Thanksgiving is all about sharing and caring. Families gather for this festival to show gratitude for all that they have.
In today’s time when intolerance is digging its roots deep in our society, this is an important concept that our kids need to understand. And nothing is better than a fun Thanksgiving activity to teach them that.
Kindergarten Thanksgiving activities are a great idea to teach small children about the festival and what it entails. When they perform activities together, it promotes the feeling of harmony and togetherness amongst them.
This has a long-lasting effect on their personality. This article is all about Thanksgiving-themed activities to do with your kids this year.
These will help them explore gratitude in a fun and crafty way.
Great Kindergarten Thanksgiving Activities
Thanksgiving activities and crafts are a form of learning through play.
You can easily engage the kids in colorful, hands-on learning projects and the best part is, they will do all the work without even realizing it.
Here are some great activities you can get them to partake in.
Since Thanksgiving is all about being grateful, our first activity is a fun way to teach thankfulness.
It involves everyone counting their blessings or things that they are grateful for and displaying them on a colorful turkey cut-out. You can prepare the turkeys in advance or have the kids make them themselves.
The supplies you will need are colored, drawing sheets, scissors, glue, and some markers. First, draw and cut a circle for the turkey head. Also, draw and cut out feathers from colored sheets. Glue them together, with the head on the center and the feathers around it.
Lastly, draw and cut out legs. Attach them to the turkey. Use a marker to draw the turkey face. For inspiration, check out PocketOfPreSchool.com.
Once the turkey is ready, each kid will think of the things they are thankful for and draw them on each feather one by one. When complete, you can have them display and explain their drawings to the whole class.
It is an excellent way of promoting togetherness. They will understand what gratefulness is and what it feels like to be thankful.
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated as a feast for pilgrims to celebrate a successful harvest.
Counting your blessings and being thankful for them is certainly important but sharing them with needy ones is important too. That’s why a pilgrim-themed craft can be a great activity, too!
In this activity, kids will make a pilgrim hat-shaped crayon holder. It is common to engage kids in drawing activities while adults finish up the turkey dinner.
Using this holder will surely give your table décor a boost. Plus, each kid can take it home with him/her afterward.
Most of the supplies required for this activity are common items like paper, glue, scissors, etc. You will need some paper cups too. The black color is better.
Carve the bottom of the cup out and stick it upside down on black cardboard. Use ribbons, rick rack, buttons, etc., for detailing.
According to experts, knowing their family story makes kids happy and boosts their self-esteem. This delightful activity will teach them about their family tree.
It utilizes a printable tree template that is decorated with fingerprint leaves and labeled with the names of the family members.
You can print the template in advance and have the kids leaf their trees in the class. They can then take it home and write their family tree on it; the more, the better.
This way, they will get to know about the extended family members, too, who they don’t meet very often. Afterward, they can share their family tree with the other kids and learn about different families.
This activity is a fun history lesson. It teaches them the importance of family and family values. They learn that family is more than those they meet regularly. Those who they don’t meet very often are also a part of the family.
Parents can use this activity to introduce kids to the whole family before they meet them at the great Thanksgiving family dinner.
Color sorting activities are a creative way to keep the kids busy. It is a fun learning experience that helps them memorize colors if they don’t know them already.
You can have them do it individually or as a group. But whichever way you choose, this educational activity will be loved by all.
First off, you need Thanksgiving candies. Check out your local supermarket; you will surely find some Thanksgiving-themed ones.
Secondly, you will need some colorful paper. You can use construction paper, crafting foam, or even computer papers. Just get them in the colors of your candy.
Make turkey feathers and cut them out. Put the candies in a bowl and decorate the feather-shaped paper around it to resemble a turkey. The rest is up to the kids.
This activity helps improve their color recognition as well as fine motor skills as pinching candies one by one to place on the right feather is certainly a workout for the little fingers.
Their sensory skills are also tested as the bowl of candy works as a sensory bin too. For detailed instructions about this activity, check out FantasticFunAndLearning.com.
Give the boring “identify the beginning sound activity” a makeover and make it a Thanksgiving activity.
We all know how difficult it is to learn your sounds, but with this activity at hand, you don’t have to worry about it anymore. The kids will love the healthy competition it entails and will make an effort to perform better.
For this, you will need the printable Beginning Sound Game. You can check it out on Pre-KPages.com. In this set, you will get the picture wheel and a black and white recording sheet.
You will also need some wooden clothespins. Label each beginning sound of each item given on the picture wheel.
The kids will take turns identifying the item and attaching the correct sound clothespin to it. They can also record their answers on the recording sheet to compare with others.
Trust us; this activity will be your best literacy lesson yet. The kids will have so much fun that they will learn without knowing.
This experience will teach them to observe everyday objects around them and unconsciously identify their sounds and spellings.
This is a free printable Thanksgiving Worksheet and Activity Book. It includes all from basic writing to sorting, counting, and coloring, that, too, in a Thanksgiving theme.
You can choose the activities you want to do with your kids and print them out. These educational activities will surely help them learn by play.
