Tutorial: Thanksgiving Turkeys - A Keepsake Craft with Kids

Continuing with my theme to jazz up my home for the holiday but still make something I could use year after year, something that the kids could help with, and something that could be a keepsake as the kids grow up......

Hand Turkeys. Simple, easy, fun and most of all, fairly cheap! For this craft we used:

• One 11x14 Stretched Canvas (found at JoAnn's for 50% off)
• One bottle of tan acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of brown acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of green acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of blue acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of red acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of yellow acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of black acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of orange acrylic craft paint
• And a few paint brushes of various sizes

Step 1: Paint the Canvas with the tan paint. I used a wide brush and did three coats, waiting for each coat of paint to dry in between

Step 2: Assemble kids and make sure their hands are clean.

Now painting with kids isn't for the faint of heart and painting their hands can make your heart race if you are not fast enough to catch them as they run off through your house with paint still on their hands as they touch everything in site. So I highly suggest laying our a large sheet of plastic (I like the tacky and cheap table cloths that you find that has plastic on one side and fabric on the other).

Step 3: One child at a time -- paint their palm brown using a very thick brush. Then paint each finger using one color (blue, orange, red, green, yellow) on each finger. You'll need to work fast as it dries fast.

Step 4: Press their painted palm down on the canvas and make sure to "roll" the palm around (roll meaning pressing all of the edges) so the painted print comes off on the canvas.

Since the canvas is stretched there is no backing to the middle of the canvas, so if you press on it, it will not hold it's shape. So I found a book the size of the opening and sat the canvas over it... making a hard area for the child to press their hands on.

Repeat steps 3 & 4 for each child.

Let dry and wash those little hands.

Step 5: When the picture is dry, you can use the red paint to create the red thing under the turkey's neck, black paint to create legs, feet, eyes and a smile, and black paint to write in a title and name labels!

Step 6: Display on a table top easel or use some pretty craft ribbon to hang!

Enjoy your Turkeys!!