Make a printable turkey basket which has been designed to look like a realistic turkey.

For our USA friends, this easy turkey craft is just in time for Thanksgiving. It also makes a fun farm animal craft at any time of year.

You could fill your finished turkey basket with sweets or candies and give it to someone special as a gift, or keep it as a festive decoration for yourself.

Get the printable here

Turkey crafts are everywhere right now, and they all have a typical “cartoon turkey” look to them. Do you know what I mean?

The average, stylised turkey is nut-brown in colour with a yellow beak, a red dangly piece underneath it, and a fan-shaped tail often depicted in autumn harvest colours.

They are cute for sure, but somewhere along the line, the picture of a stereotypical turkey has strayed far from the real deal.

Just to remind you, this is what an actual turkey looks like…

This handsome bird is a little bit different to the cartoon version, isn’t he?

While we’re at it, I’ve dug up a few interesting turkey facts so you can talk about them with the kids while you’re crafting. These birds aren’t as silly as you might think they are!

Fascinating turkey facts:

Turkeys have up to 20 distinct vocalisations, but only the male can “gobble”
Each turkey has a unique voice, which is how they recognise each other
Turkeys are intelligent birds and are highly social
Baby turkeys are called poults
They are highly sensitive animals and have even been known to have heart attacks when startled by loud noises
Turkeys actually have two stomachs
The piece of fleshy skin which hangs over the male turkey’s beak is called a “snood”
The exposed skin around it’s neck is called a “wattle”
Both the snood and the head of the turkey can change colour from blue to red with the turkey’s level of excitement
Male turkeys puff up their feathers, fan out their tail and strut around gobbling to attract females
Wild turkeys sleep roosting in trees and can fly up to 55 mph (88km/h), but domestic turkeys are unable to fly at all

Let’s get started on the turkey craft…

How to make a turkey basket

You will need:

The printable turkey basket template, available in both our printables shop and our TPT store
Card stock is recommended but ordinary paper will also work
Pencils or markers if using the line art version
Scissors
Glue stick
A cutting mat, ruler and blunt butter knife (or a scoring tool) to score the fold lines with

How to:

Print the basket and colour in if using the line art version.
If using card stock, score the fold lines before cutting out. To score you lay a ruler along the fold line and make an indent in the paper with a blunt butter knife or scoring tool if you have one. Scoring isn’t essential but it will give you crisp, clean fold lines and make crafting easier.
Cut out the shapes.
Fold and glue the box shape of the basket together.
Fold the tabs on the wings and fold the head down.
Glue on the handle, tail, wings and head. Glue the “snood” onto it’s beak.