November and Thanksgiving Activities for Kindergarten

Happy November, friends! Does anyone else feel like this time of year flies by at lightning speed? I know for me, having multiple days off for Veterans Day, Election Day and Thanksgiving Family break, gives me only a few days to focus on my favorite holiday…Thanksgiving!! But there are so many cute, yet purposeful November and Thanksgiving Activities for Kindergarten, that it is hard to narrow it down!! Enjoy today’s post and feel free to comment with your own fun activities!

As I said before, with so many days off in November, I really only get to spend 1-2 weeks on Thanksgiving. There are so many choices and activities, that many times I try a new game or activity each year and keep my favorites. 🙂

We start our Thanksgiving study out with a talk about what holiday it is and the different ways each family celebrates it. We watch our Lets Find Out Scholastic Magazine videos, that share important details and information about how and why it started. It’s always fascinating to hear the different foods that each family eats as a tradition on this day.

Books to Read with a Thanksgiving Theme

There are several books that I love to read to my kids. Here are few of my favorites!

Turkey Trouble (This book is the perfect book to read, before giving out the Disguise a Turkey home/family project.)

Run Turkey Run

Twas’ the Night Before Thanksgiving

There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey

The Thankful Book

Skill Based Games

I love themed games that are purposeful and this game is no exception! This game can be differentiated with the different number counting mats, as well as the addition mat, for those students who are ready to add. You can view the game HERE. I let my kids use ‘real’ feathers with this game and the novelty is intriguing to all of my kids!

Here is another game that makes me hungry!! Another game for our math tubs, that allows for students to count using various representations. I include tweezers and white pom poms, which also gives the students a chance to work on their fine motor skills.

This is a fun game that kids love! Use plastic spoons or tweezers for additional fine motor support!

Here are a few other games and activities we do during our week of November activities! Art and Craft Projects

Who doesn’t love some fun turkey crafts?! I have 2 fun art projects that my kids love completing every year.

The first project is a turkey made with a simple brown body and coffee filter.

Have students:

1. Cut out turkey body.
2. Use standard markers to color and make designs on coffee filter.
3. Add water drops to coffee filter and allow water to spread, causing marker to blend and make a water color pattern. You can also run water directly onto filter. Unfold filter and lay out on paper towel to dry.
4. Glue turkey body to dried ‘watercolor’ filter and use markers to draw on eyes, beak, waddle and feet.
   

The next art project is more of a keepsake for parents and requires my assistance. And who doesn’t love a turkey handprint?!

I take this poem and write it on sentence strips. We practice reading this poem during our shared reading time, so the students become very familiar with it. I print out the poem and allow students to fill  in the missing sight words. Next, I call each student back to the art table, so I can paint their fingers and palm, which will be the body and feathers of the turkey. After the turkey dries, the students use sharpies to add the legs/feet, beak, waddle, and eyes. I then laminate it, so it becomes a ‘real’ keepsake and doesn’t wrinkle. The last step is having the student choose a pipe cleaner and beads, as the hanger for this keepsake Thanksgiving poem. I had so many request for this poem, that I have made it a freebie, with a variety of printing options. 🙂 Please share on social media and tag your friends! You can download it for free if you are a Kindergarten Chaos Exclusive Club Member. It’s free to join and then you have access to all the freebies in the Teacher’s Lounge. You can sign up here!

Disguise a Turkey Family Project

This family project is so much fun for the students, families and me!! I love to see the creativity that my students and families have used when disguising their turkeys. As I mentioned earlier in this post, there are several books that have a story line with the turkey trying to disguise himself, so he doesn’t become the main course! I send each student home with a plain turkey body, along with a letter for the parents, explaining the details of the project. The parents and students work on disguising the turkey, so he doesn’t become Thanksgiving dinner!! These turned out so cute…just check out some of these cute ones from years past. 🙂

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my teacher friends and supportive parents! I hope you have enjoyed reading about these fun November and Thanksgiving Activities for Kindergarten! Enjoy the freebie too!

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