Templates › Ideas › Football player

Disguise a Turkey as a Football Player

To disguise a turkey as a football player, add a helmet with a face guard, wide shoulder pads, a jersey with a number and a paper football tucked under one wing. Use your own school or made-up team colours rather than a professional team's logo. Thanksgiving and football go together, so this one always gets a laugh, and it takes about 40 minutes.

Time40 minutes
Best forK to 5th grade
CostFree
DifficultyMedium
Coloring page of a cartoon turkey disguised as a football player
Download the Football player pack (PDF)Picture only (PNG)

The PDF has three pages: this picture to colour, the cut-out pieces, and a blank turkey to build on.

What you need

  • Printed turkey outline on cardstock
  • Paper in two team colours
  • Thin cardboard or craft foam for shoulder pads
  • Brown paper for the football
  • White marker or correction pen for laces and numbers
  • Pipe cleaner or thin paper strips for the face guard
  • Glue stick and tape

No printer ink to spare? Print only page 3 (the blank turkey) and draw the costume by hand using the picture as a guide.

How to disguise a turkey as a football player, step by step

  1. Cut a helmet that covers the top and sides of the head and glue it on. Draw one stripe down the middle.
  2. Bend a pipe cleaner into two bars, or glue two thin paper strips, across the face as the guard.
  3. Cut a wide rounded rectangle for the shoulder pads and glue it across the top of the body.
  4. Glue the jersey over the pads and the body. Write the child's favourite number large on the front.
  5. Cut a brown football, draw white laces, and tuck it under one wing.
  6. Colour the tail feathers in alternating team colours so they look like the crowd's pennants.
  7. Write the line: "My turkey is disguised as a football player because the team needs it on the field, not on the table."

Printable football player cut-out pieces

Printable cut-out costume pieces for a football player turkey disguise

Print the cut-out sheet at 100% on plain paper or cardstock, colour the pieces first, then cut them out and glue them onto the turkey. The pieces are not scaled to one particular outline, so hold each one against your turkey first and trim it, or use it as a pattern to trace at the size you need.

Cut-out sheet (PNG)Blank turkey outlines

The cut-out sheet was drawn with an AI image tool and checked by hand. Shapes are simple on purpose so small scissors can follow them.

Tips that save time

  • Make up a team name with the child; 'Gobblers' is taken by a lot of classmates, so try something else.
  • A small paper pennant on a toothpick fills an empty corner.
  • Draw black lines under the eyes for eye black.

Lines for the writing part

Most classes ask for a sentence or a short paragraph in the turkey's voice. Three starters your child can change:

  • “I cannot come to dinner. I have a game.”
  • “Number 26, starting quarterback, definitely not a turkey.”
  • “Touchdown! Now please eat pizza.”

There are printable writing pages for three grade bands in the project guide.

More disguise ideas

UnicornAdd a rolled-paper horn and make each tail feather a different pastel colour for the mane …AstronautCover the head with a clear or white helmet circle, wrap the body in foil and add star sti…FirefighterAdd a red helmet with a badge, a yellow-striped coat and a paper hose; colour the feathers…SnowmanCover the body in cotton balls, add a top hat, a carrot nose, a scarf and stick arms.…Baseball playerAdd a cap, a pinstripe jersey with a number, and a craft-stick bat.…Basketball playerAdd a jersey and a headband and turn the round body into a basketball with curved black li…

See all 81 disguise a turkey ideas, or type your own into the turkey disguise generator.

Last updated 2026-11-14.