The time changes, the holidays approach, and all of a sudden, your toddlers have been reprogrammed to crazy mode. But don’t worry. These Thanksgiving math activities will keep them engaged and under control during the month November.
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Thanksgiving Lesson plans
Stuff the Turkey
Turkey Counting Activity
🦃 Stuffing is my favorite Thanksgiving food.
Just give me a plate full of stuffing. Maybe a roll or two. And I will be perfectly happy. Oh, and we can’t forget the chocolate pie. 🥧
And just as much as I love stuffing, your preschoolers will love stuffing the turkey with pompoms!
There’s something satisfying about the vibrant colors, the soft, fluffy pompoms, filling up the turkey cup, and dumping it out that your little ones will love.
Plus, you’ll love that they are identifying numbers, working on one-to-one correspondence, and color identification with this turkey counting activity!
Materials:
- Stuff the Turkey
- brown, orange, black, and yellow pompoms
- tub
- cups
Measure the Mayflower
Non-Standard Measurement Activity
🤔 Have you visited the Mayflower 2 or Plimouth Plantation?
You literally get transported back to 1609 when the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, and it is amazing. It is a living museum. The actors never drop character and are living like Pilgrims.
😁 I am taking my kids there next summer, and I’m so excited! No books can do what these places do. They will be immersed in history.
So that means I have a job to do: build that background knowledge. If they know a little bit about the Pilgrims, they will be even more excited to actually see them.
It’s like seeing your favorite princess at Disney. It’s only fun seeing Elsa because we’ve seen Frozen, oh, about 200 times. So we feel like we know her.
And that means some fun and engaging Pilgrim activities.
In this activity, we measured different objects on the Mayflower using a barrel ruler. There’s counting, non-standard measurement, building vocabulary, and background knowledge! Perfect for my mission!
Materials:
The First Thanksgiving
Counting Activity
🦃 Does Thanksgiving dinner happen at one big table for your family?
I have 5 siblings, plus parents, nieces, nephews, grandparents, and we simply have never fit at a table together.
Honestly, I still enjoy sitting at the kiddie table. It’s way more interesting than, “What’s new with you?” And no one cares when I only eat stuffing and chocolate pie.
In this next Thanksgiving math activity, all of the people can gather around 1 long table. Flip a card and clip the corresponding number of people onto the table for some counting and fine motor practice.
Easy as chocolate pie.
Materials:
- The First Thanksgiving Counting Activity
- clothespins
Turkey Facts
Thanksgiving Math Activities
I can’t get enough of these turkeys!
They are so cute, I could just gobble them up. See what I did there.
But they are also great for practicing so many different skills!
Use the numbered turkeys as a simple fine motor counting activity. Or you can use the addition facts to introduce adding. Clip the corresponding number of clothespins onto each side of the turkey, and then count to find the total. And finally, there are even pattern turkeys to work on continuing patterns.
Materials:
Turkey Casserole
Counting Sensory Bin
Proud mommy moment: my daughter made up this song! Looks like she is learning from the pro!
With this Thanksgiving counting sensory bin, the kids couldn’t wait to dig their hands into it. That’s usually how it goes with sensory bins.
Using the recipe cards, first scoop the corresponding cups of stuffing into the pot. Then, count the pieces of turkey (tan pattern blocks), peas (green pompoms), and kernels of corn (vegetable counters) into the pot. Finally, stir up the turkey casserole while singing the song.
Dump it out and play again!
Materials:
- Turkey Casserole
- sensory bin filled with brown beads or rice
- green pompoms
- corn counters
- tan pattern blocks
- small pot
- ladle
- measuring cup
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MORE Thanksgiving Activities for Preschoolers
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