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!

Choice Boards and Project Activities for Thanksgiving

Use these student choice activities and projects to bolster math, writing, social studies, and reading skills while celebrating the holiday with gratitude.

Printable Thanksgiving Activities

Teach your students about Thanksgiving with these printables and worksheets. Includes paper weaving, a mini-book with art projects, and improving math skills by creating a spreadsheet of favorite Thanksgiving foods.

Thankgiving Lesson Plans

Our Lesson Plans will help students understand Thanksgiving with activities such as creating a landmark commemorating different points of view, and much more.

Social Studies & Thanksgiving Connected

Explore Thanksgiving connections using these social studies resources. Includes videos on how Thanksgiving became a national holiday, learning using Pilgrim Fact Cards, and background information.

Studying Colonial Times

Integrating information about Colonial times into your lessons will extend your students' understanding of Thanksgiving with a lesson that compares the first Thanksgiving dinner to dinner now, as well as a reading passage from Colonial times.

Thanksgiving Activity Packets

Use these themed activity packets to help students celebrate Thanksgiving with social studies, language arts, math, and more.

Art Activities for Thanksgiving

Incorporate Thanksgiving activities into art class by creating placemats to take home, making a dried bouquet of flowers or paper weaving.

Reading & Language Arts Activities for Thanksgiving

Choose from these activities to help students expand their knowledge. Includes a reading passage using compare and contrast, enrichment activities, web resources, and practicing writing skills by creating a dialogue and journal entries.

Thanksgiving Foods & Recipes

Use these resources to expand your teaching strategies and lessons on Thanksgiving with background information on Colonial recipes, as well as information on the first Thanksgiving dinner.

Teaching Native American Heritage

These resources will increase students' knowledge about Native Americans and enhance your teaching strategies through background information and activities. You can also explore more resources for Native American Heritage Month throughout the whole month of November.

Learning About the Pilgrims

Students will enjoy Learning About the Pilgrims with these resources containing background information, writing activities comparing Pilgrim children to today's children, and games.

Thanksgiving Videos for the Classroom

View our short videos about Thanksgiving and extend your students' knowledge with the extension activities prepared for each video.

Thanksgiving Slideshows

Browse our collection of slideshows to find resources to enhance your curriculum for the Thanksgiving holiday. Includes a printable book about the seasons, internet research that integrates math, and the turkey traditions at the White House.
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