Turkey Projects, Crafts, and Games for Kids
Thanksgiving Ideas for Primary Classroom Lesson Plans and Parties
Nov 24, 2008
Elementary students start to get antsy and lose focus as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches. Teachers can capitalize on their turkey fever by planning lessons and projects with a Thanksgiving theme. Students are more motivated to learn and absorb new information when they are having fun.
How to Make a Handprint and Footprint Turkey
Students can create a turkey made out of their handprints or footprints. On a large piece of paper students use different colored washable paints to make a half circle of hand or foot prints.
Then the students draw a bowling pin shaped turkey body on a piece of brown construction paper and cut it out. The turkey body is glued onto the colored prints which become the turkey feathers.
Googly eyes and a felt or construction paper beak can be used to complete the turkey face. On the body students can write what they are thankful for, a Thanksgiving poem, or even paste a photo of themselves with their name and the date.
How to Make a Turkey Handprint T-Shirt
Primary kids of all ages can create a simple, personalized T-shirt to wear on Thanksgiving. Each student traces their hand on a sponge and cuts it out. The handprint becomes the body of the turkey and fabric paint is brushed onto the sponge hand.
The students press the painted sponges onto clean T-shirts and then wash the sponges out. Buttons for eyes and a felt beak can be glued onto the turkey with washable fabric paint.
Older students or adults can write the students’ names or a Thanksgiving saying under the handprint turkey. The shirts should be allowed to dry for 24 hours before being worn.
How to Make Thanksgiving Bingo
Teachers can use Thanksgiving themed words or pictures to create a quick and easy Bingo game for elementary students. Students learn and practice the spelling and meaning of vocabulary words while playing a Thanksgiving game.
The teacher can make the game by writing thirty Thanksgiving words on the whiteboard and having students fill them in on a blank board or using clip art to create cards on the computer.
Kindergarten Turkey Hunt and Gather Graphs
Nicole Franklin, of Middleburg, FL, uses a hide-and-seek style turkey game to teach Kindergarten students math skills. She hides orange, purple, blue, yellow, and green die cut turkeys around the classroom and invites the students to go on a turkey hunt to find them.
The students bring the turkeys to the front of the room where Mrs. Franklin has them practice sorting by color and then graphing the results of the hunt on a bar graph. Gathering the turkeys becomes a fun and valuable math lesson.
Indian Corn Craft
Elementary teachers can jazz up a lesson on the first Thanksgiving by having students make an Indian corn craft. The students cut a cob out of yellow cardstock and glue un-popped popcorn kernels onto it.
The teacher can then use Thanksgiving picture books to show and discuss the colors of Indian corn and how it looks different than the corn on the cob kids may eat in the summer. The students demonstrate their new knowledge by painting the popcorn to look like Indian corn.
Fast and fun Thanksgiving themed crafts and games help elementary teachers capture students’ interest in the weeks before the holiday.
