Thanksgiving Kids Crafts- Terracotta Turkeys

For a second project this week we made turkeys out of terracotta pots. I found some really cute mini terracotta pots at the store that are only about 1 1/2 inches tall. However, one of the pictures I saw when trying to figure out how to make them had the 4 inch ones being used to hold candy and intended as a gift. I decided to let the kids play with the small ones and make whatever they want, and I made one of the larger ones into a treat holder.

Unfortunately, because we were doing the small ones at a house that wasn't my own, I forgot a few of my supplies including the feathers that I had wanted to use for this. I am one of those people that always remembers something right after I left the place where it was. The kids didn't seem to mind though and we were able to make it work with the foam but I cut into feather shapes.

Supplies:

-Terracotta pots, either 1 1/2" or 4" diameter

-Acrylic paint

-Craft foam sheets in various colors

-Feathers

-Googly eyes

-Hot glue gun

To start we set up some acrylic paint and paint brushes and I let the kids be as creative as they wanted. I offered to cut facial features or feet out of the foam but they insisted that they would do it all at the paint. our two-year-old had much more fun with the paint that I anticipated and he was still painting long after we finished assembling the turkeys for the rest of the kids. The older kids mostly just drew on faces and wings.

While the kids were painting I cut the foam into feather shaped strips, trying to get at least a few of every color. When the kids were all done and the paint dried they each chose a few of the feathers and I attached them using a hot glue gun.

I didn't have all of my stuff, but I was able to improvise and we still made some pretty cute little Terra Cotta turkeys. I did still want to make one for myself, so the next day I sat down with the supplies that I had forgotten.

I cut one piece of foam to make the head. Since I didn't have brown, I used orange and painted it. I set it aside to dry and went back to the pot. I decided that my turkey needed wings, so using a pencil, I drew on a basic outline. This allowed me to ensure that they were even and symmetrical.

Using the paint brush, I colored in my wings. I mostly used shades of brown, but I also used black and yellow for contrast. The important thing is that there is variation in the feathers, and that your strokes resemble the texture of the feathers as well. For the base of the wing, you want to kind of poke it with the paintbrush to get some more feathery textures in there. The end result is actually kinda cool.

I cut off a corner of my orange foam sheet for the beak, and glued it to the head along with the googly eyes. Then I glued the head to the pot. Filled it with candy and we're good to go.

The large one would honestly make a decent centerpiece in addition to a treat filled gift. I'm happy with both versions, and I'm so glad the kids were more into this than they were with the first one, even if I did forget the feathers. I think they had more fun painting than they would have otherwise.

Next week we start making some DIY gifts. Yay Xmas!