Inside: A ton of different Thanksgiving activities you can use in first grade! Plus some cute turkey clip art.
This year I did a few different Thanksgiving activities in my Grade 1 class and I wanted to share them, ’cause every single one of them was fun and educationally worthwhile!
Thanksgiving Math:
We did a couple of different turkey math activities. The one below is a dice game called Roll a Feather. I can’t remember where I originally got it, so I grabbed a turkey from My Cute Graphics and made up a copy for you. The kids LOVE it!
They roll two dice, add the numbers and colour the corresponding turkey feather. The game keeps going until one player has coloured all the feathers. It’s a good one for subitizing and addition.
DOWNLOAD: Roll a Feather Turkey Math Game
Then we did some turkey feather patterning. We’ve been working on different patterns all week so this was a great culmination. I found this idea on Parents. They used it as a turkey hat but we didn’t have time for that. I also decided to switch it up by having the kids paint patterns for the feathers.
As you can see, you just cut a paper plate in half then add the various paper parts to complete the turkey. It took a little time to prep (I pre-cut the brown body, the legs, and yellow face. I already had a pattern for the eyes and beak which the kids coloured and cut out. They made their own snoods.) About half the class needed help accordion-folding the legs, too. But despite the prep involved, it was a very worthwhile activity.
Bump games are always popular. Here’s one with a cute turkey so your kids can practice their addition to 12.
DOWNLOAD: Turkey Bump, A Thanksgiving Math Game
Turkey Books:
We also made these super cute turkey books. On each page the kids drew a picture of something they’re grateful for. This is a freebie I got from The Creative Classroom on TPT and I absolutely love it!! Thank you, Ashlynn.
To see some of the Thanksgiving activities we’ve done in previous years, be sure to check the following links:
An assortment of Thanksgiving ideas, including lots of books, art and writing.
Some Long Legged Turkeys from Deanna Jump. These were a big hit!
BTW, I also have some very cute turkey clip art!
We make the paper plate turkeys as a headband. Love your idea of painting the tail feathers (we have just used crayons, but the paint looks pretty impressive).
Thanks, Sandi! I wanted to make the headbands … they're so darn cute … but I just didn't give myself enough time:) Hope your Thanksgiving was lovely!
I'm a little late, but Happy Thanksgiving Barb. 🙂
Thanks very much, Tammy!!