Thanksgiving Activities for Preschoolers: 15 Ideas by Skill
Thanksgiving is a useful preschool theme because it combines three things children this age respond to: making something with their hands, a story with characters, and food.
The fifteen activities below are grouped by craft, story, music, sensory play and early math. Each lists what it teaches and what you need. Most use materials you already have.
Thanksgiving crafts
Handprint turkey
Draw round your child’s hand, then let them color each finger as a tail feather and add a beak to the thumb. Keep it and date it, because the size change year to year is the point.
What it teaches: Pencil control around a curve, and color choice.
You will need: Paper, crayons.
Corn husk dolls
Soak husks until pliable, fold and tie with string to make a body. Tying the knots is the hard part and is worth doing together.
What it teaches: Two-handed coordination and following a sequence.
You will need: Corn husks, string, water.
Paper pilgrim hats
Cut a band and a crown from black card, staple into a hat, add a paper buckle. Your child measures the band round their own head.
What it teaches: Measuring for a purpose rather than in the abstract.
You will need: Black card, paper, stapler.
Story and gratitude activities
A simple first Thanksgiving retelling
Tell the story in four short scenes, then let your child put picture cards of those scenes in order. Keep it simple and age-appropriate at this stage.
What it teaches: Sequencing events and retelling.
You will need: Four picture cards.
The gratitude tree
Draw a bare tree. Each day your child names one thing they are glad about and you write it on a paper leaf to stick on.
What it teaches: Naming feelings, and seeing writing used for a real purpose.
You will need: Paper, pens, tape.
Thank you notes
Your child draws the picture and you write the words they dictate. Dictation counts as writing at this age.
What it teaches: That speech can be written down and read back.
You will need: Card, crayons.
Music and movement
Corn shakers
Put dried corn in a sealed tub and shake to a beat. Vary loud and quiet on your signal.
What it teaches: Beat, and responding to a cue.
You will need: Sealed tub, dried corn.
Turkey waddle race
Waddle from one end of the room to the other with a beanbag under the chin. Dropping it means starting again.
What it teaches: Balance and controlled movement.
You will need: Beanbag or soft toy.
Harvest parade
March round the room with instruments and hats. Let your child lead and change the tempo.
What it teaches: Leading, and matching movement to speed.
You will need: Anything that makes a noise.
Sensory play
Pumpkin spice playdough
Add cinnamon and nutmeg to plain playdough. The smell is what makes it different from ordinary dough.
What it teaches: Smell vocabulary and hand strength.
You will need: Playdough, cinnamon, nutmeg.
Autumn leaf tray
Collect leaves on a walk, then sort them by color, then by size. Two sorts of the same set is better than one.
What it teaches: Sorting by one attribute at a time.
You will need: Collected leaves, tray.
Harvest tasting plate
Offer small pieces of apple, squash, sweet potato and cranberry. Ask which is sweet and which is sour before saying what you think.
What it teaches: Taste vocabulary and expressing a preference.
You will need: Small food samples.
Early math with a Thanksgiving theme
Counting corn kernels
Count dried kernels into muffin cases numbered 1 to 5. Touching each one while counting is the skill.
What it teaches: One-to-one correspondence, the foundation of counting.
You will need: Dried corn, muffin cases.
Alphabet of gratitude
Work through the alphabet naming something you are glad about for each letter. Skip the hard ones rather than labouring them.
What it teaches: Initial sounds, linked to the A to Z word lists.
You will need: Nothing.
Set the table for everyone
Your child counts the people, then counts out that many plates and forks. Getting it wrong and recounting is part of it.
What it teaches: Counting with a real purpose and checking the answer.
You will need: Plates and cutlery.
Print the checklist
One page with all 14 ideas and a box to tick as you work through them. A4, free to print.
Download the thanksgiving activities for preschoolers checklist (PDF)
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I explain Thanksgiving to a preschooler?
Keep it to a harvest meal shared between two groups of people, and focus on the idea of being glad for what you have. A three-year-old will take the gratitude part and very little of the history.
What are the easiest Thanksgiving activities for toddlers?
The handprint turkey, the corn shaker and the leaf sorting tray. All three need almost no preparation and no fine pencil control.
How long should a Thanksgiving activity last?
Five to ten minutes for a three-year-old and up to fifteen for a five-year-old. Two short activities work better than one long one.
Can these be used in a classroom?
Yes. The craft and music activities scale to a group with no changes. The tasting plate needs allergy checks first.
More seasonal activities
Other seasonal themes: Free Halloween coloring pages, Christmas activities for preschoolers, Fall activities for preschool.
