Pre-K & Preschool theme ideas for Thanksgiving
Find more Thanksgiving Ideas for Pre-K
Books
Check here for a complete list of Books about Thanksgiving
Brain Breaks / Large Motor Games
Listen & Follow
Give children instructions for moving for this listening and following directions game.
- “Waddle like a turkey” (hold out elbows like wings and waddle)
- “Pick up the corn” (pretend to pick up corn)
- “Jog to the pumpkin patch” (jog in place)
- “Fly to the barn” (flap arms)
Feather Toss
Give each child a large craft feathers or a paper feather cutout. Have them toss their feathers in the air and try to keep them up by blowing or fanning with their hands.
Pumpkin Pie Balance Walk
Have kids walk while balancing a “pumpkin pie” on their head or hand. Use a paper plate, an orange paper circle, or foil pie pan for the “pumpkin pie”. Have them walk across the room or carry the pie to a friend.
Turkey Freeze Dance
Play music and let children move like turkeys — waddle, flap, peck, or gobble!
When the music stops, they freeze like a turkey statue.
Thanksgiving Fine Motor Skills
Thanksgiving Meal
Have children cut out pictures of their favorite foods and glue them on a paper plate. Grocery store sale papers from the newspaper can be used for pictures (or print out clipart).
Thanksgiving Art Activities
Coffee Filter Turkeys
Cut a coffee filter in half and have children paint it with watercolors. Cut out a turkey’s body from brown paper (a sort of gourd shape) and let the children glue it on. Have them draw eyes and a beak.
Pie Pan Art
Thanksgiving is all about pies and children may see pie pans used in the kitchen at this time of year. This art activity lets children use a pie pan with paint. Cut paper circles the same size to fit in a disposable pie pan. Place marbles in tempera paint. Have the children place the marbles in the pie pan (one at a time) and roll it around to paint the paper.
Dinner Napkins
Cut fabric into squares of about 12×12 inches using pinking shears. You can buy inexpensive fabric from the clearance area or ask parents to donate scraps. Have the children paint foam craft stamps with fabric paint and stamp it on the fabric. They can also paint designs directly onto the fabric. These can be used in a classroom Thanksgiving celebration or at home for Thanksgiving dinner.
Thanksgiving Literacy Activities
Pie Pan Writing
Here’s another way to allow children to use pie pans. Place orange tempera paint or fingerpaint in a disposable pie pan. Use enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Have the children use their finger to practice writing letters in the paint. You can also use pudding instead of paint (color vanilla pudding orange to look like pumpkin pie).
Giving Thanks Class Book
Ask children to think of things they are thankful for, and illustrate it on a sheet of paper. Each child’s page would read: “_____ is thankful for _____.” Example: “Nash is thankful for friends.” To make our class books, I use “presentation book covers” from an office supply store or Walmart. It has a sturdy plastic cover with a clear insert, and the pages are also clear inserts. I just slip in a page for the front cover, and slip in the children’s pages inside. These can be reused.
Download: Free Printable “We Are Thankful” Class Book
Turkey Bingo Stamping Game
Use this bingo stamping game to practice letter or numeral recognition. Print out the bingo page, write the letters or numbers you want your students to practice, and make copies. Get the printable here: Turkey Bingo Game.
Thanksgiving Roll & Write Game
A fun way to practice fine motor and writing skills! Print and find directions here: Roll & Write Games. Children roll a game die with letters or numbers and write the letter they roll. The samples below show that children can succeed at this game regardless of their writing skills.
Journal Pages
Get these Thanksgiving journal pages in the Pre-K Writing Journals Bundle.
Thanksgiving Math Activities
Number Flip Book
To make a flip book, fold a piece of paper over hotdog style, cut four flaps (cut four slits into one side of the paper), and write numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 on the flaps. Children put the correct number of Thanksgiving stickers under each flap.
Food Counting
Use the play food from your House Center. Write numbers on disposable plates. Have the children identify the numeral and count out that amount of foods to place on the plate.
Turkey Grid Game
This printable game is used to practice counting and one-to-one correspondence. Read more about Grid Games here and get the printable!
Roll and Cover Game
This roll and cover game can be used to practice counting and numeral recognition. Read about and print it here: Roll and Cover Games
Cranberry Graph: Question of the Day
This printable Cranberry Taste Test Question of the Day Graph is included in this bundle — Get Question of the Day printables here. These can be used on chart paper or in a pocket chart.
More Thanksgiving Math
See these posts for more Thanksgiving Math activities:
Thanksgiving Cooking Activities
Pumpkin Pies
Ingredients for one serving:
Mini graham cracker crust
3 spoonfuls of vanilla pudding
1 spoonful of canned pumpkin
1 spoonful of whipped topping
Directions: Stir the vanilla pudding and canned pumpkin together. Spoon the mixture into the mini pie crust. Top with whipped topping.
(I also have this cooking activity listed with the Halloween/Pumpkin theme. Depending on the year, I may do this activity in either theme, but not both.)
Turkey Flat Bread Roll Up
Ingredients:
Spreadable cheese (Cheese Whiz, Velveeta, or spreadable cream cheese)
Flat bread
Deli turkey slices
Spread the cheese on a small piece of flat bread, place a slice of deli turkey on top, and roll it up. Popsicle sticks can be used for spreaders.
Thanksgiving Center Activities
Sensory Table: Pie Crust Dough
At large group time, mix different consistencies of flour and water mixtures (similar to pie crust dough). Make 3-4 bowls using varying amounts of flour and water. Place the bowls in the sensory table, and allow children to explore and feel the difference of the consistencies. Another idea is to place a cup of flour, cup of water, bowl, and spoon in the sensory table, and let the children choose how much of each substance to add to their bowl and stir. You can read more about this sensory table here (see Flour & Water Mixture).
House Center
In the House Center, add a Thanksgiving tablecloth, Thanksgiving placemats, and a vase of autumn flowers.
Play Dough Thanksgiving Dinner
Place plates, bowls, pie pans, cookie sheets, and similar items in the play dough area for children to pretend to make a Thanksgiving dinner using play dough to make their pretend foods.
Find more Thanksgiving Ideas for Pre-K on the Thanksgiving category page.
More Thanksgiving Activities
Rhymes
Native American Thanksgiving Rhyme
(If you are in a non-religious school, you can eliminate the first and last lines.)
Thank you, God the Father (Fold hands in prayer)
Thank you, for the sunshine (Stretch arms overhead in circle)
Thank you, for the rain (Move fingers down)
Thank you, for things that grow (Move hands up)
Thank you, for good food to eat (Make circle around tummy)
Thank you, for families that love us. (Cross arms over chest)
Thank you, God the Father. (Same as first)
Songs
Find Thanksgiving songs for kids here.
In My Shop
Links
- Turkey Play Dough from Pre-K Pages
- Thanksgiving Activities from Early Learning Ideas
- Thanksgiving Circle Time Props from Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds