Cute Thanksgiving Turkey treats made from Reese’s cups, pretzels, and festive sprinkles that are fun for the kids to make.
Sometimes it’s tough to find ways to make Thanksgiving fun for kids. Thankfully, this candy turkey craft is not only fun, it’s educational by helping young kids and toddlers with their fine motor skills.
It’s a completely no-bake Thanksgiving mini dessert that only requires 6 ingredients. I’ve even done it with kids as young as 2!
This works as a fun DIY Thanksgiving craft treat or as a cute little treat for the dessert table on Thanksgiving Day. You could even use these as a Thanksgiving treat at school for the students to put together or hand out already completed.
In this post, I will show you how to make a Reese’s turkey, how to change up the look of the turkey with candy corn, and some tips to make this Thanksgiving treat even easier to make.
If you’re looking for more ways to make Thanksgiving fun for the kids, check out these Thanksgiving crafts for kids as young as 2!
Ingredients You Will Need:
Mini Reese’s Cups – The mini ones work best to show the rest of the turkey.
Chocolate Chips – These will work as the glue in this candy turkey craft so it’s completely edible. I recommend using semi-sweet chocolate chips, but any chocolate chips that match the color of the Reese’s cup will work fine.
Pretzels – The pretzel will act like the feathers on the turkey. Use a normal size pretzel like the ones here.
Candy Eyes – I love using candy eyes for fun holiday treats. You can see how I used them in these Halloween Mummy Treats. I recommend keeping these on hand throughout the year. They’re super cheap!
Orange Reese’s Pieces – You will need one per turkey. These will act as the nose. Feel free to let the kids use yellow noses as well to switch up the look of the turkey!
Leaf Sprinkles – Holiday sprinkles are a favorite of mine because you can do so many things with them! You can use any leaf sprinkles you have on hand, but here is an option for you.
Candy Corn (optional) – I’m all about giving kids options when making these cute Thanksgiving treats. You can use these in place of the leaf sprinkles for feathers.
How to Make These Cute Thanksgiving Turkey Treats
- Step 1: Unwrap the Reese’s Cups. I like to let the kids unwrap each cup while I complete step 2.
- Step 2: In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the chocolate chips in 30-second increments, stirring each time, until melted and completely smooth.
- Step 3: Transfer the melted chocolate into a Ziploc bag with a zipper. You can also use a piping bag, but I find Ziploc bags work best when working with kids, especially toddlers. Cut a small slit on the corner of the bag as an opening. I recommend cutting it smaller than larger.
- Step 4: Turn your Reese’s Cup upright and place a big dot of chocolate toward the bottom of it. Place the pretzel on the top right side up, with the narrow side right on top of the chocolate.
- Step 5: Turn the Reese’s cup over so the pretzel is on the bottom and peeking out from the top and use the chocolate to make 3 dots for the eyes and nose. Add 2 candy eyes for the eyes and place one orange Reese’s Pieces for the nose.
- Step 6: On one side of the Reese’s Pieces put one to two red leaf sprinkles (dependent on size) to create the wattle of the turkey using the melted chocolate to hold in place.
- Step 7: Use some melted chocolate on the pretzel and place leaf sprinkles or candy corn to create the feathers on the turkey.
- Step 8: Repeat with remaining turkeys!
Other Variations
- Use thinner leaf sprinkles to make the the wattle and feathers
- Use candy corn to make the feathers — you may need to cut the bottoms off to make them fit better
Tips for Making This Candy Turkey Treat
- If you have more than 2 people making these treats with you, melt extra chocolate so everyone can use their own bag to put the turkey treats together.
- Help younger children by either helping them pipe the chocolate or piping the chocolate for them.
- The smaller cut you make in the Ziploc bag, the less chocolate that will squeeze out. Smaller holes will work better for those still learning fine motor skills.
- Let your kids mess up. It’s hard to see the chocolate gobs on top of the eyes but let them be proud of their work. If you need, grab an extra bag of melted chocolate and make a few yourself.
Other Posts You May Like:
- Easy Paper Bag Turkey Craft
- The Best Thanksgiving Books for Kids
- Air Fryer Graham Cracker Apple Slices
- Easy Pull-Apart Cheesy Pumpkin Bread
- Air Fryer Pumpkin Pie Twists
Cute Thanksgiving Turkey Treats!
Ingredients
- 24 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 24 pretzels
- 48 candy eyes
- 24 orange Reese’s Pieces
- Leaf sprinkles
Optional
- Candy corn
Instructions
- Unwrap the Reese’s cups.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the chocolate chips in 30-second increments, stirring each time until melted and completely smooth.
- Transfer the melted chocolate into a Ziploc bag with a zipper. Cut a small slit on the corner of the bag as an opening.
- Turn your Reese’s Cup upright and place a big dot of chocolate toward the bottom of it. Place the pretzel on the top right side up, with the narrow side right on top of the chocolate (picture shown above).
- Turn the Reese’s cup over so the pretzel is on the bottom and peeking out from the top and use the chocolate to make 3 dots for the eyes and nose. Add 2 candy eyes for the eyes and place one orange Reese’s Pieces for the nose.
- On one side of the Reese’s Pieces put one to two red leaf sprinkles (dependent on size) to create the wattle of the turkey using the melted chocolate to hold in place.
- Use some melted chocolate on the pretzel and place leaf sprinkles or candy corn to create the feathers on the turkey.
- Repeat with remaining turkeys!
Nutrition
This nutrition information is based on the exact products I used in this recipe. Brands and sizes of products could alter exact nutrition and should always be calculated independently.
I love this!
So cute and easy to make too, thank you for the idea!!
How adorable! Pinned to make!