Gobble, Gobble

A turkey is a funny bird,
His head goes wobble, wobble.
And he knows just one word,
Gobble, gobble, gobble

Albuquerque the Turkey
(tune: "Oh My Darlin'
Clementine")

Albuquerque, he's my turkey,
And he's feathered and he's fine
And he wobbles and he gobbles
And I'm awfully glad he's mine.

He's the best pet you could get yet
Better than a dog or cat
Albuquerque, he's my turkey
And I'm awfully glad of that.

Albuquerque, he's my turkey
He's so cozy in his bed
Because for our Thanksgiving dinner
We had scrambled eggs instead.

I Eat Turkey
(tune: Frere Jacques)

I eat turkey,
(Point to self)

I eat turkey.
(Point to self again)

Yes, I do, Yes, I do.
(Nod head)

Turkey in my tummy,
(Rub tummy)

Yummy, yummy, yummy.
Good for me,
(Point to self)

Good for you.
(Point to others)

Turkey Trot
(tune: Hokey Pokey)

You put your right wing in.
You put your right wing out.
You put your right wing in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the turkey trot
And you turn your self around.
That's what it's all about.

Additional verses:Left wing, Drumsticks, Stuffing, Wattle(Head), Tail Feathers(Bottom), Turkey body

Fat Turkey's Song
(tune: "Did You Ever See a Lassie?")

Oh, gobble, gobble, gobble,
Fat turkeys, fat turkeys.
Oh, gobble, gobble, gobble,
Fat turkeys are we.
We walk very proudly and gobble so loudly,
Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble.
Oh, gobble, gobble, gobble.
Fat turkeys are we.

My Turkey
I have a turkey, big and fat
He spreads his wings,
(Fan hands at hips)
And walks like that
(Strut)
His daily corn he would not miss (Pretend to eat corn)
And when he walks, he sounds like this,
('Gobble, Gobble, Gobble')

Gobble, Gobble
(tune: "If you're Happy & You Know It")

"Gobble, gobble, gobble,gobble", says the bird-
"Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble", says the bird.
Mr. Turkey gobble-gobbles
And his head goes wobble-wobble
"Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble", says the bird

I'm a Little Turkey
(tune: I'm a Little Teapot)

I'm a little turkey,
My name is Ted.
Here are my feathers
Here is my head
Gobble, gobble, gobble,
Is what I say,
Quick! Run! It's Thanksgiving Day!

Gobbly, Wobbly Turkeys
(tune: Ten Little Indians)

One little, two little three little turkeys,
Gobbly, wobbly, bobbly turkeys,
Hurry, scurry, worry
turkeys,
It's Thanksgiving Day!

A Turkey for Thanksgiving
by Eve Bunting

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving
by Dav Pilkney

The Turkey That Crowed
by Eva Johns Haynes

A Plump and Perky Turkey
by Teresa Bateman

All About Turkeys
by Jim Arnosky

Turkeys
by Rachael Bell

The Pages:
(Cover) When You Meet a Turkey...
1. Be sure to tickle his tummy.
2. Be sure to tickle his head.
3. Be sure to tickle his neck.
4. Be sure to tickle his feathers.
5. Be sure to tickle his feet.
6. Then he will run and hide!

The picture on the last page is to be cut almost in half height-wise and glued flush to the right side of the page--to look like he is running away. Add a few 'whoosh' marks to make it look like he's moving fast!

The Cover:
The cover should be any Fall color with the title "When You Meet a Turkey" and perhaps a picture of Mr. Turkey glued on. The marker is a popsicle stick with a feather glued to the end. A pocket for storing the 'tickler' can be made on the inside cover of the book.

Glue a small, plastic turkey or turkey eraser to the end of a pencil so children can track the words as they "read" the poem. Focus on the "b" sound as you read.

OR

Use Predictable Chart and Interactive Writing for a Read Around the Room Activity

When I meet a turkey I will...
OR
My turkey...

head
neck
feet
wings
wattle
beak

Five Turkeys

Cut five turkey body shapes from brown felt and 15 tail feathers from red, yellow, and orange felt.  Number the turkey body shapes from 1-5 and place them on a flannelboard.  Put the feather shapes in a pile.  To play the game, have your children take turns selecting a turkey and placing that many feathers on it. (Can also make out
of construction paper as an individual center.)

Turkey Math

Paint each child's hand with brown paper and have them press it onto 1/2 sheet of construction paper. Let them add features with markers and crayons to make the hand prints look like turkey. Use the finished pictures to talk about counting by fives. Hang them in a row with the numerals 5, 10, 15... and so on up to 100. Practice counting by fives.

