Toilet Paper Roll Turkey

toilet paper roll turkey craft, a perfect preschool turkey craft for kids.

These toilet paper roll turkey stamps are a fun turkey craft that doubles as a fine motor activity and eye-hand coordination activity for kids. Use a recycled cardboard tube like a toilet paper roll or a paper towel roll to make a turkey stamp craft that kids will love. This toilet paper roll turkey craft becomes turkey art that is a different take on the typical toilet paper roll crafts that you normally see. This one uses a recycled cardboard tube to make a stamp!

Cute toilet paper turkey craft! This is such a fun preschool turkey craft for young children.

Toilet Paper Roll Turkeys 

This craft used a Recycled Toilet Paper Roll.  We used a toilet paper roll, but a paper towel roll cut in half would work just as well.  This craft started with a little prep work from mom, but nothing requiring too much work.  

Use a Recycled toilet paper tube to make these toilet paper roll turkeys with children.
Paper towel roll turkey craft for kids to make with a recycled cardboard tube.

Paper Towel Roll Stamp Craft

You can use either a recycled toilet paper roll or a paper towel roll to make this turkey art. If you use a paper towel roll, you will need to cut it in half for easier stamping for children.

I started by bending on cardboard roll into a turkey body shape.  The other roll was made into the feather stamp by cutting down the tube an inch and then snipping feathers. 

Stamp art for children, using paint to make this cute toilet paper roll turkey craft.

Add a little paint into a tray and the craft is ready for creating!

Use toilet paper rolls to make this turkey craft.

 Use the paper roll stamps to press into the paint and then stamp onto the paper.   Big Sister first  stamped the turkey bodies on the page and then added the feathers.  

This Thanksgiving craft is not a typical  toilet paper roll craft! Use a recycled cardboard tube to make a fun toilet paper roll turkey.

 

The red, orange, and yellow colors mixed together to make pretty turkey feathers!  

Toilet paper tube craft that is a stamp art for children.

Smoosh those colors together for pretty turkey wings!

How cute is this turkey art? Use a toilet paper tube to make this turkey painting craft for kids.

We let our turkeys dry (loads of thick paint to let dry…)   We love artwork loaded down with paint in our house 🙂

  All they need are little beaks and eyes!

Turkey art for kids using a recycled toilet paper tube.

 

Thanksgiving fine motor kit

And done!  Our Turkey Stamps are ready for Thanksgiving!   Did you miss our other Paper Roll stamping crafts?  Check them out:  

Paper Roll Apple Stamps

Paper Roll Pumpkin Stamps

 
 
 
 
Thanksgiving Fine Motor Kit

Thanksgiving Fine Motor Kit…on sale now!

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

CARDBOARD TURKEY CRAFT

Cardboard turkey craft that doubles as a juicebox cover and an oral sensory tool

Turkey crafts are all around this time of year!  This fun cardboard turkey is a great Thanksgiving activity that doubles as a therapy tool for kids. It is a juicebox cover, making it a fun way for kids to use their little cardboard turkey, but it also is a fine motor craft AND a way to help kids regulate by adding proprioceptive input through oral motor sensory input. We’ll get into more on this below.

Cardboard Turkey

While taking the time to run out and purchase craft materials can be difficult this time of year, and adding that extra expense isn’t always a possibility, using materials that you have on hand for kids crafts is the way to go. This cardboard turkey is a cardboard tube craft. We used a cut paper towel roll for the turkey craft and had some of the other materials in our craft closet.

For this cardboard turkey craft you’ll need just a few materials:

Amazon affiliate links included below.

  • Cardboard roll (paper towel roll)
  • Feathers (these are available at the dollar store, or on Amazon, but you could substitute these with paper cut feathers, too.)
  • Red and orange paper (or draw them on with a marker)
  • Googly eyes
  • Glue
  • Tape
  • Juice box
Love this cardboard turkey craft. It's a Thanksgiving Turkey Juicebox Cover that kids will love to use.

Glue those details onto the cardboard roll and this turkey is ready to make someone smile!

Cute cardboard turkey craft, a Thanksgiving Turkey Juicebox Cover for kids.

Colored feathers and googly eyes, along with a couple of little crafting scraps made a simple cardboard tube into a party-friendly turkey… just in time for Thanksgiving dinner!

If you are just making a cardboard turkey craft and skipping the juice box cover portion of this Thanksgiving craft, you could definitely use a recycled toilet paper roll to make a cute toilet paper roll turkey craft. But, if you are going to make this into a juicebox cover, I would go with using a paper towel roll instead.

So, let’s discuss the benefits to making this turkey craft into a Thanksgiving juice box cover…


Turkey Juice Box Cover

This cardboard turkey would work without the juice box part, but we added that as an oral sensory input opportunity to allow children to get a little calming sensory input through the straw. Plus, it’s a great way for children to see their handiwork in action right on the juice box.

 To make the cardboard turkey into a juice box cover, cut the paper tube with one cut strait down.  Wrap the cardboard tube around the juice box and secure with clear tape.  Gather your colorful feathers and tape in place on the back of the juice box.  

Kids can make this cardboard turkey craft and gain organizing oral sensory benefits from drinking from a small straw.
Tape feathers to the back of a juice box to make a turkey craft for kids at Thanksgiving dinner table.

Oral sensory input with a straw

Sucking is a form of calming sensory input through the mouth, and it’s a way to offer children organizing sensory input in situations when they might have trouble regulating their sensory systems.

Sucking through a small straw like a coffee stirrer can be calming and provide organizing input, a juice box straw is an easily accessible sensory tool that might be overlooked.

When kids such through that small straw, they are getting heavy work, or proprioception through the mouth and jaw. This is very organizing for children as it allows them to become aware of proprioception (even if they don’t realize it). This deep pressure allows for resistive work in the mouth. It takes effort to suck in through a small straw, and that offers a quick way to add calming input.

Sucking in through a small straw is a way to offer sensory input for sensory seekers, but it’s also a way to support a child’s sensory needs by offering calming and resistive oral motor input.

Now, the parents reading this are probably thinking the same thing that I immediately think of when I see a small child with a juice box. What happens as soon as that child has a juice box in their hand? They squeeze it and juice streams out of the straw all over the place, right?

Here’s the thing about juice boxes- there is a contradiction on it’s benefits and detriments. The oral sensory input when a child sucks on a juice box straw is perfect for helping kids with sensory needs, and to help them develop oral motor control. However, that squeezable little cardboard box is so easy to squeeze the juice right into a toddler’s mouth.

So, using a juice box cover that invites children to gently hold the juice box, rather than squeezing it in a death grip of streaming, sticky juice is so powerful! Children can use the turkey juice cover we made and either not use their hands to squeeze the juice box OR, they can gently hold the turkey craft and use their mouth to suck the juice. They can gaining oral sensory input and oral motor skills. What a win-win!

Here is more information on oral motor skills development.

Read here to understand the connection between oral motor skills and problem eating.

This is a great resource on pediatric feeding and the differences between sensory issues and oral motor issues.

This oral motor exercise is another way to add proprioceptive input through the mouth as a calming and organizing sensory tool.

Wouldn’t this little guy be perfect for a preschool party or on the kid table at Thanksgiving dinner?

Looking for a few more cardboard turkey crafts?

Try these:  

Recycled Paper Roll Turkey Stamp Craft

Fine Motor Turkey Craft

Thanksgiving Fine Motor Kit

Thanksgiving Fine Motor Kit…on sale now!

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.