Paper Bag Turkey Craft

Today we are making a paper bag turkey craft! We are actually creating this little guy completely from scratch. We’ll show you how to make a small paper bag and turn it into a turkey! This is perfect for filling with crayons or treats and creating a place setting for the kids Thanksgiving table. 

Isn’t this little guy cute! Today’s tutorial is a paper bag turkey!

This is a great Thanksgiving craft for kids.

We will show you how to make the actual paper bag too out of a piece of paper. 

Of course, if you have a small paper bag already made, that will totally work too!

Simply skip the part about making the paper bag. 

After making this craft, make sure to check out our other turkey crafts like our Popsicle stick turkey.

Supplies Needed for this Turkey Paper Bag Craft

The supplies you need for this little turkey craft are pretty basic:

1. Brown paper
2. Colored craft papers
3. Pencil
4. Scissors
5. Craft glue

How to Make the Brown Bag

Let’s start by making the brown bag that will be the turkey’s body. 

Step 1: The First Cut

Start by grabbing the sheet of brown paper.

Cut out a rectangular piece. We cut ours to 8.5in by 6in. 

Cutting out a piece of a larger paper bag is perfect for this.

Step 2: Fold the Paper

Fold the paper in half, but leave one edge with a 1cm width overlap, like shown below. 

Step 3: Glue the Bag

Apply a strip of glue along the overlaped piece and fold inside, joining the two pieces together to close them. 

Step 4: Forming the Bottom of the Bag

Fold up the bottom 2 inches of the paper form, where we’ll start to form the bottom of the bag.

Step 5: Fold the Bottom

Working on a flat surface, open the bottom fold from inside. This will create triangles on both sides of the closed end.

It should look similar to the image below.

Step 6: Fold Again

Now hold any one of the open sides of the bottom end. Fold it halfway through the bottom part like this:

See how it’s starting to look like a brown paper bag?

Step 7: Fold the Other Side

Similarly, fold the other side of the bottom open end. Make sure that it overlaps the previous fold.

Apply some glue to join the overlapped sides to secure the bottom end of the paper bag.

Step 8: Fold the Sides

After finishing the bottom of the bag, notice the 2 diamond/squares parts on both sides of the bottom.

Match and fold the opposite corners of the diamond/squares to make a perfect crease along the left and right side of the paper bag.

See how the corners match?

Step 9: Unfold

Unfold all the folds created previously except for the ones you glued down.

Step 10: Finish the Paper Bag

Now Fold the bottom and sides neatly to complete the bag. 

Now it’s looking just like a store-bought brown paper bag.

Step 11: Make the Turkeys Head

Now that your paper bag is complete. Fold the top part down and cut into a curved shape. 

This will be your turkey’s head.

Step 12: Making the Turkey Feathers

Now you can start working on the turkey feathers.

Start by printing out our paper bag turkey craft template from the crafty resource library.

Then, using colored craft paper, cut out the tail feathers, along with the turkey’s waddle, beak and eyes.

Step 13: Making the Turkey’s Face

Now you can attach the turkey’s eyes, beak and wattle on the folded curved part of the paper bag.

Step 14: Place the Tail Feathers on the Paper Bag Turkey

Now select which colored tail feathers you’d like to use for your turkey’s tail.

You can use fall colors like we did, or go crazy and have a rainbow tail, or any of your favorite combinations.

Step 15: Attach the Turkey Tails

Attach the tail feathers on the backside of the paper turkey bag to complete the craft.

Isn’t he super cute! I love the idea of filling the turkey full crayons and placing on the kids Thanksgiving table as seat markers. 

You could write each childs name on a bag, fill with crayons and add a Printable Thanksgiving activity mat.