Gobble! Gobble! Thanksgiving Lesson Plans and Crafts

Tuesday, 11/10/2009

Gobble! Gobble! Thanksgiving Lesson Plans and Crafts

Gobble! Gobble! It’s that time of year again to gather with friends and family and eat yourself silly on turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving also presents a fabulous opportunity in the classroom and at home to offer children insight into the history behind the tradition, and remind all of us how much we have to be thankful for in our lives.

We’ve scoured the web to find the best, most comprehensive standards-based lesson plans for every age group. Beyond the mundane, we believe these lessons will excite and engage children as they learn.

Continue the Thanksgiving fun at home. Below you’ll find some great crafts that are perfect at-home activities. We know you’ll be busy preparing for the Thanksgiving feast, so many of these crafts can be done with minimal parent supervision – you’ll have time to cook while your kids feel involved by making turkey napkin holders for the table.

This holiday season, we at Walden are thankful for you our readers, and we hope you enjoy these activities!

Grades K-2

Learn to Say Thank You in 100 Different Languages, Education World: Thanksgiving is about giving thanks. Encourage your students to learn how to say thank you in 100 different languages as they learn world geography.
Packing the Pilgrims’ Trunk, ReadWriteThink: This fun unit encourages young students to think critically about the physical and mental things needed to make that the long voyage over the Atlantic, and settle into a new place as the Pilgrims did. The unit also features a delightful “fruit salad” lesson where students learn about the importance of sharing the way the Pilgrims did at the first Thanksgiving.

Grades 3-5

Investigating the first Thanksgiving, Education World: Use the in-depth “Investigating the First Thanksgiving” website created by the Pliomoth Plantation to help students analyze what actually took place at the first Thanksgiving. Supplement the lesson with Scholastic’s Plimoth Plantation Live Web Chat (information below). Complete the lesson with Education World’s Investigating Thanksgiving Quiz.
Native American and Pilgrim Live Chat, Scholastic: Scholastic.com is hosting a live web chat about the first Thanksgiving and life in Colonial times with a Pilgrim Interpreter and a Native American from the Pliomoth Plantation. Hosted on November 19th at 2pm EST/11am EDT, this is a nice supplement to any Thanksgiving lesson plan, but particularly the Investigating the First Thanksgiving (above).
American Indian Perspectives on Thanksgiving, National Museum of American Indians: This activity poster features four lessons that focus on various aspects of American Indian Culture. Each segment breaks down lesson plan ideas for younger students, grades 3-5, and older students, grades 6-8. All are based on reading comprehension and discussion.
I am Thankful For… Placemat, Scholastic: Students memorize the poem “I am Thankful For…” and draw a placement that depicts the imagery used in the poem. Teachers can add a photo of each student and laminate for a take-home Thanksgiving keepsake, or to donate to a local nursing home.

Grades 6-8

Myth and Truth, The First Thanksgiving, ReadWriteThink: Students are encouraged to develop an awareness of diversities, similarties and values in various Native American cultural traditions, and think critically about racist and biased language and its impact on readers over time.

Thanksgiving Crafts

Turkey Breadbasket, FamilyFun.com: Fun for all ages, this craft makes a very festive bread basket for your family’s Thanksgiving feast. Encourage the kids (with the help of a parent) to create this on Thanksgiving morning while you are busy in the Kitchen.

Turkey Gobbler, Parenting.com: This turkey table-topper uses a real orange, leaves and pinecones. Children can scour the yard to find the items and assemble the turkey relatively easily on their own.

Turkey Napkin Rings, FamilyFun.com: Older elementary children will be able to create these cute tabletop decorations with little supervision, and can feel like they made a huge contribution to your family’s Thanksgiving feast.

TeePee Centerpiece, Kaboose.com: Kids 6 and up will enjoy creating these teepees. Encourage them to visit the Plimoth Plantation website to incorporate traditional Plimoth symbolism into their teepee designs.

Pilgrim Finger Puppets, Kaboose.com: These festive finger puppets are ideal for ages 4 and up, and can be completed on Thanksgiving Day while you are busy cooking. Once the puppets are complete, suggest your children create a small skit to perform with the puppets after dinner.

Autumn Leaves: Younger children will enjoy creating these festive leaves that you can display around your home.

Nature Note Cards: Children collect leaves from the yard (with parent supervision), and use them to make beautiful note cards. Encourage older children to use the note cards to write letters to relatives and friends who they are thankful to have in their lives.

A “Thanks”-giving Turkey, FamilyFun.com: Children cut out large feather shapes out of construction paper and distribute them to the guests of your Thanksgiving feast and/or out of town relatives. The guests write something that they are thankful for on each leaf, and return. While you are cooking dinner, your children can assemble the feathers on a poster board to create one big “thankful” turkey to display during Thanksgiving dinner.

General Resources:

History Channel: The history channel features fun videos about the first Thanksgiving, Football on Thanksgiving, the Macy’s Day Parade and more. They also have an assortment of helpful links and articles, including traditional Thanksgiving recipes.
Mayflower Resources: This is an exhaustive resource of all things Mayflower. From the passenger list on the ship to detailed histories of the Pilgrims’ first years in America, this site is a great resource to find general information on the first Thanksgiving.