History of Thanksgiving: Hand turkey art tradition celebrated by Google on US holiday

Thanksgiving is on 28 November this year

Google is celebrating Thanksgiving with a Doodle that pays tribute to a childhood arts-and-crafts project honouring the holiday.

Most Americans will recall creating “hand turkeys” in school when they were children - an art project that involved tracing the outline of your hand with coloured pencils or markers.

The resulting shape sees your fingers become feathers and your thumb become the head of the bird and bares a slight resemblance to a turkey.

The drawing is then completed with beaks, feet and the red skin that hangs near the turkey’s beak called the snood.

In honour of Thanksgiving, which takes place on 28 November this year, the Doodle features crayon drawings of hand turkeys jumping into a pile of leaves.

Google celebrates Thanksgiving with hand turkeys (Google)

“Today’s Doodle celebrates Thanksgiving with a tribute to ‘hand turkeys,’ an easy-to-make holiday bonding activity,” the search engine explains. “A time for gathering with loved ones and giving thanks for the blessings in your life, Americans of all walks of life observe this holiday on the last Thursday in November.”

For more activities to do with your family this Thanksgiving, you can see our guide to the best Thanksgiving movies here or classic Thanksgiving TV specials here