Turkey Time

My almost 3 year old daughter loves art projects. Each time I decide to take the time to do one with her, I think why don't I do this more often. She could spend hours cutting and gluing, if I had the time to supervise it. Today we had some time, so I decided we would work on a Turkey. This was so simple to do and she loved it. Her favorite thing to do is glue and she loves to squeeze out tons of glue, so this was the perfect thing for her because you need quite a bit of glue to get the feathers to stick.

Here's a list of supplies you need:
glue
paper plate
feathers
2 orange pipe cleaners
colored construction paper
2 buttons

First we traced a cup onto brown paper. I cut it out and we glued a red feather for the "gobble" and an orange triangle for the beak. We glued on black buttons for the eyes. This makes the head. Set it aside to dry. Next have the child color the paper plate. Then let the child dump tons of glue on the plate in a horseshoe shape along the outside edges of the plate. Then let them go to town sticking feathers in the glue. They might have to add more glue as they go along. When they have as many feathers as they want, cut out a oval shape that will cover the rest of the paper plate and very ends of the feathers and glue it down on the plate. Glue the head so it overlaps the body and the feathers. Your plate will be sort of a wet mess at this point, but once it dries it will be fine. Use some wire cutters to cut the pipe cleaners in half (don't use scissors, I've done that before and it seriously messes up your scissors). Punch two holes in the bottom of the turkey where you want the feet. Fold one pipe cleaner over through the first hole and twist so it stays and hangs down. About halfway down twist another pipe cleaner so that you end up with a fork shape. This makes one foot. Do the same thing with the other 2 pipe cleaners for the second foot. You're left with a darling turkey! We added a bow in the end just for fun.