Thanksgiving Themed Ideas

(Updated 11.4.2022)

We know, it's nearly here. Thanksgiving is literally right around the corner. Problem is, your learners know it too. We're all just trying to make it through right now - to make it to the turkey. We'd like to help. We found a few ideas to fill your plan book this next week (or week and a half). So, get your planner ready, watch those empty slots fill, then put up your feet and listen for the gobble. Seems nearer, doesn't it?

How to Cook a Turkey

After you catch that turkey you have to cook it. But how? Let your learners guide! In this fun writing activity, from Tickled Pink in Primary, your learners write how they think you cook a turkey. We repeat this one yearly. It's so fun to read the results! Just, maybe, don't actually use them when the day comes.

This (free) download also includes differentiated "I'm Thankful For" writing pages, which we also use. Our Kindergarten learners draw what makes them thankful on each feather. If preferred, there is a draw and write page.

 

First Thanksgiving Snack

After all that turkey talk, you're likely ready for a snack. Stay at Home Educator has you covered. Learners bring in different ingredients, you mix them together, then gobble them up. A win for every age level. Academic tie-ins include writing (procedures, opinion, description), science (mixture vs solution), math (measurement, ratios), and social studies (sharing, First Thanksgiving).

Coloring Pages

That snack likely got them all round up and they need a break. Something quiet. Something calming. Coloring pages are just the trick. We like these ones from Doodle Art Alley. There's a variety for any age artist (including you). Make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom and check out the Thanksgiving Templates.  More ideas for your plan book. ☺️

Thanksgiving Meal Plan

Did you notice one of the template ideas in the above link was to draw your Thanksgiving meal? If not, go back and check it out. Have your learners complete that activity as a springboard into this one. Add math into your Thanksgiving learning by creating a shopping list, researching ads for food prices, and calculating the total cost. After this mission, your learners are likely to have a newfound appreciation for the planning involved in the Thanksgiving meal. Use Educating Small Human's organizer to record data or Education.com's worksheet as an alternative.

A Turkey Takes a Stand

A good meal pairs well with smashing entertainment.  Lois Lewis via Education World delivers with this reader's theater script. It's funny, vocabulary-enhancing, seasonally appropriate, and invites cross-curricular opportunities (such as law-making, turkey research, and persuasive writing).

Cranberry Science

The turkey part of Thanksgiving now adequately honored, turn your attention to the cranberry.  Jennifer Findley invites your budding scientists to make cranberries float and dance, the Kitchen Pantry Scientist shows them how to make cranberry spy juice, and True Food TV details how cranberries grow.

History Detective

Detective skills activated, move into Thanksgiving history. Plimoth Plantation offers an online interactive experience where learners are the historian. They detect First Thanksgiving facts by reading an eyewitness letter, visiting a Pilgrim's home, uncovering Wampanoag's thanksgiving traditions, and challenging current viewpoints. After completing their investigation, historians submit a report documenting their discoveries.

Thanksgiving Quotes and Verses

Tie a bow on these activities with meaningful sayings. Sometimes it only takes a few words to convey a big idea, and these quotes and verses have a lot to say about thanksgiving. We've worked the quotes and verses into handwriting practice opportunities for your learners. Through handwriting practice, your learners might just inscribe these ideas in their heads and maybe even on their hearts.   Our Thanksgiving handwriting pack contains various levels of difficulty in both print and cursive, secular and Christian. Peek at the sample below then click the heading above to download.

With your plan book full(er), we bid you adieu. Until next time, lovely leaders. Let us press on to the turkey that lies ahead!

With Love from the Kitchen,

Interested in even more educational resources?  Then stop by our Learning Lab.  It's here where we store all the educational resources we've cooked up to date.