Looking for some fun and festive Thanksgiving activities to enjoy without hours of prep time? You’re in the right place! This article will provide you with a list of 15 fun ideas to make this Thanksgiving season a memorable one. Whether you’re teaching the week of Thanksgiving or hosting a gathering of your own, these activities will surely bring laughter, joy, and learning.
Get creative and turn this holiday into an opportunity for fun and learning. Don’t forget to spice up the atmosphere with festive decorations, themed costumes, and a playlist of Thanksgiving tunes. Get ready to make lasting memories and strengthen your relationships with these 15 fun and festive Thanksgiving activities.
Grammar
- Turkey Feather Root Words– write a prefix or suffix on the turkey’s body then add feathers with words that match that affix. For example: prefix un- with the words done, happy, cooked on the feathers.
- Thanksgiving Table Adjectives– use a directed draw to create your favorite Thanksgiving dish. Then, label the dish with adjectives to describe it. For example: a bowl of mac-n-cheese has labels like “cheesy”, “gooey”, “hot”, “soul filling”, etc.
- Past, Present, and Future Pie: cut out 3 circles for your pies. Then, using various verbs, write the past, present, and future tense of the verb on the correct pie. For example: DRIVE would be driven, drive, will drive.
Writing
- “If I was a turkey I would…” story with Story Coins. This is a perfect small group activity to practice problem/solution or cause/effect in writing. Have students each pull one Story Coins from the bag. Then, they finish the prompt based on what image is on their coin. For example: a student pulls an image of a cake. The student might write, “If I was a turkey, I would make a sign that said ‘cake is the healthiest meal at thanksgiving. Turkey is deadly’. That way, no one will eat me.”
- Imagine you’re a turkey just learning what Thanksgiving is. Write a short story from the turkey’s point of view. Have kids focus on word choice and sentence structure.
- Create an advertisement for the BEST thanksgiving side dish. Use lots of descriptive words to make your point. Then, design an advertisement using Book Creator or Canva.
Share Joy and Laughter with Story Coins
This hands-on creativity games is perfect for the classroom, dinner table, or that looong drive to Grandma’s.
Research
- What are the traditional Native American foods for tribes native to your area? Research what was eaten and if it’s similar to anything on your table today. Create a cookbook with what you’ve learned.
- Each year a turkey is pardoned by the US president. Research why and when this tradition started. Then, create a timeline (paper or digital) to share information with others.
- Thanksgiving is unique to the United States. Research other celebrations happening around the world during the month of November. Use your research to create an infographic about your favorite celebrations.
STEM
- Build a balloon for the Thanksgiving Day Parade out of recyclable materials. Then, host your own parade to show off student designs.
- Create a menu for your perfect Thanksgiving Day feast. Then, calculate how much money you will need to create the recipes based on your local supermarket prices.
- Write words of gratitude for people in your life on pieces of square paper. Then, turn those pages into paper airplanes and “send” your notes of love through the air.
Reading
- Thanksgiving-themed books like How to Catch a Turkey and Balloons Over Broadway
- Books about Thankfulness and Gratitude like The Gracious Gobbler and God Gave Us Thankful Hearts
- Cookbooks for the best Thanksgiving dinner ideas. Bonus points if you try one of them!
