Turkey Coloring Pages
These free printable turkey coloring pages star one friendly cartoon turkey with a big fan of rounded tail feathers, a little pointed beak and a wattle hanging beside it. On every page the turkey is up to something new. It struts through a meadow of wildflowers with its chest puffed out, pecks at acorns on the forest floor, runs across a field, gobbles from the top of a hill and sips water at the edge of a pond with cattails. It also visits a backyard bird feeder, sits on a nest of eggs, peeks out from behind a stack of hay bales, perches on a branch under the moon and stars, and flies low over a meadow with its wings spread wide.
Real wild turkeys do many of these things too. The wild turkey is a ground bird native to North America and the same species as the farm turkey. It eats acorns, nuts, seeds, berries and insects, sometimes stops by backyard bird feeders, and at dusk flies up into the trees to roost for the night. Males, called toms or gobblers, fan out their tails and puff up their feathers to show off, a display called strutting, and their gobble can carry for up to a mile. Females are called hens, and the chicks are called poults.
There are holiday and dress-up pages as well: the turkey in a pilgrim hat beside a stack of pumpkins, sitting down to a plate of corn on the cob, wearing a chef hat while holding a pumpkin pie, pushing a wheelbarrow full of pumpkins, standing in a cornfield, playing in a pile of autumn leaves, bundled up in a knit hat and scarf in the snow, waving from the farm fence and celebrating in a party hat with balloons. For more fall pages with pilgrims, scarecrows and the holiday table, see the Thanksgiving coloring pages, or head outdoors with the nature coloring pages.
How to print these turkey coloring pages
Click the Download button under any picture to save it, then print it on standard letter paper. The pages are portrait and sized to fill the sheet, so pick fit to page in your print settings. Plain white paper is fine for crayons and colored pencils; light cardstock holds up better for markers and makes a sturdy place card or table decoration.
Coloring ideas
Wild turkeys have dark, blackish body feathers with a coppery sheen, and the males shine with red, purple, green, copper, bronze and gold. The head of an adult male is bare and reddish, with red wattles on the throat and neck. For a cartoon turkey, a brown body, a red wattle, an orange or yellow beak and legs, and a tail of red, orange, yellow and brown feathers looks great. Each tail feather is its own shape, so you can also make a rainbow turkey with every feather a different color.
Who these pages are for
The simpler pages, like the flying turkey, the turkey gobbling on the hill and the turkey in the pilgrim hat, have big open shapes that are quick to fill and suit preschoolers and early elementary kids. The busier pages, such as the wheelbarrow of pumpkins, the cornfield, the dinner table and the farm fence, have more small pieces for older kids and adults who want a longer, relaxing session. They also make a good quiet activity in the days before Thanksgiving.
Frequently asked questions
Are these turkey coloring pages free?
Yes. Every page on this site is free to download and print for personal, classroom, church or library use. Please do not resell the files or upload them elsewhere.
What size do the pages print at?
They are portrait images sized for standard US letter paper (8.5 by 11 inches) and also fit A4. Choose fit to page in your print dialog if your printer adds margins.
What colors should I use for a turkey?
A cartoon turkey is usually colored with a brown body, a red wattle, an orange or yellow beak and legs, and tail feathers in fall colors like red, orange, yellow and brown. Real male wild turkeys have dark feathers that shine red, purple, green, copper, bronze and gold, so those colors work well too.
What is the red thing on a turkey called?
The red skin that hangs from a turkey's throat and neck is called the wattle. The long fleshy flap that hangs over the beak is called the snood. On male turkeys both get bigger and brighter when the bird is excited.
Why is a turkey called a turkey?
The bird is native to North America, but its name probably comes from the farm turkeys that were shipped to Britain from Western Asia by way of Spain. People in Britain linked the bird with the country of Turkey, and the name stuck.
Can I use these for a classroom Thanksgiving activity?
Yes. Print as many copies as you need for your students. They work well for a Thanksgiving party, a bird lesson or a quiet table activity. The only thing we ask is that the files stay on this site rather than being redistributed.
