Learning Fun With Turkey: Turkey Learning Activities

Tons of learning activities revolving around a turkey. Great ideas to incorporate around Thanksgiving. DIY turkey container (he really eats!), rhyming activities, letter identification, initial and ending sound fun, and more!

You can see the directions to make a turkey out of a Cascade container here.

Get the directions to make the Print & Cut turkey here.

Ways to Use Your Turkey

Pass out cards to help kids practice basic skills: letter identification, beginning & ending sounds, rhymes, numeral identification, counting, addition, subtraction, or any skill you choose. We used cards from my Turkey Time: Literacy Pack. You can pass out cards to the whole group, or use the turkey in a center. Kids will feed the turkey!

Use the “Turkey Time” rhyme to spark excitement with the kids. Change the key words in the rhyme to help students’ focus on the specific skills.

Get your free copy of the turkey rhyme here.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzdf4OqBvDfcbWFOTFhkWFRXZFE/view?usp=sharing

Materials Needed for Bucket Turkey

Plastic bucket (I got mine from the Dollar Store)
Foam or card stock
Felt to cover the turkey’s body
Hot glue
Magnet
Tape

DIY Bucket Turkey

Step 1: Cut out the shapes for the turkey. Use foam or card stock for the turkey shapes. I use foam for a more durable turkey.

Step 2: Fold the beak in half.

Step 3: Tape the feathers together and glue the black pupils into the middle of the eyes.

Step 4: Tape a magnet or rock to the tip of the beak. This is just to give the beak some weight. It will help keep the turkey’s mouth closed.

Step 5: Tape the beak to the back of the bucket.

Step 6: Tape or glue the eyes to the top of the beak.

Step 7: Tape the feathers to the back of the bucket.

Step 8: Hot glue felt around the base of the bucket.

Step 9: Your turkey is ready for learning fun!

Thanks for stopping by! Don’t forget to head over to The Primary Pack to see more ideas on how to use the turkey!

Head over to my TPT store to get my “Turkey Time” pack. It will be 50% off for the rest of this week for Kelly and Kim’s Markdown Monday. Check out their blog for this week’s deals!

http://kellyandkimskindergarten.blogspot.com/2015/11/markdown-monday-linky-party-november_8.html

We have been on a pizza kick at my house. My kids are crazy for pizza of any sort, so we extended our pizza exploration into other areas. We created a DIY Magnetic Pizza Manipulative that we use for subitizing, addition, and patterning. I am currently working on a set to use for repeated addition. It is such a fun and easy way to play with your food! You can see the DIY directions here.

http://theprimarypack.blogspot.com/2015/01/diy-pizza-math-manipulative-subitizing.html

You can get the Pizza pack here.

This is another pizza pack with thematic dot cards and ten frames.

We had received a package with a huge box in the mail and decided to turn it into a pizza oven. My kids were ecstatic to be able to make and use their own brick pizza oven. Our house turned into a gourmet pizza restaurant.

All you need to create this pizza oven is:

– One large box

– One smaller box to hot glue inside and create the oven.

– Additional cardboard

– Aluminum foil

– Duct tape

– Construction paper

– Hot glue

– A hook for your pizza paddle

First, you will cut a rectangular hole in the front of the large box. This will be your opening to the oven. Only cut three sides of the rectangle, because it will still be attached at the bottom. This will allow the front of the oven to open and close.

You will create a box inside the box to create the oven. ***UPDATE*** After lots of use, this particular design failed. Instead of creating a box, just use a small box. It is sturdier and easier to attach. Hot glue (use a lot) the smaller box to the inside of the pizza oven and tape it with metal duct tape. This creates a very sturdy inside to your pizza oven. I will post pictures of this soon.

Use duct tape to attach the cardboard to the inside of the box. You will attach it to the large box on all sides of the box.

Cut the two sides of the box about 2 inches longer.

Fold the edges of the box over and affix with tape.

Here is the completed inside of your oven.

Next, you will create the front of the oven. Cut a half circle to attach to the rectangular opening.

Create a handle by cutting two small lines with a razor blade.

Fold the two edges of the handle and insert through the holes. Leave about 1-2 inches to fold over on the back.

Fold the edges of the handles over on the back of the drawer.

Tape the handles down on the back of the drawer.

You created a handle!

To make the outside of the oven, attach the half circle to the rectangular opening. I covered it in duct tape for a more durable oven.

Cover the outside of the drawer with duct tape.

Cut out white construction paper to make the white background surrounding your oven.

I rounded the rectangles of the edges.

I cut out rounded rectangles for the logs and drew lines down the middle with a Sharpee.

The flames are made with red, orange and yellow construction paper. I traced the red flame onto the orange paper and made it about 1/2 inch smaller. I traced the orange flame to create the yellow flame, by cutting it about 1 1/2 inch smaller.

I added packaging from laser toner to the top of my oven for decoration.

To make a pizza paddle, cut out a rounded rectangular shape with a handle.

I cut out another rectangle to affix to the pizza paddle. This strengthens the handle for more use. ***UPDATE*** With lots of love and use, this pizza paddle got a little ratty. So I just covered the entire pizza paddle with duct tape. This looks cool and makes it very sturdy!