Thanksgiving Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten

Today I’m sharing some Thanksgiving-themed activities for preschool and kindergarten. Let’s get started!

What can my child learn about Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is a great topic to study with our kids. From learning about why we celebrate this holiday to fostering an attitude of gratitude, a week of learning about Thanksgiving will be well worth the effort.

• history of Thanksgiving
• pilgrims and indians
• harvest time
• food and cooking
• season of autumn
• sharing and giving
• gratitude
• family and good relations
• experiencing feelings of togetherness

Objectives for a preschool & Kindergarten Thanksgiving unit

• Learn the history of the Thanksgiving holiday
• Differentiate Thanksgiving then and now
• Foster qualities of sharing, giving, and hospitality
• Build preschool and kindergarten skills through Thanksgiving-themed music, crafts, activities, math, language, and imaginative play.

Picture books about Thanksgiving

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• Sharing the Bread by Pat Zietlow Miller
• Cranberry Thanksgiving by Harry Devlin
• A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting
• Over the River and Through the Wood by Lydia Maria Child
• The Thanksgiving Door by Debbie Atwell
• The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh
• In November by Cynthia Rylant
• Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes
• Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson
• Thanksgiving is Here by Diane Goode

Printable Thanksgiving Poem

l like to add a memory piece to our units. Here is our Thanksgiving poem download if you would like to add it to your Thanksgiving unit as well.

Thanksgiving toy and prop ideas

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• Plastic figurine Indians (historical figurines)
• Pilgrim costumes
• Play kitchen set
• Thanksgiving photo booth props
• Turkey stuffed animal
• Pilgrim hats
• Kids table and chairs set
• Kids play dish set and utensil setting (table setting)

Music and videos about Thanksgiving

• Five Little Turkeys (song)
• Thankful (children’s Thanksgiving song)
• The Story of Thanksgiving (video)
• Easy Pumpkin Pie (how-to-video for kids)

Thanksgiving craft ideas for kids

• Make Thanksgiving Day placemats
• Turkey tracks painting
• Pilgrims and Indians made from toilet paper rolls
• Native American headbands
• Beaded pipe cleaner Indian corn

Preschool Thanksgiving activities

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• Practice setting the Thanksgiving table
• Thanksgiving conversation cards
• Make a thanksgiving dish together
• Thanksgiving Bingo
• Make Marshmallow turkey dessert treats
• Make easy Oreo turkey cookies

Thanksgiving Math activities

• Pumpkin Pie Number Sense activity (free printable)
• Thanksgiving turkey shape matching activity (free printable)
• Turkey do-a-dot colors and counting (free printable)
• Pilgrim shape matching craftivity
• Turkey feathers roll and count
• help measure ingredients out for thanksgiving meal

Thanksgiving literacy and writing activities

• Word family turkey sorting
• Turkey feather name practice
• Thanksgiving alphabet matching (free printable)
• Retell a story from the book list
• Thanksgiving color and write pages (free printable)

Printable Thanksgiving Emergent Readers

These printable, half-page emergent readers focus on sight word practice, as well as, word tracing, letter recognition, repetition, coloring, and reading complete sentences.

• The First Thanksgiving Helpers
• I like Thanksgiving Dinner
• I am Thankful
• Counting Pumpkins 1-10
• Apple Colors Fall Emergent Reader

Dramatic play ideas for preschool Thanksgiving unit

• Pie making play dough station
• Play kitchen for making Thanksgiving dinner
• Setting the Thanksgiving table

Free Printable Thanksgiving unit study plan

For my homeschool moms and teacher friends, I’ve complied all these ideas into a printable resource. This unit builder includes everything in this post and also leaves room for you to add material lists and notes. 

Whether you are creating a Thanksgiving-themed lesson plan for preschool or kindergarten or just thinking of adding some Thanksgiving activities into your homeschool preschool unit later this year, this is a great printable resource to reference, with a lot of ideas to choose from!

Download the Thanksgiving Unit Study Plan 

This printable is part of the Inspire the Mom free resource library. If you are already a member, hop on over to the free resource page. If not, fill out the quick form below and join for access to this freebie as well as other great content.

What would you add to a preschool unit about Thanksgiving?

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