Thanksgiving Classroom Activities, Printables and Worksheets

Celebrating Thanksgiving in the Classroom

Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November each year. The run-up to the Thanksgiving break is a great opportunity to celebrate and learn about this holiday with your class, and it can be so much fun. The main goal of teaching about Thanksgiving should be to help students develop an understanding of the history of the holiday and reinforce the important social-emotional concepts of gratitude, thankfulness, and empathy.

Explore the rich historical and cultural aspects of this American holiday with our Thanksgiving classroom activities, lessons, and printables. You can incorporate Thanksgiving across the curriculum with activities for reading, math, science, and social studies. There are arts & crafts projects with which your students can demonstrate their creativity, math worksheets so they can show their critical thinking skills, and activities for your students to show their vocabulary and reading capabilities.

For helpful suggestions and advice about teaching the history of the holiday in a way that is respectful to native peoples, check out Classroom Ideas for Teaching about Thanksgiving written by veteran teacher Crystalee Calderwood.

Fun Thanksgiving Classroom Activities

Incorporate Thanksgiving across your classroom with easy, fun, and creative activities for your students to enjoy. Students can choose from a range of fun math, social studies, and ELA activities with our choice boards, or get stuck into a Thanksgiving mini-project. Our Thanksgiving-themed activity packets for elementary and middle school grades are also a great way to introduce fun Thanksgiving activities that also incorporate reading, writing, and math skills, and everything you need is included in the packet, so you can simply print and go!