I wasn’t going to post about this. Really, I wasn’t. But my kiddos enjoyed doing these {multiple times, I might add} this week and the photos I shot were just begging to be shared. 🙂 This activity was so fun and so colorful…and it sneaked some fine motor work {the part I loved the most}.
Materials for Fine Motor Turkeys
- playdough {homemade or store-bought}
- googly eyes
- leftover Halloween candy {we used candy corn} for the beak
- red construction paper- I used to cut a waddle
- regular spaghetti noodles {I was able to buy mine already chopped in half. You don’t want them regular length because they’d be too long.}
- pony beads
Decorate Your Playdough Turkeys
My kids {ages 3, 5, and 8 years} all enjoyed picking one color of playdough for the body and another color for the head. They created a large ball for the body and a smaller ball, about 1/3 the size of the body, for the head. They attached the head to the body, added googly eyes, a beak and the waddle. Then, they stuck the spaghetti noodles in for the feathers.
Then, the true test of fine motor skills began! They threaded on the pony beads. This took some time…about 20 minutes or longer, depending on how many tail feathers are included.
On another day, my 5 year old decided to sort the pony beads by color on his fine motor turkey, but kids could also decorate the spaghetti noodles with patterns, too!
My daughter did some decorating of her own on the 2nd day as well! So fun!
More Fine Motor Turkeys or Playdough Turkeys
Here are just a few more fabulous resources you may like to keep the kids busy while the grown-ups are watching the game and the turkey’s cooking:
- Turkey in the Playdough at Preschool | Teach Preschool
- Play Dough Turkeys | Frugal Fun for Boys
- Playdough Turkeys at Thanksgiving | Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
- Turkey Fine Motor Activity and Craft | Fantastic Fun and Learning
- Toddler Fine Motor Turkey Craft | Dirt and Boogers
- Fine Motor Turkey Math Game | Pre-K Pages
- Fine Motor Turkeys in Preschool | Teach Preschool
- Fine Motor Turkeys for Tots | Twodaloo
Enjoy!
~Becky
Thanks for including me in your post! Love your beautiful pictures 🙂 Your kids are so lucky to have such a fun loving mom!
You’re so welcome! 🙂
I love this! Just shared on my FB page!
Thanks! Have a blessed Thanksgiving! 🙂
Pinning this! They are adorable. Happy Thanksgiving!
Christine/Cool Mom
Is there anything specific you did to attach the top bead or all the beads to the noodle so that they don’t fall off?
We didn’t do anything to prevent them from falling off. They just stopped stacking them before the edge. I don’t remember it being a big issue, even for my 3 year old.
I love this activity. Thanks for posting and sharing your family and fun activities. I couldn’t help but notice the mat that the kids were creating the turkeys on. Is is like a language facilitation mat or visual support for the activity? Do you happen to have a copy. It looked quite interesting. Thanks again!
Those are learning mats I’ve had since I was a little girl. My mom has saved them all these years. I think they’re vinyl. 🙂