Part 2 of Playing Preschool with Busy Toddler: Thanksgiving Unit - 7 Days of Thankful Play

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This post is a continuation of a previous post: Thanksgiving Unit - Introduction to Thankfulness. If you haven't read it, start there.

We've been using Busy Toddler's Playing Preschool for our homeschool preschool curriculum again this year, but I thought we would take a week off for Thanksgiving to teach my preschooler about the importance of giving thanks, the history of Thanksgiving and some of the traditions we observe.

First we give thanks for the food we are given.

Then we give thanks for the houses we live in.

Then we give thanks for the sunshine above.

But mostly we give thanks for the people we love!

"Over The River and Through the Woods"

by Lydia Maria Child, 1844 (abridged and adapted)

Over the river and through the woods,

To grandmother's house we go;

The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh,

Through (the) white and drifted snow!

Over the river and through the woods,

Oh, how the wind does blow!

It stings the toes and bites the nose,

As over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the woods,

Now Grandmother’s cap I spy

Hooray for the fun! Is the pudding done?

Hooray for the pumpkin pie!

Shared Reading Thankful - Spinelli, Eileen

Talking Points: What does it mean to be thankful? How can we express gratitude?

Learning Activity: Create Busy Toddler’s Thankful Turkey and keep adding to it all month long by including the addition of a new feather into your calendar routine.

Easy Activity: Set up Busy Toddler’s Feed the Turkey. I found these burlap leaves at the dollar store but you could use the construction paper features from your "Thankful Turkey" or add craft feathers to decorate. You know this one was a hit when both my three-year-old and my 18-month-old wanted to play!

Book Substitutions:

Shared Reading: The Story of the Pilgrims - Ross, Katherine

Talking Points: Who were the pilgrims? What would it have been like to leave your home and settle in a faraway place?

Learning Activity: People associate the Pilgrims with the image of the buckle on their hat band, which is not historically correct, but makes for a fun game! Practice shapes with Little Family Fun’s Pilgrim Hat Buckle Shapes then let your child choose a buckle and add a band to wear it as a pilgrim hat!

Easy Activity: Make a boat out of a paper plate, craft sticks, glue, construction paper and paper towel/napkin for the sail to represent the Mayflower. If you don't have brown paint, let your child mix other colors to make it. Add pouch caps, buttons or dot stickers for the portholes.

Book Substitutions:

Shared Reading: Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving - Metaxas, Eric (religious themes)

Talking Points: Who was Squanto? What is the difference between a stranger and a neighbor? What would you have done (or felt) if you were Squanto?

Learning Activity: Using yellow and green construction paper, make several corn cobs and husks. Ask your child to roll a die (or pair of dice) and glue that many candy corns to the cob.

Easy Activity: Squanto taught the pilgrims how to plant corn. Set up Busy Toddler’s Dollar Store Scooping Station with dried corn or popcorn kernels. For a fun twist, try it with cookie cutters and fill in the shapes!

Book Substitutions:

Shared Reading: Pete the Cat: The First Thanksgiving - Dean, James

Talking Points: What was the first Thanksgiving? Who celebrated the first Thanksgiving?

Learning Activity: The Pilgrims wanted to show the Native Americans their gratitude. Help your child to write a letter/make a card to thank someone who has helped them, your family or the community in some way and give/mail it to them.

Easy Activity: Now it’s your child’s turn to help someone else! Donate food, toys or books to someone in need. Sponsor a Thanksgiving meal for another family. Sign up to buy items from another child's Christmas list. Volunteer to serve in a soup kitchen like in Last Stop on Market Street. Whatever you choose, involve your child in the process.

Book Substitutions:

Shared Reading: I Am Thankful - Wall, Sheri (diverse characters)

Talking Points: What is a tradition? What traditions do we have in our family? What are some Thanksgiving traditions (food, family, football, parade, turkey, pumpkin pie)?

