Thanksgiving Turkey Hunt: A Playful Way to Learn Colors and Numbers
Make learning fun this Thanksgiving with a free printable turkey scavenger hunt that helps kids practice colors, numbers, and more!
It’s turkey time! I love this time of year, with all the good food, extra family time, and being grateful for the good things in life. Plus, turkeys offer so many possibilities for fun learning activities to do with your kids.
This Find the Feathers Turkey Scavenger Hunt combines the excitement of hide-and-seek with early learning skills like color recognition, counting, and more! It’s super easy to set up using the printables below, so you can get right to the fun part: playing and learning with your kids.
A Story to Get Started
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years of parenting, it’s that a good story can go a long way in getting kids to buy into an activity. Seriously, parenting is 80% marketing.
For that reason, I imagined a scenario to go with this turkey activity to get my son excited to participate. First, I introduced him to my new turkey friend (and showed him the picture). We named him Bob, but you can name your turkey whatever you want! Tom, Thelma, Gobbles…it doesn’t matter. Just choose something that will make your child giggle.
Then I spun the story, telling my son:
“Oh no! Our turkey friend lost all his feathers! They’ve scattered all over the house! Can you help him find them so he can look fancy again before Thanksgiving?”
My son immediately jumped into action, eager to help save Bob the turkey from the utter embarassment of having to show up to Thanksgiving without his feathers. With the stage thus set, he was ready to go hunting!
Are you ready to play, too? Here’s everything you need to know!
“Find the Feathers” Turkey Scavenger Hunt
Materials Needed:
- The printable turkey and feather pages (download below)
- Scissors
- Tape or sticky tack
How to Play
- Print and cut out the turkey body and feathers. If you’re feeling extra crafty, you could make your own from construction paper, but printing mine will be faster. 😊
- Hide the feathers around the room (for younger kids) or throughout the house (for older ones).
- Gather your little helpers and explain the story: the turkey has lost his feathers, and he needs your child’s help to find them all!
- As your child finds each feather, have them bring it back and tape it behind the turkey. Talk about the color of each feather (“You found the blue feather!”).
- Keep going until the turkey’s tail is complete and colorful again!
When you’re done, hang your turkey on the wall or fridge as a festive Thanksgiving decoration and a reminder of all your child’s hard work.
Download the Game!
Click the blue button below to download the printables for this game. I’ve included both color and black and white (ink-friendly) versions. If you want simplicity, go with color. Just print, cut, and play!
If you don’t have a color printer, or don’t want to use that much ink, print the black and white version and invite your child to color the turkey before you get started. You can color the blank feathers as well, or just cut your own from construction paper. Either way, enjoy!
Variations to Keep the Fun Going
I’m all for getting the most bang for my buck from activities, and this one is easy to adapt in lots of fun ways depending on your child’s age and interests. Here are a few ideas:
- Color Match: Keep all the feathers with you, near your turkey. Have kids run around the house and find an item that matches the color of one of the feathers. When they bring it back to you, they can exchange it for the matching feather, and add the feather to the turkey.
- Numbers: Write numbers on each of the feathers to practice number recognition and counting. Have kids place the feathers on the turkey in order and and count them together!
- Letter Hunt: Write a letter on each feather, and have kids spell a Thanksgiving word (like “THANKFUL” or “TURKEY”).
- Outdoor Version: On a nice fall day, hide the feathers in your yard for a backyard turkey rescue!