Our most favorite of these are puppets, sight word coloring, sorting, and q-tip painting. You can check it out on MiniatureMasterminds.com. The entire book is free to print, and you will enjoy doing it with the entire class. It will help you identify the individual talents of each child.
For example, some will be better at coloring, others might have better handwriting, and some will have better organizational skills.
It is a great way to nurture them. Likewise, it will help you learn about their weaknesses too. Once you know them, you can work with them to help overcome it.
Thankfulness and gratitude have a strong impact on our lives. Experts say thankful people have a stronger immune system, experience less depression, and are more optimistic and outgoing.
They also tend to be more generous and helpful. Teaching these qualities to a young child is very hard. But with this gratitude activity, children will grasp the concept in a better way.
The gratitude garland activity needs some preparation. You can take advantage of November to read aloud different books about gratitude and giving thanks.
This will help them relate to the story and learn about the blessings they should be thankful for. You should also pre-cut some Thanksgiving-colored leaves for the activity. If you’re confused about what exactly you have to do, check out StayAtHomeEducator.com.
On the activity day, you will give each child some leaves and ask them to write or draw the blessings they are thankful for.
After writing, they can lace the leaves together on a string and make their own Thanksgiving garland. You can later ask them to discuss what they have written.
You will notice that each child has something different and special to share. This activity will help them form stronger and long-lasting bonds.
Arthur Read has been teaching a generation of kids how to face their childhood problems, be it homework, school, or bullies.
He is a well-loved character who has starred as the main character of many books and his television series. We have rounded up some of the best printable Arthur-related activities for you to do with the kids this year.
Since they probably know and love Arthur so much, they will be excited to do these. It includes writing prompts, drawing, and coloring activities to engage kids.
You can also read the Arthur Thanksgiving book as it touches on Thanksgiving traditions, allowing you to discuss them with kids.
Teaching Thanksgiving and preaching thankfulness is a tough job. With their animated friend by their side, kids will be more motivated to learn and adopt this practice. As Thanksgiving is all about the sharing spirit, Arthur Read will also encourage them.
A part of being thankful is being cheerful. And this singalong activity is a surefire way of making everyone cheerful.
Sure, Carols are for Christmas, but we are not short of Thanksgiving songs now, are we? This activity revolves around one such song.
Featuring Five Little Turkeys’ fun chorus on a merry tune, this song will have everyone up and dancing along with it. You can play it for the kids and have them sing along to the tune.
Once they’ve got it, you can ask them to take turns singing the individual lines and work up the song. Singalong activities are a fun and cheerful way of getting along with each other.
Even the laziest of kids will take an active part in this fun and creative activity. The singing and dancing also offer them a chance for physical activity. They can even work out a routine of their own for the song.
It’s Thanksgiving, so why should the turkeys be all drab and brown? Here is a crafty way to make your own colorful turkey table decorators.
Teach the craft to your little ones, and they will surely brighten up Thanksgiving dinner with their colorful creations.
The supplies for this activity are not very difficult or expensive. All you need are some colorful cupcake liners and some brown pom poms. You will also need some glue, scissors, and some yellow crafting paper.
Start by cutting the liners in half. Stack three of them upon each other and glue them together, leaving very little space between them. This becomes the colorful tail of the turkey.
Now take the pompom and glue it to the underside for the head. Cut out a small beak from the yellow paper and glue it to the pompom. These colorful turkey decorations are ideal to use as cutlery toppers. They look really cute.
Showing them off will boost the kids’ confidence while making them will improve their fine motor and creative skills.
Yes, some of them do require unique objects, but those won’t cost you much. Other than those, our list of activities will require:
Glue
While there are many types of glue available in the market, the one we have used is glue paste.
You will need white glue paste for gluing purposes for thankful turkey, pilgrim hat holders, and cupcake liner turkeys. This can be messy, so you have to be hands-on. But then again, where’s the fun without a little mess?
Printables
Printables are an essential part of our Thanksgiving activity list. From learn your roots to printable Arthur activity templates, all the activities utilize printables in one way or another.
However, these are all free to download and print, so you can print as many of you need.
Crafting without colorful paper? Not possible. The sight of them is enough to get the kids excited. Thanksgiving is incomplete without fall colors.
That’s why many of our activities have turned the sober turkey bird into a colorful being – and all you need is paper.
Basic Stationery
So you have your printables, crafting supplies, and glue, but what will you do with them if you don’t have your basic stationery?
Of course, kids will need their pencils, erasers, and scissors to get things going. You might also need some string for lacing Thanksgiving garlands too.
Conclusion
Gratitude and thankfulness are vast concepts. You need years to grasp them correctly.
The best thing is to start early. We arranged this list of kindergarten Thanksgiving activities to help you teach this to your children in a smart and fun way.
Doing them together will enable them to learn and empathize at the same time. What we learn at an early age sticks with us throughout our lives.
These fun crafts will remind them to be thankful for all the blessings they have, even if it is the most insignificant.
Hi, I'm Amanda! Welcome to Education Outside! Im passionate about educating young minds and helping parents/teachers by providing easy and effective teaching resources. Check out all of my teaching resources on my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
