Disguise a Turkey Craft

Description

This Decorate a Turkey Craft activity is a fun and engaging digital download designed to build essential fine motor and executive functioning skills in children. Perfect for occupational therapy sessions, classroom skill-building, or at-home practice, this turkey-themed craft allows kids to unleash their creativity while developing critical skills.

This set includes several turkey disguises that can be cut and used in crafts and activities.

• Pirate
• King
• Princess
• Chef
• Scientist
• Unicorn
• Robot
• Minion
• Detective
• Ninja
• Construction Worker
• Mermaid
• Basketball Player

Each set includes full color and black line options so you can color the crafts.

Why do a Disguise the Turkey Craft? (Benefits for fine motor and visual motor skills)

• Scissor Skills: Encourages precise cutting as children cut out feathers, beaks, and other turkey parts, enhancing fine motor control.
• Hand Strength & Coloring: Strengthens small hand muscles as kids color and assemble their turkeys, building endurance for longer fine motor tasks.
• Direction Following: Helps improve executive functioning as children follow step-by-step instructions to create their turkey masterpiece.
• Creativity & Fine Motor Skills: Offers a chance for children to personalize their turkey with colors and styles, promoting both creativity and hand coordination.
• Visual Motor Skills: Integrates cutting and assembly tasks, promoting eye-hand coordination and spatial awareness.

This Disguise a Turkey craft is great for:

• Occupational Therapy Providers: Use this activity to address scissor skills, fine motor control, and hand strengthening in therapy sessions.
• Teachers: Incorporate this craft as a classroom activity to support skill development while adding a festive Thanksgiving theme to the day.
• Parents: Engage children at home with a fun activity that enhances their fine motor and visual motor skills in a creative way.
• Adapt and Modify a Disguise the Turkey Activity for different skill levels and special needs:

The Disguise a Turkey Craft offers flexibility to adapt to various skill levels and motor and cognitive needs, making it accessible and beneficial for a range of developmental abilities. Here are ways to modify this activity to suit different needs, skills, and therapeutic goals:

Adaptations for Different Skill Levels-

• Pre-Cut Pieces- For children with limited scissor skills, pre-cut the turkey parts so they can focus on assembling and coloring. This modification also supports those with low fine motor strength.
• Use Larger Pieces- Print the template at a larger scale, so pieces are easier to hold, color, and place. This helps children with limited grasp strength or coordination.
• Use Simple Instructions- Simplify the instructions into one-step directions, such as “Place the feather here,” to support children with attention challenges or cognitive delays.
• Guided Cutting- For children who are developing scissor skills, provide dotted or bold cutting lines to help them practice controlled cuts. This approach enhances fine motor skills and visual-motor coordination.
• Coloring for Precision- Encourage children to color within specific areas (e.g., feathers or beak) to promote controlled coloring and precision.
• Hand-over-Hand Assistance- For kids who need more guidance, therapists or parents can provide hand-over-hand support with cutting or gluing to improve dexterity while providing support.
• Independent Cutting and Assembly- Let older or more advanced children cut out all the pieces independently and follow the instructions with minimal guidance. This promotes executive functioning skills, independence, and fine motor strength.
• Adjust the directions- For kids with higher executive functioning skills, incorporate multi-step instructions or have them design a “disguise” theme for the turkey, adding an imaginative challenge.

Modifications of the Disguise a Turkey Craft for Various Special Needs

1.For Children with Low Muscle Tone

• Use Thicker Paper- Print the craft on thicker cardstock to provide more resistance when cutting, which can help build hand strength.
• Vertical Surface- Place the turkey template on a vertical surface (e.g., wall or easel) with Velcro attachments for each part. This encourages shoulder and core engagement, improving posture and muscle strength.

2. For Children with Sensory Sensitivities

• Laminate and Velcro- Laminate the pieces and use Velcro to allow for repeated assembly without glue or sticky textures, making it more sensory-friendly.
• Soft Grip Scissors- Provide soft-grip or adaptive scissors to make cutting more comfortable for children with tactile sensitivities.
• Quiet Workspace- Set up a calm, quiet area where children can focus on the activity without overwhelming stimuli.

3. For Children with Visual Processing Challenges

• High Contrast Colors- Use bold colors and outlines to make cutting lines more visible and distinguishable from the background.
• Step-by-Step Visual Guide- Provide a visual sequence of the assembly steps to help children follow along more easily.
• Larger Templates- Enlarged templates and thicker lines around each part can help children with tracking and visual discrimination.

4. For Children with Cognitive Delays

• One-Part-at-a-Time- Provide one part (e.g., feathers) to color, cut, and place before moving on to the next part, breaking down the task to promote focus and understanding.
• Color-Coded Pieces- Color-code each part to simplify the process and help them understand where each piece belongs on the turkey.
• Guided Choices- Offer limited choices (e.g., two feather colors) to reduce overwhelm and promote decision-making.

Additional Ways to Use this Disguise a Turkey Activity in Therapy Sessions to Support Development

1. Laminated Matching Activity- Laminate each part and use Velcro to create a reusable matching game on a vertical surface. Children can match feathers, beaks, and other parts to corresponding shapes on the turkey template, promoting spatial awareness and eye-hand coordination.

2. Sensory Bin- Hide laminated turkey pieces in a sensory bin (filled with beans, rice, or small autumn-themed items) and let children find, identify, and assemble the turkey. This supports tactile input, focus, and fine motor engagement.

3. Obstacle Courses- Integrate the turkey parts into an obstacle course where children collect pieces at different stations before assembling them. This adds a gross motor component and increases engagement while working on coordination and sequencing.

4. Fine Motor Skills- Use the turkey craft pieces as part of a fine motor kit where children can practice different skills—cutting, coloring, gluing—using individual parts over multiple sessions.

5. “Disguise the Turkey” Storytelling Prompt- After assembling the turkey, ask children to create a short story about their disguised turkey. This can enhance expressive language skills, creativity, and sequencing abilities.