Dress a Turkey Activity and “Cold Turkey” Book Review

Book Review

by Haley Bono

As the seasons turn, it’s time to start bundling up. Cold Turkey by Corey Rosen Schwarts and Kirsi Call, is a great book for the season, and is sure to warm your heart, with its sweet ending. Follow a cold turkey as he shares his warm clothing with the animals around the farm. In the end the animals come together in gratitude and help warm their turkey friend.

This book offers a message of caring for others in need. This can open a conversation about what your kiddos can do to help others in need.

Maybe they know someone in the neighborhood, or a friend at school that could use some service. Service can be simple, perhaps this is someone who might need a friend, or even just a smile. So often the service we give is returned by creating wonderful friends, just like the Cold Turkey. An entirely different approach with this story is to teach your children about dressing appropriately for the weather, what would they wear if it is cold? Or hot? What should they bring if it might rain?

This is such a great book, and I always recommend checking your local bookstore for books. However, if you can't find it there, then here. is an amazon link to the book. This book is definitely worth adding to your children’s bookshelf.

Activity

Dress a Turkey Activity.

Supplies:

FreeTemplate (free link at the end of this post), scissors, glue, something to color with, variety of items that could be used to “dress the turkey” some ideas could be, cotton balls, q-tips, paper towels (we colored a paper towel with markers to add some color), scrap paper, or scrap fabric. There is another template for a variation for younger children, see “Different Variations” for instructions.

Directions:

Explain that this turkey is stuck in the snow and is very c-c-cold! Go on a hunt around the house (or classroom) looking for things you could use to warm the turkey up (see the list in the supplies for ideas).
Using the items gathered, cut and glue different warm clothing onto the turkey. Maybe you can use cotton balls to make a hat, or cut out a paper towel into a scarf or jacket.
Color or paint your picture.

Different Variations:

If you are working with younger kids, there is a separate template that has both a cold turkey and a warm turkey. Color the picture with your little one, and draw different clothes on each turkey. How are the turkeys dressed differently? Maybe one is wearing sunglasses while the other is wearing a scarf, or maybe, one is in a swimsuit, while the other is wearing a coat.

Author: Haley Bono

Haley is a mom of two who loves reading and writing. She spends most of her time brainwashing her kids into loving books as much as she does. She does this by reading to them daily from her personal library that never seems to have enough room for the number of books she buys. When she isn't tormenting her family with literature, she enjoyes the outdoors and cooking weird food.