DIY Thanksgiving Cardboard Turkey Craft

After posting my Wooden Turkey, many of you thought it would be fun to make sometime similar out of cardboard. Good idea!

I tried to simplify the design as much as possible so that it would be fast and simple to make.

If you want to try it out, there are directions and a printable template below! Once it’s done, then you or your kids can paint and decorate it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

First, print out the template below, then cut out the two shapes, place them on some cardboard, and trace around the edges.

Then using a craft knife or scissors, cut out the two shapes

Now slide the two pieces together, and paint or decorate your turkey however you’d like! (I just painted mine with non-toxic acrylic paint (see my favorite tools), but it would also be fun to glue feathers on it etc.)


Template: Click on the image below, then print.

15 Comments

  1. November 13, 2012 at 8:33 pm

    Yay a Thanksgiving craft that does not involve toilet paper rolls! Thankyou!

    Reply »
  2. November 13, 2012 at 10:20 pm

    My kids will love this! Thanks Joel! My daughter is obsessed with peacocks, so I'm sure we'll be making turkeys AND peacocks. :)

    Reply »
    1. November 14, 2012 at 12:37 pm

      Hey Marisa. Thanks! Yeah, a peacock version would be awesome! Nice to hear from you. I'm sure you'll all be having a delicious Thanksgiving!

    2. November 19, 2012 at 7:10 pm

      yes peacock!!!!!! please!!!!

  3. November 14, 2012 at 4:15 am

    Yay! cardboard saves the day! Love this!

    Reply »
  4. November 14, 2012 at 10:35 am

    I love it! So simple and very cute! Would be a fun table decoration.

    Reply »
    1. November 14, 2012 at 12:40 pm

      Good idea!

  5. November 15, 2012 at 8:29 am

    We just cut out and painted a rather large cardboard version, but instead of painting the feathers on we just painted a brown base. Now we're cutting out oodles of feathers from construction paper, and each kid will write something they're thankful for on a paper feather each day and stick it on the tail, front and back. It should be full by Thanksgiving. I've seen a lot of the "thankful trees" floating around the web, but we'll have a "thankful turkey"! :)

    Reply »
    1. November 15, 2012 at 4:26 pm

      Great idea Amber! Cool!!

  6. robertsmom
    November 15, 2012 at 10:21 am

    Just cut the pieces - can't wait to decorate with him after school.

    Reply »
  7. November 16, 2012 at 11:04 am

    GREAT! These are so fun, and I have a friend who's birthday is Thanksgiving, you could use these are table decorations and write Happy Birthday on the feather area!

    Reply »
  8. November 19, 2012 at 8:00 am

    This is perfect and so stylish! Love it! Thank YOU!!

    Reply »
  9. November 20, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    [...] are often busy preparing the feast, but kids can be left with idle hands and little to do. Over at Made By Joel there’s a nice little tutorial on how to make a cardboard turkey. It slots together neatly, and [...]

    Reply »
  10. November 21, 2012 at 6:18 am

    [...] DIY Thanksgiving Cardboard Turkey Craft | Made by Joel [...]

    Reply »
  11. November 27, 2012 at 7:58 pm

    [...] got the idea for the feathers from this blog and then the idea to make a cardboard turkey from this blog.  I put them together, used materials we had on hand, and well, here’s what we came up with. [...]

    Reply »

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