How to Make a Thanksgiving Hand and Footprint Turkey

I love handprint crafts for kids because they are fun to make (kids love putting their hands in paint) and they become keepsakes that I will cherish reminding me how little my children once were.  I still have a Christmas handprint craft my son made with his babysitter (I was teaching full time then) when he was 6 months old and I treasure it.  It reminds me of how tiny and precious he was. He is still precious, but at 8 years old he is keenly aware that Mommy is embarrassing and won't let me hug and kiss him in public anymore.  Well most of the time, I did get an arm around him in church on Sunday.  

Since my four year old and the little boy that I watch part time love to craft, I got out the paints and some poster board and helped them make handprint and footprint turkeys the other day.  They had a blast and painted for at least an hour while we let the handprints dry.  

I mixed some yellow and red tempura paint to make orange, then swirled some more yellow in to give their handprints a mottled mixed color effect.  

I then helped them position their handprints on the poster board.  We let these dry for about an hour, then made footprints.  

I very carefully dipped their little feet in paint then positioned them on the turkey to make the turkey body.  I had baby wipes near by and quickly wiped the boys' feet off before they could run around with a painted foot.  We let the paint dry during nap time so that it would be completely dry before moving on.  

Then I cut waddles out of red construction paper and beaks out of orange craft foam and the boys helped me glue them on.  For fun we added wiggly eyes.  I think they turned out really cute and the boys had such fun making them.  
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