Short and Long
Feathers

The children will place paper strips in order by size and then use them to decorate turkeys.

Materials: Six basic colors of construction paper, scissors, pre-cut turkey, glue

1. Cut strips of red, green, yellow, blue, orange, violet. Vary the length of each color so that the red strips are shorter than the orange ones, which are shorter than the yellow ones and so on.
2. Give each child one strip of each color and ask them to place them in order by size. Tell them to start with the smallest and go to the longest.
3. Have the children cut short slits along the sides of each strip to resemble feathers and then glue them however they want onto the turkey's back.

Counting Corns
Make turkey cards and on each turkey, place a number on his stomach. Around the turkey, place construction paper candy corns to coordinate with the number. Provide real candy corn as manipulatives for the children to count and place on the turkey.

Turkey Glyph

Give each child a cut out of a turkey body.
Provide them with paper feathers in the following colors. Children can add feathers to their turkey according to the foods they plan to eat for their Thanksgiving Dinner:

green - beans or peas
yellow - corn
white - mashed potatoes
orange - pumpkin pie
red - cranberries
purple - gravy
blue - dressing
brown - turkey
black - roll

Turkey Feather Game

Cut five turkey body shapes out of brown felt and fifteen feather shapes out of red, yellow and orange felt. Number the turkey body shapes from 1 to 5 and put them on a flannelboard. Place the feather shapes in a pile. To play the game, have the children take turns selecting a turkey, identifying the number on it and adding that many feathers to it.

Turkey in the Straw
Flannelboard

Ha, Ha, Turkey in the Straw
(sung to "Skip to My Lou")

Turkey in the brown straw, ha, ha, ha,
Turkey in the brown straw, ha, ha, ha,
Turkey in the brown straw, ha, ha, ha.
Turkey in the straw, my darling.

Turkey in the white snow, ho, ho, ho,
Turkey in the white snow, ho, ho, ho,
Turkey in the white snow, ho, ho, ho.
Turkey in the snow, my darling.

Turkey in the blue sky, hi, hi, hi,
Turkey in the blue sky, hi, hi, hi,
Turkey in the blue sky, hi, hi, hi.
Turkey in the sky, my darling.


Turkey in the red barn, harn, harn, harn,
Turkey in the red barn, harn, harn, harn,
Turkey in the red barn, harn, harn, harn.
Turkey in the barn, my darling.

Turkey in the yellow corn, horn, horn, horn,
Turkey in the yellow corn, horn, horn, horn,
Turkey in the yellow corn, horn, horn, horn.
Turkey in the corn, my darling.

Turkey in the green tree, hee, hee, hee,
Turkey in the green tree, hee, hee, hee,
Turkey in the green tree, hee, hee, hee.
Turkey in the tree, my darling.

(Cut a turkey shape out of brown felt. Cut out of colored felt a pile of brown straw, a pile of white snow, a blue sky background, a red barn, a yellow bag of corn, and a green tree for the turkey to sit in. Place all the shapes, except for the turkey, on the flannel board. Then sing the song with the chlidren and let them take turns placing the turkey on the appropriate shapes.)

Matching
Turkey Feathers

Make a circle and attach a turkey head to the circle. On the brown circle, place colored pictures/dots. Then place coordinating colored dots onto clothespins. Have the children match the colored dot to the colored picture. This gives the turkey clothespin feathers

Turkey Pins

(You will want to have this as an adult-supervised center.)

Materials:
glue gun
2 mini squiggly eyes per turkey
mini straw hat
small brown pom pom
pieces of orange, brown, and red pipe cleaners
artificial flowers in autumn colors

The mini hat will be the body. Take an artificial flower and cut it in half (remove the center). Glue this to one side of the outer brim of the hat. Glue the pom pom to the top of the hat for the head. Glue the two eyes and a small piece of orange pipe cleaner for the beak. Glue a red piece the same size as the orange for the waddle. Then cut two slightly larger brown pieces to be used as the feet. Glue a small safety pin to the back of the hat to allow it to be pinned to clothing.

Flying Turkeys

Needed:
Large Styrofoam cup
Yarn
colorful craft feathers
sequins for eyes
orange paper

Poke hole in the center side of cup. Tie a knot at one end of the yarn. Thread yarn through hole from inside the cup. Poke colorful craft feathers into cup - all over side of cup. Take sequins for eyes and make a paper orange beak and glue to bottom of cup. Hang turkeys.

