Need a quick activity to do with your kids on the morning of Thanksgiving, while you all eagerly count down the hours until the Turkey Day feast and family time?
This Thanksgiving turkey fruit arrangement is easy for kids to assist with and makes an excellent addition to your Thanksgiving spread. Especially if your kids are like mine and eat basically only fruit and bread on Thanksgiving or any other day of the year.
The simplicity of this arrangement means that it’s easy for little hands to help you make the rows of feathers. Just save the cutting and toothpicks for an adult! Get creative with your patterns and fruit selections — the possibilities are basically limitless. You can also expand or condense the amount of fruit to suit your number of guests.
This fruit arrangement is almost too cute to eat, but it makes a nice appetizer to pick it and it transitions well to a side dish for the feast. If there’s anything leftover, you can serve it as dessert.
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How to Make a Kid-Friendly Thanksgiving Turkey the Whole Family Will Enjoy
Ingredients
- 1/2 Bartlett pear
- 1 bag green grapes (I used approximately 2 cups of loose green grapes)
- 1 bag red grapes (I used approximately 1 cup of loose red grapes)
- 1 pint raspberries
- 1 pint blackberries
- 1 pint blueberries
- 2 cups mixed cut-up pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon and mango (or 1 medium fruit bowl)
Additional Supplies
- Six toothpicks
- 1 large round platter (16-18″ diameter)
- Paring knife
Instructions
1. Wash, drain and dry all fruit.
2. Remove grapes from stems. Cut tops of strawberries and cut strawberries in half or quartered.
3. Set aside 2 small blueberries (approximately same size), 1 raspberry, 1 piece of cantaloupe and 1-2 pieces of pineapple for turkey accents.
4. Cut pear in half with paring knife and place 1/2 pear at bottom of round serving platter. Leave about 1 inch from bottom to allow for feet.
5. Surround top two-third of pear with a line of strawberries and raspberries. (Arrange to look like “feathers” on your pear turkey body.)
6. Form a half-moon shape with a row of red grapes. I made my row 2-3 grapes “wide” and piled the grapes 2-3 deep on top of each other.
7. Follow with a row of mixed blueberries and blackberries. Make row about 2 inches wide and layer fruit 2-3 pieces deep.
8. Follow with a row of mixed cut-up fruit. The mixture of pineapple, canteloupe, watermelon and mango is a lovely color combination. Use all cut-up fruit in this row.
9. Follow with a row of green grapes, arranged about 3 grapes “wide” and layered 2-3 grapes deep.
10. Follow with a single row of raspberries, arranged with center “hole” pointing down. This will help to anchor the grapes in place.
11. Finish with a row of strawberries, pointing up in a feather arrangement.
12. Use two toothpicks, or one toothpick cut in half, to attach two blueberry “eyes” to the top of the pear.
13. Use the paring knife to cut a thin triangle for the beak, and attach directly below the blueberry eyes with another toothpick.
14. Use the knife to cut a section of a raspberry (a soft or smushy raspberry works best for this) into the turkey’s waddle. Attach to one side of turkey’s cantaloupe beak with a toothpick.
15. Use paring knife to cut two thin slices of pineapple for the feet. Notch two triangles out of each slide to form the foot shape. Use toothpicks to stick feet into base of pear.
16. Admire your rainbow fruit masterpiece.
Tips:
If you have fruit left over, fill in gaps for a “fuller” or taller turkey. Feel free to adjust the arrangement of the rows to suit the amount of fruit available, but it’s helpful to have “anchor” fruitss with a flat side (like cut strawberries or cut mixed fruit) in between layers of round fruit like grapes to hold them in place.
Note: I chose not to halve the grapes because doing so causes the fruit to go bad faster. If there happen to be any leftovers, whole grapes hold up much better than cut grapes. If you know your entire fruit arrangement will be eaten and you have the time to halve the grapes, feel free. Everything will stay in place more easily.
Loosely cover your fruit turkey with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Pro tip: Buy disposable party catering trays with lids on Amazon so you can throw it out instead of washing to bring home.
I am thankful for so many things, but I’m especially thankful for all the sweet moments I have with my boys. I love when we’re all in the kitchen together, and I love their pride when they help me.
Share your Thanksgiving masterpieces with #NeverDoneWithFun on social media and tell me one thing you’re thankful for this year!
