Autumn Leaf Pine Cone Turkey - Red Ted Art

Oh yes. It is TURKEY CRAFT season again. Such a fun Autumn craft for kids.. and perfect as Thanksgiving decorations too. We shared the super cute Cork Turkey Place Cards earlier this month – a quick 5 minute craft to make yourself OR with the help of kids.. today, we have a full Nature Turkey Craft.. very similar, just as fun and cute. And like the Place Card holders.. a temporary craft to enjoy… and then dispose of. However I DO make suggestions below as to how to preserve it so you can enjoy it for longer. But keeping it natural makes it a wonderful way to REALLY appreciate nature and the wonderful colours of Autumn and Autumn leaves at their best! And it makes use of wonderful Pine Cones too! We love a good pine cone craft this time of year.

These adorable Thanksgiving Craft for kids was first published in Oct 2017 and has been republished for your convenience!

Nature Turkey Craft – Materials

nature findes – we used leaves and pine cones (we have a darling Turkey Cork version, if you can’t find pine cones!)
googley eyes
hot glue gun
OPTIONAL – preserveation materials (like glue) OR some paper/ light card to glue the leaves on from some more longevity

If you would like your Leaf Turkey to last a bit longer, you will need to preserve the leaves in some way – we have a great post about How to preserve leaves for you to check out! For this type of craft, I would probably choose the mod podge/ PVA glue method! Alternatively, glue the leaves onto paper/ cardboard and cut out the shape of your Turkey’s plumage from that.

How to make your Nature Turkey Craft

Preserve your leaves if required (see How to preserve leaves)

Sort through your leaves and choose a pattern for your leave turkey’s plumage. Glue in place with your hot glue gun.

As mentioned.. you can now glue these leaves onto some paper or card to help keep the craft a bit longer… we chose to keep this a seasonal craft. And as the materials are natural.. pick off the eyes later and return the pine cones and leaves to nature later..

Cut out a leaf beak and wattle. For the beak I cut a diamond and made sure the “central line” of the beak was along the stem of the leaf.

Think about which way your pine cone should face – you will find that it leans naturally in a certain direction.. Add a BIG BLOB Of glue to your turkey’s leaf plumage and then squeeze it onto the back of your pine cone.

Add a little glue to your beak diamond and glue the turkey’s beak shut.

Then fine a piece of pine cone that your beak and wattle can sit naturally on.. add glue to it and position your leaves in place.

Finally.. add another “big blog” of glue to the top of your beak and postion your nature turkey’s googley eyes into an up right position into the glue.

That is it.. your leaf pine cone turkey craft is finished! Isn’t it lovely!!!!

And jyst look how it glows against the light from the window. As leaves become brittle and dry up, this turkey craft will NOT LAST forever. But we don’t mind.. we think it is just lovely the way it is.

As mentioned, if you want preserve it more.. you can either preserve the leaves first.. OR you can glue the turkey leaf plumage onto some paper or cardboard first!

Love pine cones? More fabulous Pine Cone Crafts here: