Thanksgiving Actions for Youngsters - The Educators' Spin On It

Creative Thanksgiving Activities for kids of all ages, perfect for sibling fun at home this Thanksgiving break!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! This week, we tried our very best to take some time to “Give Thanks” as we went about our week. The girls are having lots of fun reading books and creating projects about Thanksgiving. Most importantly we are learning about the “Spirit of Thanksgiving.”

Now that they are in Kindergarten in a Public School there aren’t as many opportunities to work on handmade art and craft projects which is so important for them to experience. So we tried our best to incorporate some projects at home.

Giving Thanks Activities for Thanksgiving

Here’s a few of our projects that we created this week in both of our homes.

Turkey Finger Puppets

We loved these, but didn’t have the supplies in the house and opted for the traditional felt (plus extra fabric choices that I didn’t have the colors in felt)  Although we talked about the difference between male and female turkeys, there was NO way you could convince my 5 year old that this turkey did not need a bow =)

Thankful Turkey

We’ve been working about expressing the things that we are thankful for each night at the dinner table and she’s been writing the thoughts of gratitude down on strips of paper. Then we took all of the papers and glued them onto a circle for the body and a circle for the head. Then she cut some legs and beak and waddle. It’s so cute to see what they are thankful for.

Recycling Turkey feather papers into Fall Tree

Using the leftover paper from our feather we practiced our cutting skills and created this fall tree. I think over the next few days my daughter will also be adding people and a turkey and an owl in the tree. Love projects that you can continue to build upon.

Pilgrim Writing

We were inspired by the Pilgrim at First Grade Blue Skies for our writing this week.  She cut out the pieces and glued them together.  Then wrote about what she is thankful for.  I think we will continue this idea for each Month to keep our writing on the fridge at all times. 

We used this as the lesson in our Cooking Class The Littlest Pilgrim and Turkey Casserole.

Painted Handprint Turkeys

So many cute ones out there like this one and this one!  My kidsmade hand print trees and figured that our hands were already painted on and made the turkeys too!!! We visited this interactive website and learned more about the Wampanoag and if turkeys were present at the first Thanksgiving. 

What would have been really cool is if the real ones showed up at my house like they did for this mama!

Works great for crafts for siblings to do together!

Coffee Filter Turkeys

We LOVED this project!  I showed her this post and read the directions. We didn’t have the regular filters and just used the cone shaped ones.  She created the heads and decorations all on her own, then made up a game similar to “I Spy,” to play using their different features.

Turkey T-shirt

We are Thankful for great deals and re-purposing clothes that are no longer being used!  A 25 cent thrift store bright orange t-shirt was transformed into this hilarious turkey shirt.  My daughter choose the fabrics, cut the pieces and placed them where she wanted them. I embroidered them with the machine! The eyes were made with my thumbprint in black fabric paint.

We have pinned many projects on our Fall Pinterest Board for you to find something special to make with your little ones this week as you prepare for Thanksgiving. We’d love to see what you are doing with your grade school children this week!

Looking for more Activities for Fall? Try these ideas