Turkey Trouble Activities and Crafts - FREE worksheets for Preschool Kindergarten and First Grade

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Do you love the book Turkey Trouble as much as we do?

If you haven’t heard of this story before… you are in for a treat!

It is by far and away one of our favorite books to read all year.

The kids think it is absolutely hilarious, and there are SO many fun activities that can stem from this adorable and clever read aloud.

This book, and our activities that go along with it, keep us busy for the entire month of November!

I am sharing a few FREEBIES right here on this blog post that your students will love.

Plus, the free download will help with comprehension, retelling, sequencing, characters and more!

If you don’t own the book, you can watch it below.

Let’s get started!

After reading the book, I make sure students know the word disguise.

What is a disguise?

It is easy to relate this word to costume and dressing up. We talk about why someone might want to be in a disguise?

kindergarten thanksgiving craft feast idea

We also practice making connections and using context clues.

They love this pocket chart game! I display all the cards and read them the sentence.

They choose the picture card showing who would be hiding there.

“Where would you see a fireman? The fire station!”

Then we complete this follow up activity.

Multiple options are included and you can use one or all three versions.

These follow up activities check for understanding and also ensures students know all the pictures and words since they will be seeing these throughout the entire unit.

my opinion writing kindergarten first grade sec and grade turkey thanksgiving writing prompts

There are so many fun writing prompts you can do throughout this unit, but this “turkey trouble” topic lends itself particularly well to opinion/persuasive writing. The kids love writing about their opinion… trust me!

We start simple, and students choose:

What would their disguise be?
Where would they hide?

This is the perfect way to follow up from our last activity, as well as transition into our writing prompts.

I include so many options including picture only, coloring, sentence starters, fill in the blanks and write on your own.

This unit can work perfectly for: preschool - pre-k - kindergarten - 1st grade (or even second grade depending on your class.)

I include picture word banks as well so students won’t be asking:

“How do I spell astronaut?! How do I spell doctor?!”

Everything is planned and scaffolded for you and students!

Everyone loves to stop in our hallway and see what the kiddos wrote… sometimes they choose things you would never guess!

These are adorable and hilarious to hang in the hallway or on the bulletin board.

Using sequencing words: first, next and then

(if your children are ready for this at the beginning of the unit, you can always skip the first activities!)

Multiple options are included so students can draw their own picture, finish the turkey and a disguise, or simply color a turkey already shown in a disguise.

Some students want to pick out the disguise already on their paper.

This makes it super simple for you as they can just write and color.

Other students may want to draw their own disguise which usually turns out adorable!

When they are excited for the topic, writing is so fun for even the most reluctant writers.

These worksheets are so helpful for students learning how to use sequencing words and learning to string multiple sentences together.

If your students are ready, these next writing activities teach students how to write about their opinion and give supporting details.

opinion writing thanksgiving first grade kindergarten

This is the perfect way to learn how to give your opinion using the word prefer.

Picture word banks, graphic organizers and sentence starters give students the scaffolding and support to write an opinion paper.

turkey trouble class book project poster craft

These simple printable pages can be used in so many ways.

I include a cover page so you can quickly and easily make an adorable class book.

Two options are included:

Students write on the line what their turkey’s disguise is.
Students color the bubble word already written for them.

Place your class book on your classroom shelf and students love to read it all year.

These also make super quick and easy bulletin board displays if you prefer.

This activity is a huge hit and makes the cutest bulletin board display!

There are multiple versions included, so you can choose the set that works best for your needs.

You can do a class theme and all make the same turkeys, or you can let students choose what to disguise turkey as.

Gumball turkey: cut red felt or construction paper, grab some poms and you’re set!

Popcorn turkey: I got the popcorn bags at our local dollar store, and ten came in the pack.

You can also grab THESE popcorn bags on Amazon and they look very similar to mine.

Pop some popcorn and you’re set.

This would make an adorable class bulletin board, and I share my FREE header!

Quick directions:

If you love this popcorn theme, print this FREE bulletin board shown below HERE

The bubble letters are white to save on ink, so I suggest printing on red or yellow paper.

Tips for success:

If you choose to send this project home to complete with families and return to school, I include a note with instructions.

My first years teaching kindergarten, I worked at a school where it was best to complete this project in class.

If you do not think many students will return their project to school, I would just ask for a couple parent helpers and make these posters in class.

If you send them home, I have found the perfect timing to be:

Send home the project with parent instructions on a Monday
Ask for the due date to be the following Tuesday (8 days later)
Encourage parents to return the posters to school as soon as they are ready!
Send home a reminder the Monday afternoon before it is due

Depending on how much time/help you have in your day, I have included simple one page posters that can just be colored, or more in depth posters that can be full on craft projects.

I wanted to be sure to include options for all teachers and students, because these turn out so adorable.

You get to choose what works best for your class and situation!

Some craft feathers are 3-5 inches which are a little harder for students to work with and glue.

THESE mini feathers are perfect for making peacocks, robins or a rooster for a disguise.

THESE are mini feathers that are bright and colorful and can be used for so many ideas such as blackbirds, ducks, cardinals, flamingos, etc.

Yellow feathers are so adorable for turning turkey into a duck!

I created three mini books to be used throughout the month.

I love connecting reading and writing together, and the kiddos love making their very own books.

We read them in class, fill out the writing pages, color, buddy read and then students can take them home to read to their families.

For so many children who don’t have books at home, I love mini books so students can read to their families!

BONUS: additional activities for turkey fun this month!

write the room turkey thanksgiving kindergarten

turkey math centers preschool kindergarten

I made so many fun activities that can be used throughout the month to teach the standards.

When activities are themed and engaging, students look forward to completing them!

All of these activities are little to no prep for you.

Here are a few snapshots of these printables:

After reading Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano, use the picture sequencing cards to help children put the events in order. Then you can follow up with the cut and paste activity to check for understanding.