Family Unit Turkeys

Family Unit Turkey

In previous posts, I've explored activities that help children recognize extended family members and learn relationship vocabulary. (Easter Egg Family Faces, The BIG Family Tree). But I've noticed that my kids, specifically my four year old daughter, still have trouble with how parts of her extended family are more or less "organized."  She didn't quite realize that, for example, Daddy is a member of two smaller family units - our family and his parents' family. I needed an activity that could demonstrate 'nuclear' family units in an interactive, visual manner. Combine that with the fact that Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Family Unit Turkey's were born!

Supplies needed for this activity:
- Colorful paper
- Cardboard box
- Scissors
- Glue
- Pencil and Markers
- Googly Eyes (optional)

Each turkey we made would represent one family unit. We would write the family's surname(s) on the belly of the turkey and each feather would represent one person in the family.

First, I created tracing templates from the sides of a cardboard box. I cut them out, and my daughter used these to trace the turkeys' bodies and feathers. 

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Turkey Body Tracing Template

I showed my daughter how to trace on the back of the paper, so that the pencil line would not show when we cut it out. She chose each color/pattern for each family member.

Tracing One of the Turkey Feathers

After the tracing, she wanted to cut out the turkey feathers on her own. (Cutting with scissors is a skill they are practicing in her preschool class.) Of course, we used safety scissors and I watched her carefully the whole time. The feathers shapes do not have to be cut perfectly; in fact, I think they look better with some jagged edges - more like real turkey feathers!

Cutting out a turkey feather.

After we were done cutting, it was time to glue the feathers onto the turkey body. Then, we used various markers to label the turkey with the family surname and each feather with a family member's first name. This was a teaching moment in and of itself, because my daughter did not know all of her grandparents' first names. (Young children do not inherently realize that adults even HAVE first names!)

I cut out little triangles for the turkey beaks and we found some googly eyes in our craft cabinet. If you do not have googly eyes available, you can cut circles out of the paper or just draw on eyes with markers.

We made three turkeys in all; her attention span was done after that. We created a turkey for our own little family, for my family, and for my husband's family. Each turkey had a different number of feathers, so we counted them and talked about how some families are bigger and some are smaller. We also talked about how mom and dad are actually a part of two family units, and I think this activity helped her better associate each of her aunts and uncles with the correct side of the family. ("Uncle Jeff is Mommy's brother and Grandma and Grandpa K.'s son.")

Our Finished Turkeys!

Please do not feel like you have to have perfect nuclear families in your tree to do this activity with the children in your life. A family unit can be defined however you wish. You could stick with traditional biological family units, or you can create your turkeys based on family members who live together. Children can and should put themselves in more than one family unit if they share their time with their parents' or guardians' separate families.

Have fun making your turkeys and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

©2014, Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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