Thanksgiving Craft: Fingerprint Turkey Cards

With Thanksgiving coming sooner than I’m ready to admit, I’ve been reflecting on what I’m thankful for and looking for ways to help my son do the same.  Four year olds are all kinds of selfish, so I’ll seize any opportunity to get him thinking about others.  With that in mind, we set out to make some cards to send to friends and family to let them know we are grateful to have them in our lives.  I found the inspiration for these fingerprint turkey cards in Family Fun magazine, where they were imagined as place cards.  Whether you make them as place cards, greeting cards or just make them for the fun of it, they are a cute way to get ready for turkey day.

You’ll need:
Blank Greeting Cards or Cardstock
Non-Toxic Ink Pads in your choice of colors
Markers/Paint Markers for Decorating

I happened to find all the colors I wanted in one huge ink pad at JoAnn that was perfect for this project.

We made two styles of turkey, one facing front, one facing to the side. I envisioned taking step-by-step photos while Jake and I made cards. Then I was faced with the harsh reality that ink pads, little fingers and expensive cameras probably aren’t an ideal combination. So I waited until naptime to do a set on my own.

For the front facing turkey, start by making a row of feathers with your index finger.

Add more rows of feathers in colors of your choice.

Make the body with a thumbprint.

Add eyes, beak and feet.  We used paint markers for the eyes and beak – markers won’t show up over the ink.

(If you have any googly eyes around, they’d be a cute touch.)

Now, how about those side facing turkeys:

Make the body with a sideways thumbprint and use your index finger for the head.

Add rows of index print feathers.

Add eye, beak, wattle and feet.

Voila!

Kinda cute, don’t you think?

Feel free to doodle some more.  Sunshine and an airplane are good choices.

I think Daddy will like it.

An afternoon of crafting, that’s something else to be thankful for.