Thanksgiving is almost here! Are you ready? We're sure you're looking forward to spending time with family and enjoying all of the delicious, mouthwatering foods that embody the holiday, but there are still a few days of class left to get through before everyone can enjoy Thanksgiving. To help you make it through these last few days, we've scoured Pinterest for some creative Thanksgiving activities that you can use to celebrate Thanksgiving in your classroom:
See below to download our FREE printable!
1. Conduct the Feather Float Experiment
Find out if feathers float or sink with this STEM activity. The Feather Float activity introduces children to the concept of buoyancy. Simply provide each child with a bowl of water and a feather. Encourage them to make predictions about the outcome of the experiment. Instruct children to place the feather into the water, and watch them answer the question 'do feathers sink or float?' After this activity, try placing other thanksgiving themed items in the water to test buoyancy.
2. Help Children Make a Thankful Pumpkin Pie
Thanksgiving is a season dedicated to showing gratitude for the good things in life. Learning this concept at an early age promotes emotional development and helps children not to take things for granted later in life. Have your students construct a Thankful Pie using eight different things they are grateful for. As you spin the pie, each slice will reveal one source of gratitude. Check out how to construct the Thankful Pumpkin Pie in the video below!
3. Have Children Create Their Own Acrostic Poem
Your Thanksgiving lesson plans probably include teaching children about the first Thanksgiving. Once children understand how the Pilgrims and Native Americans influenced the first Thanksgiving, have kids create their own acrostic poem. This is a great way to teach kids about literary elements while also reinforcing what they learn in your history lesson.
4. Hand Out a Thanksgiving Word Find
Children love completing word finds! Word finds strengthen vocabulary/spelling skills and can help children learn to identify consonants and vowels. Print out copies of a word find and hand them out for children to complete as a transitional activity or as a fun activity on the last day of school before Thanksgiving break.
5. Start a Classroom Gratitude Project
Teaching children about gratitude should be an important focus in the days and weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. One of the best ways you can do this is by creating a classroom gratitude project. For example, you could create a bulletin board and have kids write what they're grateful for on the leaves or another component of the bulletin board. Whether you come up with a project that allows your students to give back to the community or a project that lets them share what they're most grateful for, talking about the importance of being thankful now and throughout the year is important to children's social-emotional development.
Download our FREE printable below!
