Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It evokes special memories of our whole family gathering at grandma’s house, crisp fall air, feasting on dinner rolls and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, and pretending like I could throw and kick a football with my cousins. However, it also provided a fantastic opportunity for homeschooling families to celebrate, learn, and create memories together. And, unlike many other holidays, the entire point of the day is gratitude.

From history lessons to arts and crafts, there are so many ways to bring the spirit of Thanksgiving into your homeschool routine. Here are six of my favorite fun and engaging Thanksgiving-themed activities that will inspire creativity, learning, and thankfulness! These ideas work well for kids as young as preschool through middle school!

1. Thankfulness Tree

This is a simple yet meaningful project that helps children reflect on what they are grateful for! If you enjoy doing this project, this is a wonderful thing to make a family tradition year after year.

What you’ll need: Construction paper (I suggest brown, orange, yellow, and red), scissors, markers, and glue.

Instructions: Cut out a tree trunk and branches from brown paper. You can make this as small or as big as you want! Then, have your child cut out leaves in fall colors. On each leaf, they can write or draw something they’re thankful for. Glue the leaves onto the tree and hang it up as a visual reminder of gratitude throughout the season.

Our family makes this part of our dinner time together, and each of us adds a leaf (or two or three) each day. By Thanksgiving, our tree is packed with things we are thankful for! And you would be surprised—instead of running out of things as the days go on, it seems easier to find more things to be thankful for. (And bonus: this is great practice for fine motor skills for young children, and helps with emotional development, too, as they learn to express gratitude.)

2. Turkey Cards

Make fun Thanksgiving-themed cards for friends, family, or neighbors!

What you’ll need: Construction paper (I recommend brown, yellow, red, and green), markers, googly eyes (optional).

Instructions: Trace your child’s hand on a piece of brown construction paper. Using the thumb, draw a beak and glue a googly eye (or simply draw an eye) to form the turkey’s head. You can draw legs, or use yellow construction paper to cut out legs, depending on your child’s age and ability. Using the other colors, create feathers around the child’s other fingers to finish your bird. Write a note on the back for the intended recipient! You can also laminate it as a keepsake if you prefer.

This activity is great for practicing fine motor skills and using creativity. My kids love to make a bunch of turkey cards with their friends and take them to a nursing home that is near us (sometimes along with some homemade cookies) to brighten other people’s day!

3. “I Am Thankful” Writing Prompts

If you have older children who are writing independently, dive deeper into the meaning of Thanksgiving by reflecting on what they’re thankful for in written form.

What you’ll need: Lined paper, pencils, and optional decorative materials (like stickers or fall-themed paper).

Instructions: Provide your students with writing prompts such as, “I am thankful for…,” “If I could invite anyone to Thanksgiving dinner, I’d choose…,” or “My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is. . .because. . .”. Encourage them to use complete sentences with proper grammar and punctuation! If your child enjoys drawing, it can be fun to illustrate their answers as well.

This activity requires slowing down and encourages a mindset of gratitude, while also improving writing skills. If you have the time, it can be fun to let your younger children narrate their answers while you transcribe their response!

Alternatively, have your students create a gratitude journal. In a notebook, have them write down three things they are thankful for each day. They can get creative by decorating the pages with drawings, stickers, or colored pens!

4. Thanksgiving-themed STEM Challenges (3rd-6th Grade)

Combine creativity with engineering and problem-solving skills with these STEM challenges that have a Thanksgiving twist.

Challenge 1: Mayflower Boat Build

Using aluminum foil, straws, craft sticks, tape, and glue, children can design their own “Mayflower” boat. Once complete, place pennies or other small objects into their boats and into a tub or sink of water to see how they float! (Bonus: talk to your kids about buoyancy during this project!)

Challenge 2: Pumpkin Catapult

Provide popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and spoons to create a small catapult. Then, all the builders can launch mini pumpkins (or other small objects) and measure the distance of each throw. Whoever’s catapult launches the furthest wins! This reinforces basic physics concepts and is a perfect example of simple machines.

Catapult made out of popsicle sticks

Challenge 3: Build a Turkey Cage

Using household items like pipe cleaners, toothpicks, cardboard, paperclips, and tape, have your children design and build a cage to “catch a turkey”. This blog post has detailed instructions on this activity, as well as paper turkeys you can print out. Your kids can try several different designs or methods to see which works best. It’s a great way to encourage problem solving and creativity!

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If you have fun with these, there are lots of other ideas all over the internet—Thanksgiving Parade Balloon Design, Turkey Feather Wind Experiment, Pumpkin Tower Challenge, Cranberry Structures, Turkey Rocket Race, and many more.

5. Thanksgiving History Unit Study

Delve into the historical significance of Thanksgiving by studying the Pilgrims, Native Americans, and the events leading up to the first Thanksgiving.

What you’ll need: This Thanksgiving unit study is a great guide if you don’t know where to start. Additionally, age-appropriate history books, articles, or online resources.

Instructions: Create a timeline of events starting with the Pilgrims leaving England, their journey on the Mayflower, the formation of the Mayflower Compact, and the first Thanksgiving feast with the Wampanoag tribe.

Create assignments based on what they are learning that fit your child’s educational level.

  • Your child could write a book report on their favorite Thanksgiving reading.
  • If you have a verbal/creative child, have them give a presentation about a specific aspect of Thanksgiving history (maybe even at your Thanksgiving dinner!).
  • If your students are younger, have them act out parts of the first Thanksgiving, from sailing on the Mayflower to planting corn, to the first Thanksgiving dinner.
  • You and your kids could research food that would have been served at the first Thanksgiving and make a meal (or just a few dishes) to try together as a family!
  • Perhaps your kids could even memorize a small portion of Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation!

6. Thanksgiving Read-Alouds

And of course, what better way to set the tone for learning about Thanksgiving than reading books! Here are some of my favorite read-aloud suggestions:

Pair these books with related activities, such as drawing scenes from the story or acting out parts of the book.

These fun and educational Thanksgiving activities will make your homeschool days memorable while encouraging creativity, critical thinking, and gratitude. No matter what grade your children are in, they’ll find joy and inspiration in celebrating the season of thankfulness through these enriching activities.