Celebrate Thanksgiving with these children’s reading activities and crafts! We’ve put together seven ideas that are fun, engaging, and perfect for your holiday break. Kids will gobble up a whole lot of learning by practicing reading out loud, writing letters, and spelling words. Some activities can be adjusted for kindergarteners versus older elementary-age children. Thanksgiving presents a timely opportunity to talk about gratitude, friendship, and why we give thanks. These literacy activities will inspire children to express gratitude while they learn all about Thanksgiving and the fall season. As you prep for your family gatherings, try some of these Thanksgiving lessons to help kids build their reading skills and feast on learning!
7 Thanksgiving Reading Activities and Crafts for Kids
Thanksgiving Book Bingo
Complete as many reading activities as you can on your game board to try and win a Bingo! Create your own Bingo card and fill in the squares with different reading suggestions such as: Read a Thanksgiving book; Read out loud with a family member at bedtime; Read a new book; Read a book and learn a new word; Read a personalized children’s book; Read an ABC book about Native Americans. This Thanksgiving activity will motivate young kids to read all month long!
Gratitude Writing Prompt
Have your child answer the question, “Today I am grateful for…” and draw a picture based on their response. When they are done, hang their picture on the fridge. This activity helps children practice writing sentences and develop a greater sense of gratitude. Grateful children are often happier and more compassionate. Since gratitude is a learned behavior, this Thanksgiving prompt is a fun way to practice being thankful daily!
Pin the Turkey Word Activity
Find the correct words to describe Thanksgiving! For this reading activity, you’ll need to write words on paper feathers. Choose Thanksgiving-themed words like thanks, gratitude, food, pumpkin, turkey, table, corn, brown, and so on. Make sure to include some “wrong” words too like baseball, summer, purple, ocean, etc. Kids will read the words and select the appropriate words to describe Thanksgiving and the fall season. Then they’ll pin the Turkey with their word feather.
Turkey Name Craft
Create a handmade turkey with feathers that spell the child’s name! Make a Turkey body from a paper plate and construction paper. Cut out paper feathers and have the child draw one letter of their name on each feather. Attach the feathers to the paper plate to spell out their name. Kids can use this Thanksgiving craft to practice reading the letters one by one and writing their name.
Thanksgiving Word Scavenger Hunt
Find the hidden words, write them down, and decode the special Thanksgiving message! For this activity, you and your child will cut out paper turkeys. Then an adult will write different words on the turkeys and hide them around the house. On the count of three, the child will race to find the turkeys and write the words down. After finding them all, the child will sit down and try putting the words together in a sentence to discover the hidden message! Try a short sentence like: “I am grateful for my family” or “I am thankful for books.”
Fall Word Puzzles
Make your own word puzzles so kids can learn fall-themed words! Parents, you can start by creating the paper puzzles yourselves. Draw out puzzle pieces on a piece of paper horizontally so that each piece fits into the other. Then cut out each piece separately. Write a letter on each piece to spell out a word. Try short words for kindergarteners like fall, corn, leaf, rake, hay, and nut. For older elementary-age kids, try longer words like pumpkin, harvest, autumn, chestnut, and gourd. Your child will need to connect the puzzle pieces together correctly to spell their fall-themed word! This is a great Thanksgiving activity to help young children spell and discover new words.
Thanksgiving Dinner Menu Scramble
The Thanksgiving dinner menu is all jumbled! Can you put the dinner foods under their correct section? For this activity, kids can color their own menu template. Create sections, like there would be on a restaurant menu: Main Courses, Sides, Dessert. Cut out paper strips with lots of different foods such as green bean casserole, turkey, candied yams, macaroni and cheese, pumpkin pie, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes and so on. Kids will need to read the food and stick it to the right section on the menu. This is an interactive activity where children can pretend to host their own dinner party!
