Fun Thanksgiving Activities for Your Elementary Students
Tired of the same old “trace your hand” Thanksgiving Activities? This post has lots of ideas to spice up the holiday season. (Did the word spice make you want a latte like it did me?) Check out the freebies we’ve included, and grab as many as you’ll use.
Critical Thinking Thanksgiving Activities
Thanksgiving Analogies
Analogies are fun little brain teasers, but they also are great for practicing critical thinking skills. Check out this blog post or download a FREE activity you can use with your students.
Would You Rather - Thanksgiving Edition
This is the perfect Thanksgiving activity to get your students in the holiday spirit! You can use these questions in lots of different ways. But whichever way you choose, your students are sure to have a blast!Â
Check out the blog post here or download the questions on TpT.
What are you thankful for that is soft? round? tiny?
Think Along a Different Line
“What are you thankful for?”
It’s the most common Thanksgiving question, but reformatting the question a little can go a long way in encouraging your students to think more creatively. Check out the blog post or download some FREE gratitude worksheets from TpT.
Do a Little Creative Writing
Use this prompt picker to choose what to write about. Just press play and then pause.
Check out this blog post to get a closer look at 20 awesome Thanksgiving Prompts or download this FREE paragraph writing activity.Â
Make a class list of things you're thankful for
Thanksgiving is the perfect time to build character (GRATITUDE) in your students. Gratitude is an important part of happiness, so implicitly teaching the skill can help your students grow up to be a happier people. Looking for some practical ways to teach gratitude? Check out this post!
Focusing on the things we have to be thankful for is a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving. Get your whole class in on it! Share editable rights to a Google docs with your students and set the timer! Have all the students add to the list at the same time. When the timer goes off, see how long your list is! You can add a little math into this activity too. Look for common answers and graph them. Your students can then create story problems based on their data! Â
You could also do a collaborative brainstorm. This post-it notes strategy for brainstorming would be really fun.Â
Have some fun with Thanksgiving words!
Before you pash the motatoes or pake the bie, you could try writing some Thanksgiving Spoonerisms.
Have you heard about spoonerisms? They’re a fun way to play with words. Check out this blog post to learn more. Â
Write a Thanksgiving Story together
Pass it on stories are a great way to collaborate and build a love for writing. Why not write a Thanksgiving Pass It On? Check out this blog post to learn more.
Be a Detective and Solve a Mystery!
Who stole the turkey?
Check out this blog post to see what inspired this best-selling classroom whodunnit! This activity will become your favorite classroom thanksgiving tradition.Â
Try writing some Thanksgiving jokes!
Check out this blog post for a whole bunch of Thanksgiving jokes. After you have fun reading them, have the students try their hand at writing their own jokes. (If they write any good ones, leave them in the comments!)
Learn a new Thanksgiving song
Here is a link to A Turkey Knocked on My Back Door from Gettin’ Creative. It has the lyrics and a video of a child singing the song, which is great for learning the tune.
It might be the 1,000,000th time i have seen or done the "hand turkeys" in kindergarten…however it is the FIRST time 90 % of my parents will see it and cherish it coming from their kindergartener!
Just a different perspective to think about i guess! This is one of my parents favorites year after year.
I see your point, especially for kindergarteners. My suggestions were more for older students anyway.