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Colorful Chalk Pastel Turkey Craft for Kids

By ProjectswithKids

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Turkey art project on black paper using orange, red and green chalk pastels and brown, red and yellow cardstock and sticker eyes

This chalk pastel turkey craft is so bright and colorful and such a fun Thanksgiving craft for kids! The chalk pastels on the black paper make everything look like it’s glowing. Kids will love using this easy technique for this art project.

Pastels are so fun for kids to explore! Take a look at my collection of chalk pastel art for more creative ideas kids will love. 

chalk pastel turkey craft on black paper

For this project, I created a turkey template for you to use. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to download your template.

We used this same template to create our colorful watercolor turkey craft.

Create your own turkey chalk pastel craft

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you would like more information please review my privacy & disclosure policy.

Supplies needed to make a chalk pastel turkey craft. Printable template, chalk pastels, scissors, glue stick, cardstock, black drawing paper, eye stickers.

Supplies

  • Printable template (available below)
  • Chalk pastels
  • Black drawing paper
  • Brown, yellow or orange and red cardstock or construction paper
  • Glue stick
  • Scissors
  • Painter’s tape
  • Eye stickers
  • Q-tip or blending stick (optional)
  • Workable fixative (optional)

Tips for working with chalk pastels

Chalk pastels can be messy (but so fun!). There are a few things you can do to keep some of the mess contained:

  • Put newspaper down on desks or tables
  • Put your project on a tray or a shallow cardboard box which will keep most of the mess inside the tray 
  • You can try doing your project outside 
  • Have lots of paper towels handy 
  • Once you are done with your project (or even halfway through if it gets really dusty), take it outside to gently blow or shake off the excess dust
  • If you are using chalk pastels in the classroom and the kids are ready to take their artwork home, simply place the art between some newspaper to keep it from smudging and for easy transport.

Instructions to make your turkey art

1. First, print out your turkey template onto white cardstock. Using cardstock instead of just printer paper makes it easier for kids to trace around.

Drawing with chalk pastels on black paper

Cut out the turkey body and tape it down in the middle of your black paper. We used black drawing paper for this project but you could also use cardstock or construction paper.

2. Let kids choose the pastel colors they want to use. We stuck with orange, red, green and yellow but a multicolor turkey would also look great. 

Chalk pastels drawn around a turkey template on black paper

Draw around your turkey template with the chalk pastels. You want the lines to be really thick here to help with the smudging. So try drawing in an up and down motion to make the lines thicker like in the examples above.

This is a slightly different way to draw around a template then we have done before. You can see another example of a similar project with this fall leaf chalk pastel art.

Smudging chalk pastels on black paper

3. Once kids are done drawing around the template, it’s time to smudge! Using your fingers smudge the pastels in an outward direction around your turkey.

Have paper towels on hand to wipe your hands when they start to get dirty. This will help keep each color looking bright and not muddy. Some kids don’t like to smudge the pastels with their fingers, they can try using a q-tip or blending stick instead.  

Red, orange and green chalk pastels smudged around a turkey template on black paper

If your paper is full of chalk pastel dust at this point, take it outside and blow off the excess dust.

4.  Carefully lift off the template to reveal your amazing art! If there is a lot of dust underneath the template, use a q-tip to wipe it away.  

Finishing a turkey craft with cardstock and sticker eyes

5. Now it’s time to put the rest of the turkey together. Use the templates to cut out brown for the body, and orange and red for the beak and glue everything down.

Stick on your turkey’s eyes. We used eye stickers, but you could also use googly eyes.   

Finished image of a turkey art project using chalk pastels and colored cardstock on black paper

I love how bright and colorful this chalk pastel turkey craft turned out. Using the templates and colored paper for the turkey’s body makes this an easy Thanksgiving craft that kids of all ages will have fun making.

This smudging technique is one of my favorite chalk pastel techniques for kids to try. Take a look at these 5 essential chalk pastel techniques for beginners for more fun ideas!

>> Click here to download your printable PDF template

We love creating and exploring with different art supplies. If you are looking for more art projects to try, take a look at our ultimate collection of amazing art projects for kids!

More art projects kids will love

Easy Q-tip Painted Pumpkins Thanksgiving Centerpiece

q-tip painted pumpkins arranged on fall leaves

Beautiful Chalk Pastel Sunflowers

Glue and chalk pastel sunflower art for kids

Follow me on Pinterest for more amazing project ideas. 

Pin this turkey craft for later 

Chalk pastel turkey craft with colored cardstock and pastels on black paper
Yield: 1 turkey art project

Colorful Chalk Pastel Turkey Craft for Kids

chalk pastel turkey craft on black paper

Kids will love making this brightly colored chalk pastel turkey craft for Thanksgiving! An easy and fun art project for kids of all ages.

Prep Time 5 minutes
Active Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Difficulty Easy

Materials

  • White Cardstock
  • Chalk pastels
  • Black drawing paper
  • Brown, red and orange cardstock or construction paper
  • Glue stick
  • Eye stickers or googly eyes

Tools

  • Scissors

Instructions

  1. Print your template onto white cardstock.
  2. Cut out and glue the turkey body in the middle of your black paper.
  3. With chalk pastels, draw thick lines around your turkey template like in the photos above.
  4. Smudge the pastels in an outward direction all the way around the turkey.
  5. Carefully take off the template and blow the excess dust off outside.
  6. Cut out the turkey body using brown cardstock or construction paper and glue it down.
  7. Cut and glue the beak using orange and red paper.
  8. Put on the sticker eyes or glue on googly eyes to finish the turkey craft.
Project Type: Chalk pastels / Category: Art projects
8.8Kshares
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Filed Under: Art projects, Halloween/Fall, Holidays/Seasonal, Pastels

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Donna White

    October 26, 2019 at 9:08 am

    Thank you so much for sharing these ideas. Simple and easy for even a one year old. Little messy but so much fun.

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Hi! I'm Angela, welcome to Projects with Kids. I love creating and having fun with art and am excited to be able to share my project ideas with you!

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