Thanksgiving Educational Activities for Kids: Turkey T-shirts

Last year, we began an annual family tradition of making turkey t-shirts for Thanksgiving. I of course, found Chipmunk’s shirt adorable. My husband asked if we were becoming “one of those families”. What’s that supposed to mean anyway??My daughter fell instantly in love with the “chicken shirt” (as she called it) and asked to wear it almost every day (we washed that shirt a lot!) Needless to say, I’m excited to make the shirts again and wanted to share the super easy process with you! Let’s get started!

A white childrens shirt with handprint turkeys in orange, yellow, and purple on the chest. Below them, the text CRAZY TURKEY! and a small blue heart are visible. The shirt is on a wooden surface.

Last year’s turkey shirt

Table of Contents

What You Need:

An adorable child’s little hand
Non-washable paint (beware!)
Paper Plate
Paint brush
White T-shirt (on sale this week at A.C. Moore for $2.99)
Google eye (optional)
Sharpie (black and orange)
Hot glue gun (optional)

What You Do:

We started with white shirts we already owned, but many people recommend washing your shirt first. Lay the shirt out as flat as you can on the table, with some kind of newspaper or cardboard in between the front and the back (I always forget this part!).

A white long-sleeve shirt with a scooped neckline is laid out flat on a wooden table with a herringbone pattern. The shirt has slightly ruffled edges at the hem and cuffs. A persons feet are partially visible at the bottom left corner.

Pour some paints (red, orange, yellow, brown) onto a paper plate. I used acrylic paint, but I should mention that I don’t know anything about paint! It seemed to work fine for us last year, so we’ll stick with it. Of course, I ran out of paper plates, so I had to use a paper towel on a regular plate. Not the most effective method!!

Five blobs of paint in various colors—orange, yellow, cream, gray, and red—are placed on a textured paper towel on a wooden surface.

Using the brush, paint your child’s palm brown and each finger a different color.

A small child holds up a clay sculpture of a hand painted in red, orange, and yellow stripes. An adults hand supports it. The child wears a floral dress, and a curtain with circular patterns is in the background.

Have them press firmly onto the t-shirt. You can do one or two turkeys.

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White long-sleeve shirt with two handprint turkeys painted on it in brown, yellow, red, and orange. The shirt is laid flat on a wooden surface.

One of our day care kids has SUPER ticklish hands. He kept closing his hand, so this turkey’s colors were a little more mixed up! We stuck with only one turkey for him! 🙂

A white T-shirt with a small orange, yellow, and red handprint design in the center, laid on a wooden surface.

Once the paint is dry (usually 1 hour at most), hot glue a googly eye onto his head.

Children’s handprint turkeys with orange, yellow, and red feathers painted on a white background. Each turkey has a brown body, black stick legs, and googly eyes, facing each other.

You can also draw little embellishments like feet, beak (with the orange Sharpie), or extra hair/feathers.

A collage of three images showing two white shirts with hand-painted turkey designs. Each turkey is made from a kids handprint, featuring painted feathers in red, orange, and yellow, and googly eyes.

Wait another hour or so for the shirts to fully dry and then wear with pride!

Check out some of these Turkey projects too!

Thanksgiving Math and Literacy Packet ($5)
Run! Turkey! Run! Story Sequencing by Aloha Kindergarten
Coffee Filter Turkeys by Room 36 (Kindergarten)

More Turkey Crafts and Activities for Kids:

About the Author:

Lindsey Whitney is a blogger over at Growing Kids Ministry. A blog designed to help parents, teachers, and Children’s Ministry workers who want to help the kids they love grow in their faith. You can connect with her via twitter or on facebook.