Learning Activity: Host a Friendsgiving. Ask your child to set up a Thanksgiving dinner and invite their stuffed animal friends or dolls. Teach them how to set the table. Ask them what food will be on the menu and if you have a play kitchen, suggest that your child pretend to prepare/serve the meal. Extension: Prompt your child to ask each “guest” to share what they are grateful for.

Easy Activity: Glue eyes on a pear to make a turkey. Give your child golf tees and ask them to poke the golf tees in to give the turkey feathers. Draw or use construction paper to add a “gobbler”. If the pear won’t stand up, add to golf tees to the base to serve as “legs”.

Book Substitutions:

Shared Reading: Over the River and Through the Wood - Child, Lydia Maria

Talking Points: Thanksgiving is a time to be with family. Who is part of our family?

Learning Activity: Practice family members’ names with Busy Toddler’s Post-It Name Match. My son really enjoyed this one, especially the hide-and-seek aspect!

Easy Activity: Make a family tree. Draw the outline of a tree on butcher paper. Cut out pictures of family members' faces and let your child glue the photos to the tree. Ask them to think about who "goes together" on the same limb. This is a great way to familiarize them with people they don't see very often. Extension: Write the names of your extended family (or friends) on Post-its cut to look like leaves. As you read the names, hand them to your child to match them to the photos.

 Book Substitutions:

Shared Reading: Thanksgiving Treat - Stock, Catherine

Talking Points: What kind of food do we eat at Thanksgiving? How can you help prepare the meal and make it special?

Learning Activity: Practice filling glasses with ice using a scoop or tongs and pouring water out of a pitcher or carafe with Busy Toddler’s Rainbow Pouring Station. I used weighted glasses but you could use plastic cups. Make this their job on Thanksgiving Day!

Easy Activity: Make Busy Toddler’s Bread in a Bag to share at the Thanksgiving meal. Or to honor Native Americans, read Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story and/or find a recipe to make it.

Book Substitutions:

Shared Reading: This is the Turkey - Levine, Abby

Talking Points: Thanksgiving is sometimes called “Turkey Day” because eating turkey is some people’s favorite thing about the holiday. What is your favorite thing about Thanksgiving?

Learning Activity: Download the printable below. Using a dot marker, have your child poll everyone present as to their favorite Thanksgiving tradition. Help them tally the results and share!

Easy Activity: This one is dealer’s choice. Choose one or more activities that works best for your circumstances to help keep children engaged on the big day:

Book Substitutions:

Why should the preschoolers have all the fun? Here is an idea to keep older siblings entertained while they're out of school for a few days.

Shared Reading: Sarah Gives Thanks: How Thanksgiving Became a National Holiday - Allegra, Mike

Talking Points: What is a holiday? How did Thanksgiving become a holiday? (Optional: What are the origins of the Macy's Thanksgiving parade?)

Learning Activity: If you could make up your own holiday, what would it be? Write a letter to the President explaining when the holiday would take place and why it should be celebrated.

Easy Activity: Make invitations, decorations or food, then invite your family to help you celebrate the new holiday! Will there be a parade?

Additional Books:

I hope you enjoyed this week full of bookish gratitude with Busy's Toddler's activities! Stay tuned for more pairings of books and learning through play for upcoming holidays!

A printable version of this unit is available with your paid subscription. Click the link below to download the PDF.

Just a friendly reminder, this download is included with your paid subscription. If you would like to share it with a friend, please invite them to purchase a copy using this link: https://www.raisethemreading.com/post/playing-preschool-with-busy-toddler-thanksgiving-unit-7-days-of-thankfulness-traditions-turkey

While you're here, visit my website to shop my Thanksgiving Book Lists or browse and discover more books based on your child's interest.

Next up: Playing Preschool with Busy Toddler: Christmas Unit

See Also: Thanksgiving Unit - Introduction to Thankfulness, Playing Preschool with Busy Toddler: Halloween Unit, An Introduction to Playing Preschool with Busy Toddler