If you are the parent of a grade schooler, you have probably received, at one time or another, a "hand turkey" piece of art around Thanksgiving time. It's a simple concept, students trace their hand on a sheet of paper and then make a turkey out of the resulting shape.

This year, Patch collected the hand silhouettes from a number of community leaders in order to give students at High Ridge Elementary, Murphy Elementary and Brennan Woods Elementary schools a leg up on a traditional Thanksgiving project.

Hand tracings were provided by the Northwest School District superintendent and school board members, the High Ridge fire chief, the Northwest High School principal, City of Fenton officials and officers in the Fenton Area Chamber of Commerce, among others.

The results are in the gallery with this article and illustrate the diversity and imaginations of the student artists. For example, many of the students added the sun to their creations. All of the works were colorful, some with bold swatches of color; others with more subtle hues. Several of the artists added a hat on their hand turkey. One turkey was even carrying a weapon.

We hope you enjoy the hand turkey gallery. And if you have a favorite creation, please use the comment button below to let us know about it.