Happy November, y’all! Are you ready to dig into all the fun Thanksgiving activities that make this time of year so festive? I’ll be honest – we start slowing down quite a big in our homeschool learning time during the month of November as we move into the holidays. But when we DO sit down to school, we like to make sure we’re bringing the holiday cheer into our learning time!
So today you’ll find a bunch of our favorite Thanksgiving activities and book recommendations for Preschool children. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
Table of Contents – CLICK to jump ahead!
Thanksgiving Preschool Centers
If you’re looking for a quick way to dive right in to the Thanksgiving festivities, you’ve got to grab our week of Thanksgiving Preschool centers! Included you’ll find 15 hands-on and engaging activities, plus book recommendations and lesson plans. Your little ones will love practicing common Preschool skills like counting, colors, shapes, and more! Each center in the unit can be adapted for little ones ages 2-5 and include tons of fine motor skills practice! As a bonus – I even lesson planned for you!
If you’d like to see how we include this theme in our Preschool year PLUS find out which themes we use for the other 11 months of the year, click the button below to download our FREE Preschool Curriculum Map!
Thanksgiving Books
A post about Thanksgiving activities wouldn’t be complete without a list of our favorite books! But, before your order or purchase any new books for this unit, take a quick look through the books you already own and I bet you’ll find lots of good ones! But if you’re looking for some new ones, you can find some of our favorites below! *These links are Amazon affiliate resources. I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to purchase using my links!*
Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving – Eric Metaxas
The Story of the Pilgrims – Katherine Ross
This is the Feast – Diane Z. Shore
What Was the First Thanksgiving? – Joan Holub
Magic Tree House: Thanksgiving on Thursday – Mary Pope Osborne
The Thanksgiving Story – Alice Dalgliesh
Just So Thankful – Mercer Mayer
If You’re Thankful and You Know It – Chrissy Bozik
Bear Says Thanks – Karma Wilson
A Very Thankful Prayer – Bonnie Rickner Jensen
One Big Turkey – Anne Vittur Kennedy
Happy Thanksgiving, Curious George – Cynthia Platt
The Very First Thanksgiving – Nancy Davis
Pumpkin Life Cycle Study
The pumpkin life cycle is a great Science addition to your lineup of Thanksgiving activities! It’s also a great way to modify the Fall plans for your older kiddos. LG loves learning about different life cycles with these studies!
This study includes tons of hands-on activities like sensory bins, STEM activities, sequencing cards and more! It also includes book recommendations, videos, real-life photos and practice pages!
Turkey Life Cycle Study
Another fun study to use with your Thanksgiving theme is the life cycle of a turkey! I love this study because it brings an extra fun twist to your science times! Included you’ll find all of the same activities as the pumpkin life cycle, but appropriate for studying the life of a turkey!
Preschool Skills Sensory Bins
These sensory bin matching mats are a fun addition to your Thanksgiving theme whether you choose to use a sensory bin or NOT. Simply provide your kiddos with the cut out pieces and help them make their matches on the matching mats! This Thanksgiving-themed set practices shapes, colors, counting, beginning sounds, and letter identification! They make a great activity for review centers, morning work, or even fast finishers!
Fine Motor Skills Worksheets
One thing you can NEVER practice too much with Preschoolers is fine motor strength! This is such a crucial skill for our littlest learners in order for them to complete basic tasks both in school and out – think of holding a pencil, tying their shoes, even grasping a fork! But just because they’re important skills doesn’t mean they have to be difficult to practice!
Our NO PREP fine motor skills worksheets are a great resource to add to your Thanksgiving activities collection. Included you’ll find 25 NO PREP practice pages for children to practice tracing, cutting, gluing, coloring, sorting, and so much more! Plus they make fantastic crafts and keepsakes!
Puzzles and Matching Bins
Want to test out sensory bins with your Preschool but not really sure where to begin? Our puzzles and matching mats are a perfect place to start! This set includes 3 puzzles and 3 matching mats. To play, children choose picture cards from their sensory bin and match them to their mat to cover all the pictures or complete the puzzles. This is a great, low-pressure way to explore sensory bin activities without adding academic skills for children who aren’t ready yet.
Thanksgiving Sensory Bins
Alright, y’all. If you can’t already tell, we love Thanksgiving theme sensory bins so much. Like, SO MUCH. In fact, I have an entire blog post dedicated to our favorite Thanksgiving sensory bins. Ha! So click the link below to head over to that post for TONS of fun ideas!
Math and Literacy Worksheets
One of our favorite activities each month are our themed worksheets. Using worksheets with preschoolers may sound a little odd, but LG LOVES these practice pages! All of the pages include coloring, cutting, gluing, tracing, and more! That way your kiddos are combining fine motor skills practice with academic skills! With 35+ practice pages, this NO PREP set of Thanksgiving activities is a lifesaver!
Craft and Fine Motor Ideas
No theme is complete without crafts and fine motor activities! We love Thanksgiving crafts SO much, I wrote an entire blog post dedicated to all of our favorites. You’ll find fun Thanksgiving activities like pumpkin painting, play dough trays, a turkey building tray, and SO much more! Read all about them on the blog using the button below!
Let’s Hang Out!
Well friends, I hope these activities help you with planning out your Thanksgiving Preschool theme! If you have any questions or would like to chat more about Preschool fun, you can find me below!
SAVE THIS POST FOR LATER!
Was this post about our favorite Thanksgiving activities for Preschool children helpful? Make sure you can come back to this post as much as you need by saving it for later on Pinterest! Click the image below to save this pin to your November theme boards! Then, CLICK HERE to read about more of our favorite November activities!
great grab and go resources for this month