A simple way to spice up your homeschooling routine is by celebrating the holidays. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to incorporate holiday-themed learning activities into your homeschool.
We all know the newness of a brand new school year has worn off by now. It’s time to switch things up, keep your learning fresh, and enjoy all that the season has to offer. P.S. Your kids will thank you!
Adding Thanksgiving Activities into Your Homeschool Routine
You don’t need to overhaul your curriculum, or even order special resources to incorporate Thanksgiving into your regular learning. Below is an example of simple and free ways you might do this with an elementary student.
Ideas for Thanksgiving Learning Activities
1-Thanksgiving Art Lessons
Use a draw along tutorial from Art for Kids Hub. They offer plenty of choices like drawing a pumpkin pie, drawing a turkey, or even just a turkey leg. You can display the artwork throughout your home, or bring to the family Thanksgiving celebration to help decorate.
Another idea is to simply provide a selection of coloring pages and let your student choose one to color during read-aloud time. Monday Mandala offers 50+ Thanksgiving-themed coloring pages for free download.
2-Thanksgiving Music Lessons
Listen to and learn the hymn We Gather Together. We learned this hymn during our Morning Time hymn study.
3-Thanksgiving Reading Lessons
Substitute your regular readers or family read-aloud for amazing Thanksgiving picture books. Some of our favorites include:
- Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende & Harry Devlin
- Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson
- A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting
- Sharing the Bread: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Story by Pat Zietlow Miller
- Sarah Morton’s Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl by Kate Waters
4-Thanksgiving Science Lessons
Choose a science experiment that uses foods you may already have for Thanksgiving meal, like cranberries. The Homeschool Scientist has some great ideas.
5-Thanksgiving Math Lessons
You can find a boatload of free math worksheets online that have fall or Thanksgiving themes. Math-drills.com has a nice selection. Simply find a few that align with your student’s current curriculum and swap.
6-Thanksgiving History Lessons
Take a break from your history curriculum and use children’s picture books to learn about the history of Thanksgiving, how it became a holiday, etc. The First Thanksgiving by Jean Craighead George has wonderful illustrations by Thomas Locker.
Of course, any book you read may not provide the most accurate depiction of the first Thanksgiving. Children’s books often provide an overview that doesn’t delve into all the details. It’s a good idea to pre-read books and you can always have a larger conversation with your child afterwards if you see fit.
Also, just for fun, my kids enjoy watching the Peanuts’ This is America Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.
7-Thanksgiving Handwriting Lessons
Give your student some copy work using a couple of lines from a favorite holiday picture book. Or, have your student keep a gratitude sheet. Each day, they can write a few things they are thankful for.
8-Thanksgiving Bible & Character Lessons
November is a great month to focus on gratitude. Family activities might include keeping a family gratitude journal. One year we made a thankfulness tree similar to the one pictured here at Our Days Outside.
You might also be interested in these articles: How to Cultivate Gratitude in Homeschool and Family Life and Gratitude Isn’t Just for November.
Additionally, Read-Aloud Revival has a great list of books that help cultivate gratitude. You might also take a look at the Generous Students Homeschool Curriculum Kit. You can take the focus of gratitude and really delve into the topic. It’s perfect for using in your Morning Time, like we did.
Thanksgiving Activities Pack for Kids and Families
Need to save time? Get a ready-to-go packet of activities you can use over the next few weeks. This 13-page packet includes:
- Math worksheets
- Thanksgiving trivia
- Weekly Gratitude Journal
- Thanksgiving conversation starters
- Thanksgiving trivia
- Thanksgiving scavenger hunt
- Thankful acrostic worksheet
- Fall-themed colorable bookmarks
Conclusion
Don’t be afraid to change up your homeschool during the holiday season. Thanksgiving is a fantastic opportunity to incorporate themes like thankfulness, family and generosity into your homeschool. Whether you search for your own free resources or take advantage of my FREE family activity pack, I hope your holiday homeschooling is filled with rich memories that bring your family closer together.
