What you Need:

1. A big and basic cut-out cardboard or wood bird shape. This can be created by you or your students. Not feeling creative? All you need to do is start out with a nice big (at least 6"-8" in diameter) circle ... the rest of the turkey (like the tail feathers and the neck and head) can be glued on from there. You could even use two tin pie plates glued together for the body.

2. Next - now this part is easy - you will need to gather junk. Junk can be old paper scraps, feathers, popcorn kernels, macaroni, fabric pieces, rice, wood shavings, sawdust, beans, peas, pine cones, sticks, newspaper, old magazines, old phone books, shredded paper, nuts and bolts, string, you name it ... junk.

3. Finally, you will need the essentials - glue, scissors, pencils and imagination.

What You Do:

You can do this by:

• Using real feathers for turkey feathers.
• Rolling up colored pieces of construction paper and gluing them onto the bird shape.
• Cutting out feather shapes from construction paper, newspaper, yellow pages etc.
• Gluing pieces of wool onto the bird shape.
• Taking a pine cone apart and gluing the bits down as feathers.
• Laying down and gluing yarn in colorful patterns on the bird shape.

When the turkeys are finished, have your students write a poem or a story about their turkey. At the same time, they can write down their thoughts on thanksgiving and what they are thankful for.
Display the thanksgiving stories and turkey collages on the wall in your classroom.