Group Turkey Wreath

Students help make a classroom Thanksgiving decoration using fine motor skills–cutting & rolling–to create paper curls.

Objectives:

Art; fine motor skills: Students use cutting skills and pencil rolling to create paper curls.

Materials:

• Brown posterboard
• Brown construction paper
• Assorted color construction paper
• Glue
• Scotch tape
• child- size scissors
• “primary” (fat) pencils
• colored copy paper

Lesson Plan:

Teacher

1. Cut a giant “lifesaver” shape from brown posterboard.
2. Then, make a large “thumb” shape from brown construction paper to resemble a turkey head.
3. From scrap construction paper, fashion eyes, beak and waddle. Glue to turkey head.
4. Next, glue this head to the inside of the brown “lifesaver” shape (turkey’s body).
5. Make two turkey feet from orange construction paper and glue to the bottom back side of the “lifesaver” shape so they stick out.
6. Finally, on colored copy paper (8.5 x 11), draw strips 1 inch wide across the paper.
7. Have many colors available, lined, and ready to cut.

Children

1. The child selects a lined sheet of colored copy paper and cuts several strips.
2. The teacher then tapes one end of a strip to the table and shows the child how to roll the strip around a pencil, creating a paper curl.
3. After removing the paper curl, the teacher transfers the curl (with tape attached) to the turkey wreath and tapes it down.
4. Children can continue to make paper curls until the wreath is covered.

Comments:

Colored copy paper is easier to “roll” than construction paper. To speed up the activity, have the strips of paper precut and ready to curl.

By: Paula Diekhoff, Preschool Teacher