I have to admit, the more color a project has the more I love it. And this Thanksgiving turkey? Well, let’s just say I could make them all. day. long.
The best part of this project is that you can whip out your box of paper scraps — or if you are extremely organized — your color-sorted collection of papers, and go on a color wheel treasure hunt.
I made this video for you to show you just how fun and easy this colorful turkey really is. And don’t blame me if you get obsessed with making more than one!
Here’s a video showing you the quick steps:
Download this handy drawing guide before you get started:
Here’s what you’ll need:
– Turkey Body: Paper Scraps for the turkey body (about one 6″ x 7″ piece per student)
– Oil pastels or construction paper crayons
– Scissors & glue stick / white school glue
– 12″ x 9″ black or white paper for background
How to Draw the Symmetrical Turkey Body
Download the Turkey Drawing Guide below and photocopy for students or use it to give you a quick overview of the drawing.

Fold the turkey body paper in half. Using the drawing guide as a reference, draw a half a circle for the head (the folded section of the paper should be the center of the circle) and then draw a larger circle for the body.
Add legs and cut out turkey body. Open up and place body off to the side.

On a small separate sheet of paper. Fold the paper in half and draw a wing. Use the drawing guide as a general reference. Cut out.
Let’s go on a color wheel treasure hunt!
You can keep this part really simple: just organized colored pieces of 6″ x 3″ (approx) paper into trays. OR, you can talk about the color wheel and ask children to find feather shapes for all 7 colors of the rainbow.

Collect all of the paper colors, cut into feather shapes and start decorating.

Using oil pastels or crayons, make designs on the features.
There are a few options here: you can demonstrate a standard feather shape or for children who are older (8+) might enjoy adding a different pattern to each feather.
Putting the colorful turkey together…
Gather up all of the pieces: body, wings (2), feathers (7) and arrange on a colored sheet of paper.

With a light colored crayon, make a dot near the center of the paper. Place the 4th feather (green) in the middle of the paper with the bottom of the feather touching the dot and the top extending off the top edge of the paper.
With the white school glue, draw a line from the got to the side of the paper. Glue feather #1 (red)
Continue the pattern of gluing the feathers towards the dot.

When all the feathers are glued to the background paper, glue the body and wings.
Use extra paper scraps to add the beak and wattle.
Use a black marker to make dots for the eyes. Stand back and swoon over these adorable turkeys.
If you create this lesson in your art room, I’d love to see it!

Included in the November Freebie pack this month is our How to Draw a Turkey Thanksgiving Placemat! Click the yellow button below to DOWNLOAD the free November Pack. Add your name and email and we’ll send it to you –
Happy Thanksgiving!

Beautiful lessons. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome!
So cute and love the color wheel tie-in!
Thank you for sharing! Love it!
Love it..thanks
Thank you for sharing!
Hola
Nice Art Project. Awesome! Thanks for sharing.
Very nice shape and contrast colors?Thanks Dear
hi am a new fan :3
thank you so mach to sharing I love it
Love this lesson! I tied in the color wheel, complimentary colors, and lines making texture/
Art has always been my favorite subject. I homeschool my children ages 12,8 and 4 they all love Patty’s artwork! I find myself always doing the project along with them because they are just so vibrant, fun and beautiful. Thank you for offering so many things for free and for your Youtube channel. We love Patty’s color choices and clothing style too! We just really appreciate you and all your program does.
So Awesome! Thank you!
Amazing and fun lessons!
I love it thank you so much
Thank you so much for sharing!
I am your fan from Europe – Lithuania. Your lessons are really awesome! I love everything you share. Thank you very much!
Can you please email me the color wheel turkey handout?
Thank!
Hi Carin. If you need help with a download please email Shannon at support@deepspacesparkle.com and she will help you there.
Amazing and fun for kids I would like to do this myself
I love your art projects!
A color wheel turkey? This is SO perfect! I love your site and your guidance/resources!! Thank you!
Ingenious!
Nice , good sample of this bird , for small children!
I can’t get the download to work. can you please email to me
Hi Katie! This is Bethany from Team Sparkle. When you click the download button, the pdf lesson should go directly to your inbox. If you don’t see it there you can reach out to support@deepspacesparkle.com and they can help make sure you receive a copy.
will be good for class
We made these adorable, colorful turkeys, and all had so much fun at Thanksgiving. The grands took them home and we forgot to snap a picture. many THANKS for the freebie. ❤️
super nice! thanks for sharing!! <3
Very cute project I’m always looking for something new as I teach multi-levels.
Great lesson! I would love to print it but comes up blocked!
Hi Denise! I just tested the download link and all seems to be fine on my end. Are you clicking the box that “Click to Download”? When I tested the link, I added my name and email and received the email shortly after. I know the Chrome and Safari browser both work well so try one of those if needed. And be sure to check your spam folder in case our email ended up there! Enjoy
I’m looking for the pdf and not having any luck. What am I missing? Thanks for all that you do.
Hi Denise! I just tested the download link and all seems to be fine on my end. Are you clicking the box that “Click to Download”? When I tested the link, I added my name and email and received the email shortly after. I know the Chrome and Safari browser both work well so try one of those if needed. And be sure to check your spam folder in case our email ended up there! Enjoy
I can’t figure out how to get the download of the pattern? I have downloaded the November pack, but when I click on this color wheel turkey, it just brings me back to the website with directions and video? Help:)
Oops – just figured it out…had to scroll to the bottom of the e-mail with the November pack in it…sorry to be a bother:)
This is so cute!
Not seeing how to down load the placemat- looking everywhere….I keep clicking on “Down load the November packet” but i don’t see it.
Would like to access it as I have become a member…
Hi there! I just tested the download link and all seems to be fine on my end. Are you clicking the yellow box that says “Click to Download”? When I tested the link, I added my name and email and received the email shortly after. I know the Chrome and Safari browser both work well so try one of those if needed. And be sure to check your spam folder in case our email ended up there! Enjoy
I do not see where the link is to download the turkey colorwheel….
Hi Pat! Thanks so much for your interest in our lessons. If you scroll down you should see a blue box with a yellow box the says CLICK TO DOWNLOAD. When you add your name and email we will send the lesson directly to your inbox. Are you using the Firefox browser? We’ve noticed that Firefox doesn’t work as well on our website so you should try Safari or Chrome. Enjoy.