15 Thanksgiving Activities for Your Homeschool
I’ve been wanting to share a glimpse into our homeschooling journey and thought it would the perfect time to share what we’ve been doing this month for Thanksgiving. Being thankful isn’t something that should just be reserved for one month of the year, but it’s nice having a season where we especially focus in on it more.
My oldest is in 4th grade and my youngest just turned three this month, so these activities are geared at the preschool and elementary levels. But to be honest—I don’t think there’s an age limit on some of these!
For some activities there are links to the printable resources so you can download them for yourself, too.
These are great for this Thanksgiving week or save them for later and revisit them next year. It always amazes me how quickly the next year rolls around. Either way, I hope these 15 Thanksgiving activities offer you a little inspiration and help your family to choose thankful hearts!
1. Thankful Banner
We have a dedicated spot in our school room where I set-up materials related to our theme or nature study. One item hanging there is a banner that I change out per theme. This month’s thankful banner has been the perfect addition and you can find it here.
2. Thankful Tree
We’ve done a thankful tree in the past and this year I decided to use our chalkboard. I drew the tree with white chalk and then printed this leaf template by The Littles and Me on assorted colors of cardstock. During our morning time we’ve been writing what we’re thankful for on the leaves and then adding them to our tree. Simple and easy and many ways to do this one.
3. Five Senses Blessings Jar
This one is a simple and meaningful way to focus of gratitude with your family. Again, we’ve been using this at our morning time and we each take at least one turn drawing a popsicle stick and stating something we’re thankful for according to the color code. For example, for a blue popsicle stick you might say cookies baking in the oven or fall scents. Even my littlest boy enjoys this one! The printables for this are available at The Littles and Me.
4. Let’s Celebrate Thanksgiving Print
This cute print offers some ideas of things to do throughout the month from acts of service to fun activities. We currently have it displayed on a clipboard on the wall. You can download yours here.
5. Pumpkin Pie Playdough Mats
Making different varieties of playdough is one of my favorite things and I make various flavors throughout the year. I found these pumpkin pie playdough mats at Fantastic Fun and Learning and knew they would be perfect for my boys to enjoy. It even comes with some fraction cards to tie in a little math in a gentle way.
6. Pumpkin Pie Counting
I put this activity together with my youngest in mind who is at the age of learning to count and loving it. This is a great way to practice counting by having little ones top pies with whipped cream (cotton balls). This activity is part of the Bear Give Thanks Literature Unit by Simply Learning. The following activity is also from that unit.
7. Sticky Turkey
Contact paper makes a great surface for sticky activities which allow little hands be creative over and over. The turkey template is from the above unit study and I printed it on cardstock and laminated it. Then I taped a piece of contact paper to the wall sticky side up, providing a surface for adding feathers. The nice thing about sticky activities is that they’re reusable for as many times are your child likes.
8. Thanksgiving Books
Goods books are always a part of our unit studies and we’ve been reading ones geared at Thanksgiving this month. A few of our favorites have been:
The Pilgrims ‘ First Thanksgiving
The Berenstain Bears Thanksgiving Blessings
9, 10 & 11. The Doxology, Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt, Thankful Notes
I found a wonderful Gratitude Printable Pack from Not Consumed and we’ve been using some of the resources. The Doxology is a classic hymn and a perfect one to study in November. This packet comes with some related activities such as a hymn puzzle and copy work. There’s also a fun scavenger hunt and some cards to for writing gratitude notes to others.
12. Clothespin Turkey Math Activity
This is another counting activity with my littlest in mind. I found these turkeys at Preschool Play and Learn. I printed them on cardstock and laminated them for durability. Your children will have fun adding colorful clothespin feathers while practicing those counting skills.
13. Thanksgiving Bingo
Who doesn’t love a good game of Bingo?! My boys enjoy playing games together so I thought this one would make them smile. Download all you need to play this fun Thanksgiving version from Giggles Galore.
14. Blessings Mix
On Wednesdays we gather around the kitchen table for poetry tea time. My boys get to choose a warm drink which they usually drink in tea cups and I set the table with special snacks for us to enjoy while listening to poetry and others books. They absolutely adore this time! Last week we enjoyed this Blessing Mix full of goodies alongside some warm apple cider. We don’t always have tea. 😉 Download a copy of the recipe at I Heart Naptime. Of course, use your discretion as some of these items might be choking hazards for little ones.
15. Thanksgiving Bible Verses
My oldest is working on memorizing Bible verses this year and we’ve been focusing on verses about gratitude this month. These Bible verse cards are a part of the Gratitude Printable Packet by Not Consumed listed above. We have them displayed with twine on the wall.
Bonus Activity: Colored Rice Fall Sensory Bin
This is actually an activity I put together for October, but it’s still around at our house and works great for all of the fall season. Sensory bins are a staple of our homeschool and have a variety of benefits. I started making them for my oldest who is a very kinesthetic learner when he was in preschool. He’s started to outgrow them, but still enjoys joining his younger brother for them when they’re out. This one is made with colored rice and sensory items we had on hand.
I hope this list offers something useful for you to use with your own children and if nothing else, gives you a glimpse into some of what’s been occupying my time lately.
I know 2020 has been a mixture of emotions for probably all of us and our Thanksgiving celebrations will look different for many of us this year. Yet I think it’s especially important that we count our blessings. God’s goodness isn’t based our changing circumstances . We always have reason to give thanks because of the unshakable hope we have in Jesus. Praise God that can’t be taken from us.
“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Blessings to you this Thanksgiving!
