Every year we take off at least a week of school during Thanksgiving. During that time we take off our regular studies, but do fun things in its place. We find great hands-on Thanksgiving ideas for kids. There are many different resources we have used over the years. Some of our resources we use year after year, and others we use once and that is it.

After years of using many different resources, I am sharing my favorites with you today. They are the one I think the kids had most fun learning with and also teach the kids about the real meaning behind Thanksgiving.

 

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Easy Make and Learn Projects

Scholastic suggests grades 1-3 on the book Easy Make & Learn Projects ~ The Pilgrims, The Mayflower & More, but even my older middle school boys enjoy using these models. This is probably one of our favorite resources for teaching Thanksgiving ideas for kids. They are printable models that teach kids about Thanksgiving. They have 15 different resources and we use about 2 different ones each year. To this day we haven’t even been able to use them all yet.

Moving Mayflower Map

We have really had SO much fun with this book!!

 

Pilgrim Town and Wampanoag Village

This project took quite a bit of work coloring and cutting each of the figures out. It turned out really great though. They have things inside each of the buildings according to what the pilgrims or Wampanoag’s would have had in their houses. It was a really great way for the kids to be able to compare the different ways of life between the two.

A Cranberry Thanksgiving

A fun thing to do during the Thanksgiving break is to read Cranberry Thanksgiving and make the famous cranberry bread in the book. They include the recipe for you to use. Not only is the bread delicious, but it is a fun book to read as well.

The First Americans Book

This is a fun and easily put together book. It is all about The First Americans. It is a great way for the kids to get to know the different tribes that were around America. They can also learn about how they lived, their houses and more.

Our Favorite Thanksgiving Printables

Printable Activity Book ~ We like to make a fun printable activity book for the kids to work on as they want to. Here are the pages that we have found are fun for kids of all ages. We print them all out and staple them together into a book for them. They can work on the pages as they choose to. I have included the links to each of the pages online below the photos for anyone interested in using them.

• November Words.

• Coloring Pages.

• Word Search Thanksgiving – small.

• Thanksgiving Word Search – large.

• Things I Am Thankful For Page.

• Thanksgiving Cryptogram.

• Thanksgiving Color By Number.

• Cornucopia Color By Number.

• How To Draw A Turkey Printable.

• Thanksgiving Story Montessori Printable. We love the amazing resources from Montessori Print Shop!! We purchased the CD with all their files many years ago and use their resources very regularly. When the kids were younger we used their Thanksgiving 0-10 Numbers and Counters as well as their Thanksgiving matching cards and Thanksgiving Counting Cards.

Extra Thanksgiving Learning Ideas

Some of our favorite Thanksgiving printables we use. A few words of advise about following resources. First, we use different printables each year, not all of them every year. Second, I purchased all the Scholastic books as a digital copy for $1. If you follow the Scholastic website and make sure to read their emails they will email you when they have the $1 sale. Look for great titles during this sale, I’m sure you will not be disappointed!!

• Scholastic Follow The Directions 2-3
• Scholastic Follow The Directions 4-6
• Thanksgiving Word Wall from Montessori Print Shop ~ 7 Pages of words that are used during the Thanksgiving holiday.
• Amanda Bennett’s Thanksgiving Unit Study (Lapbook and Notebook Helps) ~ A Thanksgiving study that teaches kids all about the history of Thanksgiving. There are 2 different types of studies they offer the first one is her Download and Go Study for grades k-4 that is a 1-2 week study a Thanksgiving Unit Study Adventure for grades k-12 and it takes about 4 weeks to complete. and the other is

Great Thanksgiving Books For Learning

• 50 Month By Month Draw and Write Prompts ~ With this resource kids can do Thanksgiving and fall-themed writing prompts and learn how to draw a turkey and the Mayflower.

• Easy Holiday and Seasonal Art Projects with Paper ~  Where you can make a Perky Turkey and Pilgrim Storage Containers. There are projects for all seasons and holidays in this book, not just Thanksgiving.

• Colonial Kids: An Activity Guide to Life in the New World (Hands-On History) ~ There are a TON of hands-on projects for kids to do in this book. It is one that has received many years of use in our homeschool and will continue to over the years.

• More Than Moccasins: A Kids Activity Guide To Traditional North American Indian Life (Hands-On History) ~ There are so many great hands-on projects for kids in this book as well. It is a great way to teach kids all about the North American Indian way of life. It is a book that can be used for so many years! Great resources for any home or homeschool.

• Hands-On History: Colonial America: Fantastic Easy-to-Make Projects That Help Kids Learn and Love History! ~ THis is a great book to help teach your kids vocabulary about colonial America, making mini books, bulletin boards, comparing and contrasting the colonies, and much more.

Our Favorite Thanksgiving books for Kids

Some of these books teach kids all about the history of Thanksgiving, others are just fun books. We have accumulated them over the years and the kids enjoy reading them year after year.

• Thanksgiving Is For Giving Thanks!

• The Story Of The Pilgrims.

• If You Sailed On The Mayflower in 1620.

• Squanto’s Journey: The Story Of The First Thanksgiving.

• The Thanksgiving Story.

• Squanto Friend Of The Pilgrims.

• If You Were At The First Thanksgiving.

 

 

• The First Thanksgiving.

• Turkey Trouble.

• The Berenstain Bears Give Thanks.

• A Cranberry Thanksgiving.

When we teach our children using hands-on learning resources it is amazing how much better they pick up on the concepts being taught. What resources do you use to teach your kids about Thanksgiving? Have you used any of the resources I listed? Leave a comment below letting me know I would love to hear from you!!

 

Looking For More Thanksgiving Ideas for kids? Check out my Pinterest board all about Thanksgiving.

 

Follow Mama Of Many Blessings’ board Thanksgiving on Pinterest.