The GGA Project -- Day #340 "Gobble Gobble"

As I've mentioned before, I find the idea of giving kids (especially little kids) things that make messes incredibly anxiety inducing.  This has pretty much kept me from doing anything in the way of art with my son.  I've just never been the kind of person who says, "here kid, play with this Play-Doh, these markers, this finger paint, etc.," because all I can think of is the huge cleanup that would follow.  Aww, but I don't wanna be a stick-in-the mud Mom!  So, better late than never for

Today's New Activity: Kid-Included Art Project

Ok, so there really isn't a whole lot to speak of in the world of Thanksgiving decorating.  I never noticed or cared, but now that I have a child, I feel like I want to acknowledge and make every holiday special, so I thought maybe we could make some of those turkeys-made-by-tracing-hands as a little nod in the direction of Turkey Day.

But I couldn't remember how to do it.  Sounds ridiculous, I know, but I couldn't remember if you trace hands to make the turkey's body, or the feathers, or what.  It's times like this I thank Al Gore for the internet, which helped me to find this helpful tutorial.  I was especially drawn to this project because it was super simple and I'd be able to remember the steps without having to check back to figure out what came next.

All you needed were scissors and a glue stick, construction paper in these colors,

and willing participants, which we had.  Even my parents wanted in on the action :)

First you trace your shoe twice on brown construction paper and cut out the shapes

Then you trace and cut out your hand shapes twice each on red, yellow, and orange construction paper.  Monkey was so curious about this whole project business that he actually stayed still for this part.

He also found a way to entertain himself while I did the shape cutting for both of our turkeys.  Next time I'll pick a project that isn't so scissor-intensive.  It really didn't leave a lot for him to be able to help with, so I let him handle the glue stick :)

So you just glue the two shoe shapes with the narrow heels overlapping and the wider toe part fanned out a bit, then you glue the hands behind and add little legs and a beak and that gobble gobble thing, then just draw on eyes (stick on wiggle eyes optional)

Here are mine and Kalil's:

And here are my Mom's and Dad's.  I love the method of using both shoes and hands because then every turkey comes out proportionate to the person who made it.  Too cute.

Happy turkey-makin' y'all!