At a Glance
This printable witch turkey disguise craft has preschool, kindergarten and other young learners cutting out pieces and gluing them together to disguise a turkey as a witch! A Thanksgiving cut and paste activity with a spooky twist, it builds scissor skills, fine motor control and hand-eye coordination, with color and black-and-white templates included.
Wait a second… since when did witches have tails?! This witch turkey disguise craft kicks off our new turkey in disguise series, where one very nervous turkey tries on costumes to lie low as Thanksgiving creeps closer. And it’s up to your kiddos to help!
If your little learners have already made our build a Thanksgiving turkey craft, they’ll recognize this bird. He’s just gone undercover.
And here’s a fun fact to share while you glue – real turkeys are pretty good at changing their look too. The bare skin on a turkey’s head can shift between red, blue and white depending on its mood, which is why it’s nicknamed the “seven-faced bird” in Japanese and Korean.
Time to get that turkey into costume!
And you can browse all the other printable cut and paste crafts here.
What Skills Can Your Children Learn And Practice?
When making this sneaky bird, your children will have the chance to practice and develop some skills such as:
- Cutting Skills – if you feel they’re ready, you can let them have a go at cutting out the pieces all by themselves – they’ll need to be careful and have good scissor control if they want to cut out the pieces neatly
- Bilateral Coordination – Cutting well means one hand turns and steadies the paper while the other hand does the snipping.
- Fine Motor Control and Pincer Grasp – Picking up small pieces like the fee, spreading glue and pressing everything flat all strengthen the small muscles in the fingers and hands.
- Hand-Eye Coordination – Children need to watch carefully and guide their hands to line up the pieces where they want them.
- Visual-Spatial Reasoning – Working out which pieces go behind and which go on top is like a little puzzle.
- Pencil Control – The black-and-white template lets children practice pencil control and build hand strength through coloring.
- Creativity and Language – Talking about disguises, costumes and why this turkey might want to hide opens up some imaginative conversation and new vocabulary.
This simple craft will also give them a chance to practice their concentration and perseverance skills as they may find it tricky to place the pieces exactly where they want them to go.
How To Prepare This Simple Turkey Disguise Craft
First you’re going to want to download the witch turkey disguise templates by clicking on the download button at the bottom of the page – I’ve made a color and a black and white version.
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Other materials you’ll need:
- Safety scissors
- Card stock or Craft paper
- Some good glue
- Some coloring pencils or pens or other artsy materials
Once you’ve downloaded the templates, you’ll need to print them off onto paper or card.
Then, you can cut them out. Or if you’d like your children to get some cutting practice, you can let them have a go.
Then you can stick all the pieces together to make the turkey.
It can be really nice to let your kids have a bit of free rein here and see if they can work it out – kind of like a puzzle.
If they’re struggling, the order I’d do it in is:
- Stick the hair to the head
- Stick the hat to the head
- Stick the head on to the body
- Stick the wings on to the body
- Stick all of that onto the feathers
- Stick the legs on (or draw if they are a bit fiddly)
- Stick the broom on
(I expect you could have worked that out but I do like to be thorough…)
The finished one should look something like this:
What a disguise!!
If you want to, you could always laminate the pieces before putting them together and use them as a puzzle. That way, the different parts would be kept nice and they can use them again and again and you could mix and match some costumes.
After that you’re all done!
Let your kids practice their cutting and sticking skills in a simple and fun way!
But Wait… There’s Also A Black And White Turkey Disguise Template!
I’ve also made a black and white version which would be an awesome way for your little ones to practice their coloring skills and personalize their turkey in their own way!
So why not crack out the pens, crayons, paints or collage (or all of them if you’re feeling adventurous) and let your kids get creative!
Some Other Ways You Could Use This
Turkey Disguise
Activity
There’s plenty more you can do with this sneaky little turkey…
Make a Witch Turkey Stick Puppet
Tape a craft stick to the back of the finished turkey and you’ve got a puppet! Your little ones can knock on doors trick-or-treating, cast pretend spells or try to convince everyone they’ve never uttered a gobble in their life. A quick puppet show can also be a lovely way to get your quieter kiddos talking.
Open a Witchy Dramatic Play Corner
Make the witch turkey the head witch of your dramatic play area. Add a bowl for a cauldron, a few spoons for stirring, and our witch’s apprentice ID cards so your little learners can sign up as trainee witches under their feathery new boss.
Sort the Turkey Parts From the Witch Parts
Before any gluing starts, lay out all the pieces and ask your little learners to sort them into two piles: turkey parts and witch parts. The hat and broom are easy, but the green wings and the body with buttons can get them thinking- good intro into sorting.
Count Those Tail Feathers
Once the turkey is built, count the feathers in his tail together, touching each one to practice one-to-one correspondence. Then count just the purple ones and just the green ones and ask which color has more. Our turkey feathers counting flashcards make a nice follow-up for more feather-based counting practice.
Design a Brand New Disguise
You could grab the plain build a turkey craft and get your little ones to draw thei own disguise on plain bits of paper or card and cut them out. Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano, the story of a turkey who tries all sorts of disguises, makes a great read-aloud to spark ideas. Keep an eye out for more disguises coming soon, because this turkey isn’t finished hiding yet.
From Halloween Night to Thanksgiving Dinner
This craft could work for Halloween or Thanksgiving – up to you but you can find both dates and plenty more on our Special Day Calendar.
However you use this witch turkey disguise craft, I hope you and your little ones like it! And you can check out more awesome Halloween activities here.
Enjoy and let’s nurtured those neurons!
