This coffee filter turkey craft is such a fun activity for fall and Thanksgiving! It’s so easy to make, using inexpensive supplies. Use this coffee filter turkey as a place card for Thanksgiving dinner, or as a prop for storytime.
Coffee filter crafts are always fun art projects, and are great for kids of all ages. Watching the colours blend and change is so fascinating!
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How to Make a Coffee Filter Turkey Craft
Materials:
- Coffee filter (1 per turkey)
- Washable markers
- Tongue depressor (aka jumbo craft stick)
- Brown acrylic paint
- Construction paper scraps (yellow and red)
- Googly eyes (6 or 8 mm size)
- Glue tape (or glue stick)
Equipment:
- Spray bottle (can also use eye dropper or measuring spoon)
Check Out The Video Tutorial:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your materials and supplies.
Step 2: Colour coffee filter
- Flatten out a coffee filter on a tray.
- Draw on the coffee filter with washable markers. The more marker you add, the darker your turkey will be. If you leave a lot of white space the turkey will be mostly white.
- Spray the coffee filter with water, just enough that the coffee filter is soaked through.
- You can also use an eye dropper or small measuring spoon to add water.
- Allow the coffee filter to dry. Here's our coffee filter after it dried overnight. (You can also dry the coffee filter in the oven in 20 minutes. For more on that, see the notes below).
Step 3: Make turkey body and face
- Paint a tongue depressor brown.We only painted the front side, but you can paint both sides if you'd like!
- Now cut out a small triangle from yellow construction paper for the beak.
- Then cut out a small squiggly line for the turkey's wattle from red construction paper.
- Add glue tape to the back of the googly eyes and attach them close to the top of the tongue depressor.
- Add glue tape to the beak and press the red wattle toward one side of the beak.
- Add more glue tape if needed, then attach the beak (wattle side down) below the googly eyes.
Step 4: Make coffee filter feathers
- Fold the coffee filter in half. Open it back up and add glue tape to one half of it.
- Re-fold the coffee filter, pressing down to connect both sides.
- Now take a pair of scissors and cut 1 inch slits around the curved edge of the coffee filter to make a fringe.
- Add glue tape to the top third of the back of the tongue depressor.
- Press the tongue depressor onto the coffee filter (make sure the folded side is down, with the fringe at the top).
- Your coffee filter turkey craft is complete!
TIP:
- If you want to make more than one turkey you can stack two coffee filters together and only colour the top coffee filter.
How can I dry the coffee filter?
There are three options for drying the coffee filter (#3 is my favourite method):
- Dry them inside. It will take around 4 – 5 hours, or leave it overnight.
- Place the tray outside in direct sunlight on a warm day, and the coffee filter will dry in around 1/2 an hour. Just be sure to keep an eye on it, because it will blow away once it’s dry!
- Place the coffee filter in the oven at 125F for about 20 minutes. Make sure you take it out before the edges start to curl! (Yes 125F – Do not bake it at a higher temperature.)
What else can I use to dye the coffee filter?
You can also use liquid watercolor paint or watered down food colouring to colour the coffee filter. No need to spray the coffee filter with water afterwards if you use either of those options!
What if I don’t have a tongue depressor?
If you don’t have a tongue depressor or jumbo craft stick you can use a popsicle stick or clothespin instead. You could even cut a body shape out of brown construction paper!
This coffee filter turkey craft is a great way to keep the kids occupied during the Thanksgiving holiday. And you don’t have to stick with muted fall colours — try making a purple and blue turkey!
Here’s even more coffee filter craft ideas:
Spiderweb from a Coffee Filter
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon |  Barnes and Noble |  Books- A- Million |  Indiebound |  Indigo |  Amazon Canada
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