Turkey Art

Fold a coffee filter in half 3 times so that it is the shape of a small triangle. Prepare 4 small containers of green, red, yellow & blue water. Dip each point into a color and then dip the middle of the filter in the last color. Open and let dry. These will be the turkey's feathers. Give the children a tracer that looks like the shape of a bowling pin. That will be the turkey's body. Have them trace and cut it out of brown paper. Glue the turkey's body to the opened coffee filter and decorate

Stuffed Turkey
Table Decoration

What You Need
Mitten (who has lost it's mate)
Sock (that has been outgrown)
Stuffing (old socks, scraps of felt, or torn up old clothing)
Pencil
Tacky glue
Scissors
2 Wiggle eyes
Gold or yellow felt
Red felt

Let the child stuff the mitten using old socks, fabric, or felt scraps. Use a pencil to get the fabric up in the fingers of the mitten. This is the turkey's feathers.
Let the child stuff the sock until the stuffing reaches the heel. This is the turkey's head and body.
Push the end of the sock up inside the mitten.
Bend the stuffed end of the sock so it looks like a head is looking at you.
Spread tacky glue on the back side of the turkey body and then push against the palm of the mitten.
Let the child cut out the beak and feet out of gold felt, and the wattle out of red.
Tacky glue the beak, feet, wattle, and 2 eyes on the turkey.
Let dry.

Hand and Feet Turkeys

Need: Brown, tan, orange, red, and yellow construction paper, wiggle eyes, glue, scissors, pencil.
First, let each child place his feet on brown construction paper; trace his/her feet, and cut out. Then hand over hand assist the child in tracing his/her hands onto colored paper (your choice of color or child's choice). Then cut out and glue the two feet pieces together where the heel meets. Let the child glue the remaining hands onto the turkey body. Cut thin orange paper strips for the feet and glue onto the body. Glue on wiggle eyes, nose, and waddle.

Turkey Centerpiece
Materials: Small brown lunch bags, various colors of tempera paint (Fall colors), large paintbrush or roller, turkey face and feet, glue, and old newspapers for "stuffing" the turkey.

Description:
1.  Measure 5 1/2 inches from bottom of bag, measure all around and inside the folds also.  Paint this section in various colors. This will make the feathers for the turkey.  Cut on the seam of the bag down the 5 1/2 inches.

2.  Stuff the bag with old newspaper and tape tightly closed. This will form the turkey body. Now fan the colored feather tail.

3.  Glue the turkey face on the bottom of the bag which is now really the front. Glue the feet on the underneath side of the bag.   You can find patterns for the face and feet in teacher's idea books or coloring books.

Quick Edible
Thanksgiving Turkeys

What You Need
2 Double stuffed Oreos (Halloween ones or regular white)
Candy corn
Raisinettes
Plate

Open one Oreo. The half that has the filling will be the base for your turkey to stand on.
Eat the other piece, if desired.
Place the other Oreo on the filling standing upright. This is your turkey body.
Carefully place 5 candy corns into the filling on the upright Oreo. These are the feathers.
Place a Raisinette in front of the turkey body. This is the head.
Place on your table as a decoration, or gobble it right up!

Musical Turkey

Preparation: 
Using your own hand, trace, with thumb extended and other fingers bent in, to create a turkey shape. Add a head and two legs. At the bottom of the picture label "My Musical Turkey." Photocopy for correct number of children. Cut feathers out of construction paper in brown, red, yellow and orange.

Procedure:
Pass out one turkey sheet to each student. Have students write their names on the top of the paper.
Teach the song
Have You Ever Seen a Turkey?
(Tune: "Did You Ever See a Lassie")
Have you ever seen a turkey, a turkey, a turkey?
Have you ever seen a turkey with feathers so bright?
There's red ones and brown ones, and yellow ones and orange ones
Have you ever seen a turkey with feathers so bright?

After the children have sung the song a few times begin the art portion of the lesson. Again sing the song, this time, instructing children to glue each feather to the turkey in the order that it is presented in the song. Once each turkey is complete sing the song again while each child holds his turkey in front of him, gently swaying it to the music. As they sing the colors they point to each colored feather.

Turkey Strut

Make turkey tracks using brown vinyl tape, or masking tape colored brown, on the floor (in your circle area). Put on some Thanksgiving or Fast music and let the children strut from track to track, pretending to be turkeys. If you can find a copy of the Chicken Dance, teach the children how to do the dance Turkey style. 

Turkey Facts