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Free Butterfly Life Cycle Activities
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⎯ Science and Social Studies ⎯
Interactive Turkey Life Cycle Craft for Kids
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November is all about turkeys! I love to incorporate a variety of turkey activities, leading up to Thanksgiving break. We read a variety of turkey books, play turkey math games, and integrate a little science into our lessons with this simple turkey life cycle craft. Students love spinning the interactive wheel to better remember each stage of the turkey life cycle!
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Turkey Life Cycle Craft Prep
This turkey life cycle craft can be prepped in just a few simple steps.
First, print the body and head on brown construction paper.
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Next, copy the feathers onto various colors of construction paper, so the students have a variety of colorful feathers. Each student will need seven feathers, so consider this when deciding how many copies to make.
Then, the feet and beak will need to be copied onto orange construction paper and the eyes onto white construction paper.
Last, print the interactive wheel parts on regular copy paper.
Turkey Life Cycle Read Alouds
Before starting our turkey life cycle craft, I read a few turkey books about the life cycle of a turkey!
One of my favorite stories to read is Sometimes It’s Turkey, Sometimes It’s Feathers by Lorna Balian.
After discovering a turkey egg, Mrs. Gumm takes it under her care and raises the young turkey. She nurtures and feeds it well, ensuring it grows healthy and strong. However, when Thanksgiving arrives, instead of serving it for dinner, she extends an invitation to the turkey to join her at the table.
We also read a few nonfiction books including Wild Turkeys by Rebecca Sabelko and All About Turkeys by Jim Arnosky.
As we are reading these books, we stop to add the appropriate pieces to our life cycle anchor chart. We discuss these new vocabulary words and practice the life cycle of a turkey, before starting our turkey life cycle craft.
Turkey Life Cycle Craft Directions
After reading our turkey books and acting out the life cycle of a turkey, the students will be excited to gobble up this turkey craft. Haha… see what I did there?!
While the turkey life cycle is fresh in their mind, I like to have the students color each picture of the life cycle. Then, the students cut out the circle along the dotted line.
This is also a great time for students to color the cover of the interactive wheel. After they color the word “turkey,” they will need to cut out the circle. They will also need to cut along the dotted lines, creating an open wedge.
Set both parts off to the side, while you assemble the turkeys.
First, glue the eyes and beak onto the head. Then, attach the head to the body.
Students will, then, need to select the feathers. I recommend seven feathers for each student, three on each side and one in the middle. If you have the students space them farther apart, five would also work well.
Next, add the feet to the bottom of the body.
The last step involves adding the interactive wheel to the body. For this part, you will need a brad for each student. First, glue the stages to the middle of the turkey’s body, so that the egg is at the top. Then, place the cover on top and pierce the brad through all three parts.
I like to have students practice the life cycle with a buddy or in small groups.
This turkey life cycle craft makes an adorable Thanksgiving bulletin board during the month of November!
More Turkey Life Cycle Activities
The turkey life cycle fun doesn’t end with the turkey life cycle craft! These additional life cycle of a turkey activities are great for further solidifying learning.
First, read the turkey life cycle emergent reader as a whole class. Then, students can reread the text, highlighting previously learned sight words or even the important vocabulary words as they read.
After reading the emergent reader, practice sequencing these pocket chart sentences, emphasizing the important stages of the turkey life cycle along the way.
As I mentioned earlier, we create this whole class life cycle of a turkey anchor chart as we are reading Sometimes It’s Turkey, Sometimes It’s Feathers.
Students can, then, independently cut and glue the stages onto their student response sheet.
Next, they can complete the sentences by writing the important sight word “is” and sequencing the stages in the correct order.
Students can also glue the stage of the life cycle in the correct order, after reading the sentence with this student response sheet.
Turkey Life Cycle Craft
Grab this turkey life cycle craft and center activities here!
More Turkey Activities
Explore a full list of fiction and nonfiction turkey books for kids here!
You might also love these fine motor “Stuff the Turkey” math games for centers!
Spend the week leading up to Thanksgiving learning all about turkeys with these turkey activities for all subjects!
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Ashley Sharp
As a dedicated Kindergarten teacher for nearly 20 years, I believe the words “fun, play, and creativity” can sit right alongside the words “developmentally appropriate, engaging, and rigorous.” Learning is meant to be fun and messy!
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