This fun turkey feather craft is one of our favorite Thanksgiving activities for kids! Perfect for a classroom party or to use as place cards at the dinner table!
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My girls are huge fans of using washi and duct tape to decorate and craft. They decorate pencils, make tiny wallets and wrap up gorgeous gifts. Check out this awesome taped up feather craft they made with their favorite art supply!
Last week, Sofija came home with a blank turkey feather that she was to decorate, using her own unique talents, for their classroom door. She disappeared into the basement and came up a little while later with a gorgeous feather that I was amazed at!
And, she did it all with tape! So…this blogging mama decided that I would take advantage of my child’s creativity and write up a little how-to with an emphasis on the awesome fine motor benefits that this sticky medium can provide! Check out this fun turkey feather art!
What You’ll Need:
–Washi tape and/or duct tape in festive colors
-Scissors
-Printable feather template
–Card stock or other heavy paper
What to Do:
Check out the video tutorial here!
Draw a large feather on a piece of the card stock or print the feather template on the card stock and have your child cut it out. Use this as a template and encourage them to trace more feathers on a few more pieces of card stock.
Remember to use those super fingers! Tracing is a fantastic way to encourage bilateral coordination!
After they have her stash of turkey feathers traced, it’s time to cut them out! Check out these tips for encouraging scissor skills if you need some help.
Once the feathers are all cut out, start designing! For some finger and hand strengthening, have your child try to rip pieces of tape to desired lengths.
Sofi used Duct Tape to cover the entire feather and to act as a base for her more colorful and patterned washi tape. To do this, she just laid a few strips on top of the feather to cover and then trimmed off the excess tape from the back. Then she added strips of her washi tape in different patterns. We also used this colorful thin tape to create a real feather effect!
No two of our feathers looked the same, but because we used the same tape colors and patterns on all of them, they all blended together beautifully and would make a beautiful turkey!
We thought we might use them as a fun way to make place cards at the Thanksgiving table or even make a few to wrap around a glass hurricane with a candle inside for a beautiful centerpiece. You could even glue them down onto a long piece of butcher paper to make a cool table runner! What will you do with yours?
How to change it up:
-There is no need to trim off extra tape if that is too difficult for your child. Simply wrap it around the backside of the feather instead!
-Little hands not strong enough to tear the tape? No problem. Rip or cut a few pieces off for them and line the edge of the table with them. Even pulling the tape off of surfaces provides a bit of finger strengthening!
-Make a turkey body out of a large paper bag. Have kids move in different ways (e.g. across a balance beam, through a tunnel, jumping, hopping) to bring their feathers to the bag and staple them on to decorate the turkey as his tail feathers!
For virtual sessions:
Have the child’s caregiver print the feather template, or have them work with the child to draw their own. Then, have them use colored masking tape or painters tape to decorate their one-of-a-kind colored feathers!
Skill Areas Addressed:
Fine motor skills, bilateral coordination, visual motor integration, hand strength, coordination
Other Thanksgiving Favorites
Turkey Template for Wikki Stix
Pumpkin Thanksgiving Turkey Craft
Kids Thanksgiving Balance Challenge
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[…] we found on Amazon to create beautiful Taped Up Turkey Feathers. This month, we thought it would be fun to try something similar with Christmas […]