10 Activities for Turkey Trouble
Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano is one of my favorite read alouds for Thanksgiving and November! It is an adorable story about a turkey who doesn’t want to be the main course for dinner, so he disguises himself to look like another animal. After many attempts, turkey comes up with the perfect disguise!
I can’t wait to share 10 Turkey Trouble activities that I use in my classroom that go right along with the delightful story!
I use these Turkey Trouble activities as stations. My class and I have so much fun spending the day reading the story, completing these 10 activities, and enjoying a snack. These activities can be done on one day or spread throughout a week or month. The stations/activities are engaging, fun, and full of literacy, math, and STEM skills.
Turkey Trouble Activity #1
Turkey Trouble Dinner
In the story, Turkey does not want to be the main course for Thanksgiving diner. I love seeing what students come up with for their very own Thanksgiving dinner.
With this Turkey Trouble activity, students can create their very own meal using items from the word banks or any food item of their liking. There are a couple different differentiated writing templates included. I like to have my students create their menu with a writing crativity. Students draw their food items on the plates and then cut on the dotted lines. Then students glue the top half of the paper to a piece of construction paper and write underneath the flaps.
Turkey Trouble Activity #2
Turkey in Disguise
Throughout the story, Turkey tried to hide from the farmer by disguising himself as different animals. One of my favorite Turkey Trouble activities is seeing what the students disguise their turkey as.
Every year I am so impressed with the creativity. There are a couple different turkey images included in the Turkey Trouble read aloud activities. Students will disguise their turkey and describe what their turkey is wearing. I think this would create a fun class book too!
Turkey Trouble Activity #3
Turkey Hideout STEM
STEM activities are always a favorite in my classroom! This Turkey Trouble activity will allow students to construct a hideout for turkey using a variety of materials and a planning page.
Students select a turkey cut out and a variety of materials such as, building blocks, cubes, craft sticks, and paper. The options are endless! I love watching students use their imagination and get so into this Turkey Trouble activity. There is a STEM Challenge paper to go along with the STEM activity.
Turkey Trouble Activity #4
Graphing Turkey
The next Turkey Trouble activity is a fun activity where students spin and graph. Students will use a pencil and a paperclip to spin. Then they will color in a corresponding square on the graph.
You may want to have your students use a different color for each picture. After they are done spinning and graphing, they will answer a few questions about their graph.
Turkey Trouble Activity #5
Save Turkey!
Oh no! Turkey is in trouble! These writing booklets are one of my favorite Turkey Trouble activities! Students try to save turkey by writing a persuasive story convincing others to eat something else besides turkey for Thanksgiving. The booklet cover is a fun picture of turkey holding a sign telling others to eat something else than turkey.
The booklet is super easy to prep! Students color, cut on the dotted lines, and staple together. The inside pages are lined pages where students can write their story.
Turkey Trouble Activity #6
Guess Who?
This Turkey Trouble activity is a fun way to practice making inferences. Students use their background knowledge and clues to guess an animal from the story! My students love any guessing game and this one was so fun!
Students will read a glue, guess what animal the clue is referring to, and then color or circle the correct animal on their paper.
Turkey Trouble Activity #7
Pizza Treat
At the end of the story, Turkey finally has the ultimate disguise! He convinces the family to eat pizza for Thanksgiving instead of turkey.
There are two delicious snack options included, but my favorite one is the sugar cookie pizza treat!
To make the pizza treat, students spread red icing on a circle sugar cookie. Then sprinkle shredded coconut on top of the icing and finally place brown and red mini M&m’s on top! So yummy!
Turkey Trouble Activity #8
Turkey Trouble Retell
Students will retell the story, Turkey Trouble, by placing pictures in the correct order. Students can also create a retelling book by coloring the characters (animals) in the correct order and writing what happened in the story.
Turkey Trouble Activity #9
Pumpkin Pie Subtraction
Students will solve word problems (differentiated) about pumpkin pie! Once the word problem is solved, students can color the pumpkin pie and add a small white cotton ball on top to resemble whip topping!
Turkey Trouble Activity #10
Catch the Turkey
Catch the Turkey is a fun addition and subtraction game that goes right along with the story! Students pull out a card from a bag. The card will have an addition equation, subtraction equation, or a turkey on it. If a student pull out an addition or subtraction equation, they solve it. If a student pulls out a card with a turkey on it, they place it on their board. The first player to catch all their turkeys WINS!
I also have some EXCITING NEWS! These Turkey Trouble read aloud activities are now DIGITAL! There are 10 digital activities ready to go on Google Slides. Students will be able to type, drag, and drop while completing the 10 engaging activities!
You can take a closer look at the activities and find all the Turkey Trouble read aloud activities HERE.
Happy Teaching!
