Thanksgiving Themed Preschool Activities

Gobble Gobble Wibble Wobble Do the Turkey Dance!!! It's turkey time!!! Turkey and Thanksgiving themed activities are so much fun and I am sharing all about the 20+ Thanksgiving activities you can find in my Thanksgiving Preschool unit and are perfect for toddlers, preschoolers, and early elementary aged students.

Here is a calendar of all of the activities included and a general breakdown of how you can use them, but as with all Play & Learn Preschool units, you can do all the activities or just some and can do them in one week or spread out over the course of several. You do what works best for your children and family.

Thanksgiving Themed Preschool Activities Calendar

One of the things we love to do for each Preschool unit is read fun and engaging picture books that match our theme. The activities in the Thanksgiving Preschool unit are not based on any specific book so you can choose any book or books to read each day. The calendar includes some suggestions, but you can check out more Thanksgiving Picture books here.

Thanksgiving Sensory Play

Turkey Playdough Tray: This was one of my absolute favorite activities. Seeing the turkeys they came up with had me laughing for hours.

Thanksgiving Letter, Number, Shape & Color Activities

Feather Writing: These kinds of trays are always a big hit with kids. For this writing tray, I added some colored salt that I had colored years ago and the letter and number cards from the unit and then the kids practiced writing with a feather.

Feather Tracing: For this activity I wrote a capital and lowercase Tt on a piece of paper and then the kids used feathers to trace the letter.

Thanksgiving Turkey Feather SHape Sorting Activity

Turkey Feather Shape Sort: This is one of my favorite activities from the unit. The shape turkeys are the cutest. Each of the bodies are a different shape and then the feathers have real-life objects on them that are shaped like a specific shape. Kids match the real-life shape to the shape body.

Corn Painted Shapes: We love using fun materials to paint with around here (see our mess free jingle belly painting here) so for Thanksgiving we brought out the corn kernels and paint and used them to paint our shapes. Simply dip some corn kernels in the paint and lay them on the paper and shake it back and forth to move the paint.

Thanksgiving Fine Motor & Gross Motor Activities

Contact Paper Turkey Feather Letters, Numbers, Shapes, & Colors: This one was a huge hit. Simply stick some contact paper to the wall with tape, sticky side out and then use the turkey feathers and turkey body from the activity pack to review letters, numbers, and colors. Pick a feather, identify the skill, and place it on the turkey.

Thanksgiving Number Sense & Counting Activities

Turkey Feather Counting Cards: This another of my favorites and one of my little guys favorite activities from the unit as well. The cards have the number and number word on them and you can use feathers to count out the corresponding amount.

Corn Kernel Counting Mat: Counting mats are a great way to practice counting and number identification. Simply change the numbers at the top of the page and use corn kernels to count out the corresponding amount.

Pumpkin Pie Cool Whip Counting: This mat is just like the corn kernels counting mat, but instead of corn you are putting dallops of "whipped" cream onto the pumpkin pie.

Roll & Count Feathers: This activity was a fun one and can be played in a variety of ways. Use dice (we like to use our large differentiated learning cubes to make it more fun) and then use tweezers to pick up and count out the corresponding number of feathers. You can even have two dice and have your child add the numbers together and count out the correct number of feathers. Not only are you counting, but if you use feathers you add in a fine motor component. (The learning cubes link is an affiliate link which means that if you purchase from the link I get a small commission at no cost to you.)

Thanksgiving Art, Crafts, Science Activities

Paper Bag Turkey: This guy was fun to make. The kids cut out their feathers from colorful construction paper, glue on our large googly eyes, a nose, and a snood.

Magazine Search Thanksgiving Dinner Plate: I love keeping old grocery flyers and magazines for different projects. This activity has the kids finding different items you might eat on Thanksgiving, cutting them out, and gluing them to a paper plate.

Invitation to Create Paper Turkeys: We love invitation to create activities. I cut out all the parts and had them on a tray for the kids and they they put them together to create their own turkeys.

Patchwork Quilt Place mats: This one was a fun one and my kids asked to do it again. You can use scrapbook paper, construction paper or you can print off a design you want your children to color and then have them arrange them. We took our rectangles and then glued them to a piece of construction paper to make a border. You can laminate them or use contact paper to make them spill resistant and use them as place mats for your Thanksgiving tables.

Thanksgiving Themed Math Activities

Measuring-Thankful For You Gifts: For this activity, you will spend time in the kitchen with your kids, having them help you measure for a special gift that you will gift to someone else to say thank you. There are so many opportunities for learning when you cook together. We made bread for friends and used the "Thankful for you" tags from the activity pack when we wrapped them up.

Feather Patterns: This activity has feather pattern cards included, I just didn't grab a picture. The child will take a pattern card and then use colored feathers to replicate and extend the pattern on the card.

Missing Numbers Turkey Feathers: For this activity, you will laminate the activity page or slip it into a reusable dry erase pocket and then write a series of numbers on the feathers, leaving some out. The child will fill in the missing numbers.

Race to Fill the Turkey Dice Roll Game: This activity is a fun one that you can play alongside your child. Start by making two cups look like turkeys. Have two dice and some pom poms handy. Each of you will roll the die and then add the corresponding number of pom poms to their cup. You will continue until your turkey is stuffed. To make it fair, be sure to use the same sized pom poms.

Thanksgiving Themed Literacy Activities

Pumpkin Pie Syllable Cards: Identify the number of syllables in a word is important and helps when learning to spell later on. The pumpkin pie syllable cards each have a picture on them. The child will say the name of the picture and then use cotton ball "whipped cream" to count out the number of syllables in each word, one whipped cream dollop for each syllable.

Word Family Turkeys: For this activity you will need clothespins and the word family turkeys. Start by writing a bunch of word family words on clothespins and mixing them up. The child will pick a clothespin, read the word, and find the correct word family turkey to clip it to in order to give the turkey "feathers."

Turkey Rhyme Waddle: My active little guy loves anything that gets him up and moving. For this activity, you will pick one of the Turkey Rhyme Waddle cards, say the name of the picture on the card, and then as your child is waddling around and flapping their wings like a turkey, they will say words that rhyme with the picture on the card.

Find & Cover Beginning Sounds: For this activity you will need playdough and feathers and the activity sheet. Children will point to a picture, identify the beginning sound and then cover it with a ball of playdough if they get it correct. For added fun, they can stick a feather in it to look like you are giving the turkey feathers.

Thanksgiving Themed Journal Activities

Journal Activities & Narration: The journal activities can be done a variety of ways. Instructions are provided to create these yourself in a notebook, or you can simply print out the sheets from the activity pack that have been provided for you and use those. These activities are included as the Day 5 activities, but you could also spread them out throughout the week. For the weekly narration, you can have your child retell one of the books you read from the week and then draw a picture to match.