35 Thanksgiving Activities to Use in Your Homeschool
It’s November! Some may want to skip straight to Christmas traditions and music this time of year (no judgement if that’s you.) However, I feel that that would be missing a pretty big opportunity to fully embrace Thanksgiving activities and the remaining beauty of autumn–especially for us homeschooling families! No matter what ages your homeschoolers are, there are so many fun ways to integrate Thanksgiving activities into your learning throughout November. Here are 35 Thanksgiving activities that you can use in your homeschool to celebrate this holiday, cultivate gratitude, and enjoy fall to the fullest! Below, you’ll find printable, Thanksgiving-themed worksheets, kid-friendly Thanksgiving recipes, ideas for exploring science of fall, hands-on Thanksgiving crafts, and so much more!
35 Thanksgiving Activities to Use in Your Homeschool
Thanksgiving Traditions & Growing Gratitude
Homeschooling families recognize the value of family traditions and grateful attitudes! The below activities can be used as a family to start new traditions and learn more about Thanksgiving, too!
Thanksgiving Traditions Around the World
Did you think Thanksgiving was only for Americans? As it turns out, many other countries have harvest celebrations, too! Learn about some of them with this printable booklet that can be enjoyed by kids of all ages!
Thankful Turkey Family Traditions
Focus on gratitude all month long with this printable, “Thankful Turkey” activity. It may just become your new family tradition.
Retelling the Story of the First Thanksgiving
This activity includes printable puppets which can be used to tell the story of the first Thanksgiving!
Family Gratitude Jars–A Simple Way to Practice Gratitude This Holiday Season
This idea is such a simple (AKA realistic) way to foster a spirit of gratitude in your home as Thanksgiving approaches.
This blogger writes about how she uses the acronym “PIE” when it comes to fostering a spirit of thankfulness in her kids! The blog post also includes more ideas for fostering gratitude through various crafts and activities.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Scavenger Hunt
Is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade one of your family’s favorite traditions? If so, grab this printable scavenger hunt to make it extra fun (and keep those little ones engaged while watching).
Top 10 Fall Activities (Plus Printables)
Looking for some hands-on, educational ways to enjoy the beauty of the season? Here’s a list of some of the top activities to enjoy and learn from as a family.
Thanksgiving Activities and Crafts
We always love hands-on learning, especially when a holiday is involved!
Beautiful 3D Thanksgiving Craft Card
This detailed, beautiful craft is great for older kids, teens (and adults too.) Gift it to the host of this year’s Thanksgiving feast or use is at decoration in your home!
Thanksgiving Turkey Paper Craft
This paper craft is fun for kids of most ages and results in a silly and decorative turkey.
Thanksgiving Turkey Headband Craft
This one is simple and classic–a great activity for little kids!
Easy Decorative Pumpkin Paper Bag
This easy pumpkin craft is the perfect “first craft” for Pre-K kids, but elementary-aged children will enjoy it as well.
Beautiful Fall Lantern Tutorial
I love crafts that you can use as decoration. This craft is fun for the whole family to make, and it makes a beautiful display when finished!
Who are you grateful for? This easy craft makes a wonderful gift-in-a-jar to pass along to friends and family. It comes with a printable tag and recipe for a polished finishing touch!
How to Make Corn Husk Dolls (with Free, Printable Instructions)
Corn husk dolls are part of early American history! Learn how to make them in celebration of Thanksgiving!
This cute, paper-bag craft includes two options to try!
Thanksgiving Sanity Tips for Homeschooling Parents
(These are just for you, homeschooling parent!)
Are You Ready to Deal with Math-Quizzing Relatives this Holiday Season?
We hope you’re not feeling the pressure of facing down the homeschooling skeptics of the family. But if you are, read this first!
10 Insanely Easy Ways to Homeschool Through the Holidays
Struggling with traditional academics during the busyness of the holiday season? Here are 10 ways to save some sanity.
10 Thanksgiving Crafts, Recipes, and Tips
This article has a little bit of everything when it comes to bringing Thanksgiving into your homeschool this year!
Early Learning Thanksgiving Activities
Looking for some Thanksgiving activities to help teach your younger learners? You’ll find a wide range in the links below!
Fall Sensory Bins for Preschoolers
Sensory bins are a wonderful way to engage your littlest homeschoolers! This article will show you how to make your own.
Thanksgiving Verb Tense Writing Worksheets
This printable activity focuses on verb tenses with Thanksgiving-inspired word choices!
Thanksgiving Adjectives: Read and Write Pack
This printable pack introduces your young reader/writing to adjectives with a Thanksgiving theme.
Fall Adjectives: Read and Write Pack
Expand upon your study of adjectives by printing out this fall-themed Read and Write Pack!
This printable learning pack includes a huge variety of activities for young learners (Pre-K- 1st grade)
Thanksgiving Nouns: Read and Write Pack
If you’re learning about nouns, check out this printable, Thanksgiving-themed pack!
Thanksgiving Parts of Speech Word Search
Reinforce your learning about parts of speech with this fun word search.
Free Printable Thanksgiving Math Game
This printable can be easily adapted for a wide range of math levels so that you can use it with all of the kids in your family!
STEM & STEAM Thanksgiving Activities
Use some of changes of the Thanksgiving season in these fascinating STEM & STEAM projects!
Cranberry Raft Engineering Challenge
! In this open-ended engineering design challenge, they will build a raft using cranberries and test to see how much weight the raft can hold without sinking.
Fall and Thanksgiving STEM Activities
This article includes a whole list of fun fall and thanksgiving STEM activities to try out at home!
30 Engaging Pumpkin STEM Activities
Got some pumpkins at home? Check out 30 different ways you can use them for STEM related learning.
This study shows you how you can use observation of fall leaves in both art and science.
Why Do Leaves Change Color in Fall?
This article comes with a scientific explanation of this beautiful phenomena, a science activity to try at home, and free, 20+ page printable to use as you explore this topic!
It’s Fall, Yall! 2 Art + Science Leaf Experiments!
This article shows you how to engage your learners in art and science as you study the beauty of autumn this Thanksgiving season.
Thanksgiving Learning In the Kitchen
Homeschooling families know that so much learning happens in the kitchen. Obviously, a lot of cooking needs to happen in the kitchen around Thanksgiving, too! Here are some kid-friendly recipes to try this Thanksgiving.
I love to have the kids help out when they can and baking is a great way to include them. Get ready for Thanksgiving and make these adorable turkey sugar cookies together!
Melt in Your Mouth Turkey Tenderloins
This recipe is simple enough to make with your young kids. It also makes a nice alternative to a huge turkey if you are keeping things simple this year.
Kid-Friendly Rolo Tukey Treats
Kids of all ages will love making these sweet, little turkey-inspired treats!
Cute and Easy Thanksgiving Dessert: Turkey Cupcakes
Cupcakes are always a win with kids. (These look like turkeys and have Reese’s, so they win even more!)
This recipe is fun, different and will 100% appeal to all of the Harry Potter fans in the family.
