Walnut Turkey Pins

These little pins are a great way to use something unusual -- a walnut half -- to make a holiday pin. They make nice gifts and they are also a nice project to do with groups of kids like scouts or in a classroom.

You'll Need:

• A whole walnut shell half
• Orange and brown foam
• Yellow and red scrap foam
• 2 Wiggle eyes
• Glue (or glue dots)
• 1 Brown pipe cleaner
• 1 Pinback

What to Do:

1. You can use the template at the bottom of the page or create your own. Cut the foam in the shapes indicated on the template to create the feathers of the turkey. Alternate the colors as in the picture so that you have a large brown feather layer, orange feather layer, and so on.

2. Stack the feather layers so that they meet at the bottom edge and glue together. Set aside.

3. Cut the pipe cleaner in half. Roll the end of one half into the head of the turkey. Be sure to leave about half an inch for the neck. Glue the head onto the back of the walnut shell so that the head peaks out over the outside of the shell. The shell will be the turkey's chest.

This is a terrible picture, but hopefully it's good enough for you to see how the legs and head fit onto the back of the walnut shell.

4. Bend the other half of the pipe cleaner into turkey feet at both ends. The two feet will remain attached so that you can more easily glue them to the shell. Take a look at the picture below for clarification. Glue the feet to the back of the walnut shell at the opposite end of the head. They should poke out under the turkey's chest.

5. Glue the walnut shell to the turkey's feathers from step 2. Make sure the glue is dry before you continue.

6. Glue the wiggle eyes onto the turkey's head. Cut a small yellow triangle for the beak and glue it on. Cut a turkey waddle from red foam and glue it in place. Cut out the two wings from brown foam (you can use the template below). Glue them in place.

7. Glue a pinback to the back side of the turkey and let dry completely.

Templates:

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