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With American Thanksgiving just around the corner, it’s the perfect time for a Wild Turkey Nature Study!

Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) are an iconic North American bird that went from being revered by the ancient cultures of North America, to a dwindling species. Thanks to a concerted effort by conservationists, today there are more than 7 million wild turkeys roaming the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Every state in the U.S. Except Alaska has a stable population of wild turkey!

Update: according to the Missouri Department of Conservation, turkey numbers have been declining in Missouri and several neighboring states over the last several decades. The Missouri Department of Conservation’s Wild Turkey Biologist Reina Tyl says, “Loss of quality nesting and brood-rearing habitat, changing weather, an increase in predators, and potentially lower insect abundance are likely all playing a role.” Be sure to look up the most up-to-date information to get an accurate look at turkey populations in your area.

Join me as I give you an overview of my Wild Turkey Unit Study! You can also purchase a physical version of this study in my Etsy Shop. Please note that this post includes affiliate links.

We used my Wild Turkey Unit Study, as well as several books, videos, and other online resources for our nature study.

TURKEY READING LIST
All About Turkey by Jim Arnosky
Little Tom Turkey by Frances Bloxam
Gobble, Gobble: One Year In The Life Of A Wild Turkey by Cathryn Falwell
How to Track a Turkey by Norman D. Graubart
Turkeys by Wendy Strobel Dieker

ONLINE RESOURCES
Wild Turkey: Audubon Field Guide
All About Birds: Wild Turkey from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Wild Facts About Wild Turkeys from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
NATURE JOURNAL: A simple notebook for your students to draw pictures and take notes as you work through your study and explore.
NATURE FINDS: Pull out and display feathers, bird skull, and any other turkey or bird nature finds you might have in your collection.
ART SUPPLIES: I like to have options available for my kids so they can create whenever inspiration strikes.

THE SCIENCE OF TURKEYS

We learned all about turkey anatomy; learned how to differentiate between toms and hens, life cycle, ecology, habitats, diet and predators.

We also went on a drive to see if we could find turkeys foraging in clearings and field edges. We had luck spotting them during dusk along the edge of a field foraging for food.

Bring along your nature journal to sketch what you see. You can make note of your observations and jot down any interesting facts you’ve learned during your studies.

SOCIAL STUDIES

So many fun social studies topics to cover with wild turkeys! We of course acknowledged the turkey as a symbol of Thanksgiving in the US, learned about that wild turkeys play a significant role in the cultures of many Native American tribes and were revered in ancient Aztec and Mayan civilizations, and incorporated a little geography by notating their geographical range on a map.

We also enjoy researching current events by looking up news articles about turkeys. Be sure the news sources are reputable and trustworthy! This is a great opportunity to teach your children how to read and process news media. Remind your children of the importance of primary sources (first hand testimony or direct evidence) when you’re consuming media and how to recognize bias in the media.

WILD TURKEY MATH

We used count and clip cards, created patterns and simple math equations with turkey themed math manipulatives, arranged turkey feathers biggest to smallest, and compared and contrasted toms and hens with a Venn diagram.

LANGUAGE ARTS

For language arts, we enjoyed a couple turkey themed poems, did some copywork, read some books together, wrote a short story about what daily life is like for a turkey, decorated a "T” is for turkey block letter, and focused on some turkey themed vocabulary words.

TURKEY ART

My favorite subject! Pinterest is full of so many fun turkey crafts but we really like to keep it simple at our house. We had a simple art study of a few pieces of artwork by famous artists that depict turkeys, I supply art supplies and encourage to create any artwork they’d like, simple coloring page, and a simple how to draw a turkey tutorial.

THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS

We like to focus our Thanksgiving themed studies around nature (like this turkey study we’ve revisited for several years now), Native American cultures, and simply being grateful for our many blessings.

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about this proud, distinctive bird with me!

If you’re interested in studying Native American culture and history, I encourage you to check out my new Bison Unit Study. Many Native American tribes have deep cultural and spiritual connections to the American bison.

All the best,
Stephanie

Bison Unit Study

$7.50