Grab these free printable turkey shape mats and incorporate them into your favorite preschool Thanksgiving activities.
Related: Thanksgiving Turkey Activities for Kids
There are so many ways to teach children shapes:
- Playing with shape manipulatives
- Sorting shapes
- Going on “shape hunts” inside and out
- Shape art and crafts
- Etc. etc. etc.
In addition to the various shape activities we have in our teaching toolbox, I also like to incorporate shape mats. And it’s fun to change those mats up based on holidays, seasons, themes, and other student interests.
So of course I needed to make a set all about turkeys for Thanksgiving, right?!
Turkey Shape Mats
You can get your own set of these shape turkey mats at the bottom of this post, just in case you were wondering! Before you jump down there, check out some ideas for how to use them with your students.
Related: Pumpkin Shape Mats
Because I love to create printables that can be used in a variety of ways (this is just one of the reasons I like printables a lot more than I like preschool worksheets).
Materials for Your Turkey Shapes
In addition to loving multi-use printables, I’m also a big believer in using what you have. Below you’ll find the materials we used this time around, but don’t feel like you have to use the exact same items.
Use materials you already have, unless you’re looking for an excuse to add to your teacher stash . . . then go ahead and grab some extras! You can also incorporate classroom supplies that your students enjoy using.
How to Prep the Turkey Shape Mats
There really isn’t much to getting these shape mats ready to go. I don’t know about you, but I consider the easy prep to be a big perk!
First, print out the shapes you’d like to use with your students. The shapes included in the free printable are – circle, diamond, heart, hexagon, octagon, oval, pentagon, rectangle, square, star, trapezoid, and triangle.
For children just starting to explore shapes, start with just a few of the shape mats. For children who have a good grasp of the concept, feel free to place all of the mats out.
Next, protect that pages in your preferred manner. Because we know how hard kids are on paper! Laminate the sheets or place them in dry erase pockets.
After that, it’s just a matter of putting all of your materials in one place!
Related: Turkey Hat Craft
How to Use the Printable Turkey Shapes
Now that you have everything ready to go, it’s time to let the children start playing and exploring!
If your students love play dough, use the turkey shapes as play dough mats! The kids can use the play dough to create the shape bodies of the turkeys. If you want to get really fancy, the kids can then add googly eyes, pipe cleaner beads, and feathers!
The turkey shape mats can also be used with manipulatives and loose parts. We used glass gems and corn kernels this time around, but the sky is really the limit. Mini erasers, Unifix cubes, counting bears, twigs, or tiny pinecones.
These shape mats allow the children to practice their fine motor skills by using their pincer grasp with the manipulatives. You can take that up a notch by offering kid-friendly tweezers to use!
And don’t forget the dry erase markers! Let the kids trace over the big shapes with the markers. Or challenge them to go on a shape hunt around the classroom. Then the kids can mark the shapes they find on the “I can find shapes!” page.
You can also use the turkey shape mats for sorting! Give the kids small shape manipulatives to sort. Or let them collect shapes around the classroom.
More Turkey Shape Activities
If your students enjoy the turkey shape mats, they might enjoy these other activities as well:
Pattern Block Turkey Craft from Buggy and Buddy
Turkey Shape Matching Activity from Fantastic Fun and Learning
Simple Shape Turkey from Your Therapy Source
Turkey Shapes Sticky Wall from Happy Toddler Playtime
Paper Plate Shape Turkey from Toddler Approved
Turkey Shape Mats Free Printable
As promised, you can get your own set of the turkey shapes here! The printable shape mats are available to members of Fun-A-Day’s email community. If you’re a member, enter your information below to have it sent to your inbox.
If you’re not a member, no worries! You can enter your information in the form below to join us. Then you’ll receive the turkey shape mats as a welcome gift.
You can also open the form in a new tab if you prefer.
Please be sure to refer to our printables FAQ so you know the ins and outs of printing PDFs!
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