If you’re starting to get in the mood for all things turkey in advance of Thanksgiving, these silly turkey puppets will kick things off on a lighthearted note.

To make the turkeys was quite complicated, and truth be told ours looked a  bit more like a chicken since I had white yarn, not brown, for the steps that follow.

For the body, wrap a ping-pong ball or golf ball in double-sided tape and then wrap with yarn. Tuck the final strand under to secure.

Next, you’ll need to make three pompoms, two for feet and one for the turkey’s head. For an easy at-home pompom, wind yarn around the tines of a fork, then tie a string tightly around the middle in the other direction. Slip off the fork and snip the loops to make pompom fringe. Make sure to leave one long strand on each pompom foot.

Cut a beak from felt and hot glue onto the head pompom, along with 2 wiggle eyes.

Now put it all together! I hot glued a length of craft boa onto the back of the body, then curved a half-length of pipe cleaner into an S shape. Hot glue the top of the S to the head, and curve the bottom of the S around the body, securing with a little extra hot glue.

Tie the long strands from each pompom foot onto the body. Finally, hot glue feathers along the boa in back for the turkey’s tail feathers.

Now to make it dance! Cross two Popsicle or craft sticks into an X and secure with yarn around the middle.

Cut three lengths of stretchy jewelry cord; you’ll need two 12-inch pieces and one 6-inch piece. Tie the long ones to the legs, and the short one to the head, and then secure them all to the Popsicle sticks.

Break out the Thanksgiving tunes and make it dance! We loved kicking off this holiday in celebration of these beautiful birds.