DIY Thankful Turkey Journal Project

A couple years ago, I decided to make a handprint turkey with my son and nieces. I wanted the turkey to look like praying hands; it turned out really cute and the kids had so much fun! I decided to make it again this year with my oldest son, but I changed it up a bit. Instead of just having the hands, I decided to make it a journal.

This journal is a great way to teach your children to be thankful. Your child(ren) will have the opportunity to come up with 10 things he/she is thankful for, draw those things, and see a fun “praying hands” turkey pop up in the middle!

What You Need

• 2 sheets of brown construction paper
• 4 sheets of white construction paper
• 1 piece of orange construction paper
• 1 piece of red construction paper
• 2 googly eyes
• Glue
• Staples
• Markers
• Crayons

Directions

1. Trace your child’s hands on a piece of brown construction paper; leave some extra space for the wrists as this will be used to attach the turkey to the paper later. Since it’s hard to get the hands to line up right, I just traced one hand then traced that print to use for the other side.

2. Cut out the handprints carefully.

3. Cut out a small beak from the orange and snood from the red paper. Glue them onto the thumb of one hand.

4. Put glue on the tips of each finger then place the second hand on top, fingers matched up, to create “praying hands.”

5. Glue a googly eye on each side of the thumb to give the turkey eyes.

6. While the glue on the eyes dries, create the journal. Fold all the white sheets and the brown sheet in half then cut down the white sheets to be a little smaller than the brown sheet.

7. Glue one sheet onto the inside of the brown folded sheet.

8. Carefully staple the rest of the sheets into middle of the book. I gently folded the pages in and stapled from the outside since my stapler is very small. Keep the flat side of the staple on the outside so it does not scratch fingers when your child reads the book.

9. Back to the turkey–Fold the area by the wrists out then glue each side to the middle of the book. Leave about 1 1/2-2 inches in the center so the turkey looks like it is standing when the book is opened and make sure each side is even.

10. Number the pages 1-10, leaving the two pages glued to the brown unnumbered as well as the center pages with the turkey. I also wrote “Thank you God for Everything” on the pages with the turkey.

11. Ask your child to list of 10 things he/she is thankful for and write them on each of the pages.

12. Let your child draw each of the things he/she listed on the corresponding page. You can start this Thanksgiving night and do it all at once or do one a night from Thanksgiving until the following week to continue the thankfulness!

-What are you thankful for? Be sure to take pictures and share them on my Facebook page!