Let's Talk Turkey...Turkey Activites for Little Kids

Let's Talk Turkey....Gobble, Gobble!  This post is full of ideas to celebrate turkeys and have a little fun while doing it! It's a perfect time of year to do just that!  I usually like to post pictures of kids "doing" the activities, but these updated activities are hot off the press and we haven't used the updated versions with our kids!

The first activity is Turkey Soup! We use the recipe, clip art pictures and a soup pot to make our soup. The book is a great way to introduce procedural text to your kids, and it provides opportunity for art, math, and writing!  You can either use a real pot or reproduce one. I attach my clip art pot to the front of a large brown paper bag. As we read the recipe, we add the clip art vegetables into the pot.  We also use our pot during math for counting, comparing and adding the sets.

After experiencing the Turkey Soup recipe as a class, each child makes their own soup and writes a recipe to match. You can use clip art vegetables like I did, or simply give your kids scrap paper and invite them to make their own vegetables. On another day, use the turkey soup addition for the children to add up the vegetables in their own soup pot!

 Another fun book is our "Where is Mr. Turkey?".  In this book, Mr. Turkey can be seen hiding on each page. The children love looking for clues in the pictures. In the end of the story the pilgrim finds the turkey and they are ready to eat! I made a black and white version for my kids. Each child can add it to their bag of books.

 This is a fun game that we have "reinvented" to match almost all of our studies.  To play the game, spread the turkeys on the floor. Give two children each a fly swatter. Call out a word. The children with the flyswatters, must find and catch the turkey with that word. You could play this same game with letters, numerals, shapes, etc.

 This is a fun little art/writing activity.  After making the turkey, the kids write the steps for how to catch a turkey. This is a brand new activity, and I can't wait to try it out! (Patterns are included in the unit.)

 I love these simple cut a sentence books.  Give the kids a strip of paper that contains a sentence, mixed up.  Invite them to cut between the words. Now, put the words in the correct order to make a sentence. Finally find the picture to match the sentence. This "See the Turkey" book, names each part of the turkey. It is a great way to practice getting your mouth ready. Invite the children to look at the first letter in the "unknown word".  Now look over at the pictures, which picture starts with that letter?

 I love to sing with kids. Singing is good for the soul! Not only that, but it is a dendrite producing activity! Singing makes you smarter! I made a little step/flap book to go along with the "Five, Big Fat Turkeys" song. After photocopying the pages, cut out any of the parts that are shaded in black, like in images 1 and 2 below.  You will have the cover, and 5 pages like in image 3. Stake the pages and bind at the bottom, like image 4. You can grab this book as a FREE download at the bottom of this blog post.

After learning the song, we are ready to use it to learn all about the number 5.  I made a color game board and turkeys for myself, but just made a black and white one for the kids and copied it on red paper.  I also reproduced the recording page for each child.  They cut the turkeys off of the top of the recording page. As we sing the song, we manipulate the turkeys between the barn and the stack of hay.  Then, the children can record their answers on either of the recording pages, depending on your children.  It is important to allow them to manipulate the turkeys to formulate their answer. This manipulation allows them to develop deeper understanding as they are working at the conceptual level of understanding.

 All of the above activities are from our "Turkeys" unit. This is an OLD unit that just got a total redo! So, if you already own it, go to your My Purchases section on tpt and downloaded it again. It also has a few new activities that were not included in the original unit.

 This is a fun way to teach ordinal number. Reproduce turkey clip art on various colors of paper. You will want to use 10 different colors. Invite the children to line up their turkeys in a parade. Now, match the ordinal numbers by placing them in the correct order 1-10. Each child will have their turkeys in a different order. This means when they complete the recording sheet, each child will have different answers!

 To make this super cute turkey, invite the children to cut out the various sizes of circles. Sequence the circles by size. Cut out the head. Use a square to make the beak and rectangles to make the legs. We made the feet by cutting one rectangle into 4 parts. Once the turkey is complete, attach it to a paper towel roll.  Now, give the children a strip of paper. The one we are using the children make a list of Thanksgiving food. But you can really store any kind of writing in your turkey...an informational piece, a procedural piece, or a narrative!

To make this simple pattern block turkey, the kids read the "What am I?" book and follow the directions.  The book is simply print and go! So much easier than the first time I made it! After making the turkey, give each child the shape turkey recording page. They will count and add the shapes together to complete the page.

The 3  activities above are from our "Thanksgiving" unit. This is an OLD unit that just got a total redo! So, if you already own it, go to your My Purchases section on tpt and downloaded it again.

To just do a turkey unit without learning about turkeys just doesn't seem right! After doing quite a bit of research, I wrote a nonfiction book about turkeys.  When I started writing these monthly theme nonfiction books, my goal was to teach my kids the nonfiction features throughout the year and not wait and try to cover them all in one unit.  Let me brag a bit! They rocked it! After using the books each week, the kids knew all of the nonfiction features by the end of the year...by name! Each book cover previous taught features and introduces something new. The "Turkeys" book covers cut a ways, labels, headings, bold text, and a glossary.

 But, I wanted to use these books for guided reading, not a read aloud. I wanted each child to interactive with the text at an individual level.  I decided to write the text at three different levels. Each level has the same photographs, same nonfiction features, just different levels of text. Now, these aren't always a PERFECT match as far as reading level.  Remember, my goal was to teach the nonfiction features. I just make sure the book is not too hard. It is better to give them the level that is below their reading level, than to give them the one that is above their reading level. The hardest level is a great for me! I can use it to help me guide the learning as I add in vocabulary during our discussions.  It is also great for a read aloud.

I did include other elements of guided reading for each title. There is a word work page for each level. Each level focuses on different sight words.

There is a choice between two different phonics practice pages. This book has a page for practicing sorting pictures by beginning sounds and another page for practicing sorting by short vowel. Pick the one that works best for your kids.  Be sure and connect this phonics practice to the actual text.

 We also practice a nonfiction feature. I usually have 2-3 choices to choose from. For our "Turkeys" book, we can label a turkey. We can also make the little Turkey book and create a glossary to match our book.  Again, you can choose which one works best with each group!

 And finally we have the writing connection. After reading the book, the children create a tree map to show their learning through either pictures or text. Then, they use their tree map to create a piece of writing about turkeys.  After writing their piece, they create a heading to match their text.

The "Turkeys" book is included in the November Guided Reading Unit.  

 You might want to check out these other November resources for more turkey fun!

Turkey Glyph

Turkey Math Game Pack

Turkey Literacy Game Pack