EASY Thanksgiving Toddler Activity: Turkey Run

Looking for a low mess Thanksgiving Toddler activity to do this year? Try Turkey Run! Using items you already have at home, create a festive turkey for your toddler to play with. This activity works cause/effect, color sorting, fine motor skills, and language development! It's the perfect Turkey craft for older kids to set up for their younger siblings to keep them entertained this fall!

Watch my Youtube Fall Toddler Activities Video here:

Supplies:

3 Paper Towel Cores or 1 gift wrapping core
Paint (red, orange, yellow) OR construction paper (red, orange, yellow)
Brown construction paper
Googley eyes
Balls/pom poms/ or any small item that will fit in the paper towel core
Painters tape or masking tape
Scissors

Step 1: Turkey Tail

Two options here:

Paint each paper towel roll a single color and set aside to dry.
Take 1 sheet of colored construction paper and cover 1 paper towel roll fully by hot gluing or taping on

The idea here is to make the paper towel inserts look like the multi-colored plumes of a turkey. Each roll is one “feather” of the turkey's tail. So get the covered using whatever supplies you have on hand

Once the paper towel rolls are covered and dry, just grab a little masking tape or painters tape and tape them next to each other on a wall at a height your child will be able to drop things into them.

Step 2: Make your turkey

Take some brown construction paper, cut out a peanut type shape for your turkey and decorate it however you please. If you have older kids around, this alone would make a great activity for them! They can add googley eyes and use orange or red construction paper to make the turkey bill and gulley.

Step 3: Play!

Give your toddler some pom poms, tiny balls, or even hair ties to drop down the turkey shoot. You may need to model it a few times.

For 2 year olds and up, you could have them sort the colored balls into the right colored “tail feather” or into baskets they drop into as well. Feel free to give your child a few different sized items as well so they can see what fits and what doesn't fit.