, I wish I knew the facts!

These rumors are depressing!

But all the future I can see

Looks very, very murky.

Just now I think I'd rather be

A chicken then a turkey.

Widdy-Widdy-Wurky

This little song from 1911 (French?) is perfect for an early learning center's student performance at a Thanksgiving Play or festival. It is simple enough for little ones to memorize and silly enough for them to enjoy doing it! Don't forget to dress your performers up in costume.

This is sung by the children in a semicircle. They come in a single file. Each child takes the name of an animal, and as each name is mentioned, the child whose name it is must clap hand in time. All clap hands together. At the end all march out, the leaders first, each child falling into place as his or her name is mentioned. Go round in single file once and then out.

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey, 

Sit-a-gain is my hen,

Feather-er-loose, is my goose,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey.

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Quacky-wuck is my duck,

Velet-mat is my cat,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Shiny-coat is my goat,

Tub-of-wine is my swine,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Run-a-course is my horse,

Milkey-ow is my cow,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

What's-o'clock is my cock,

Run-around is my hound,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Nice-look-out is my house,

Dart-about is my mouse,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Yes-I-can is my man,

Whirley-wind is my child,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey!