Cool Resources for Kids and Thanksgiving

15 FREE Resources Exploring “Thanksgiving”

Sharing Thanksgiving with Young Learners

Thanksgiving is a time for family, faith and remembering our history. This post contains some shortcuts to help share the holiday with children.

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Online Books

There are so many read alouds published on YouTube written and produced for young learners. To keep this post short I only picked a couple of my favorites. For more check out these 50 Thanksgiving Picture Book Collection for kids.

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Every year I share this book with my class. Then before our Thanksgiving break we host a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving feast, as it happens in the book.

Pete the Cat: The First Thanksgiving

Kids love Pete the Cat and in this book Pete explores Thanksgiving through some play.

The Pilgrim’s First Thanksgiving

This book tells of the voyage of the Mayflower and the difficulties encountered by the Pilgrims during their first year. It also shares how they celebrated their first harvest.

Thanksgiving Vidoes

I could spend hours watching all the amazing content about Thanksgiving. History, songs, modern, nostalgic – there is so much! Here are a few picks I find helpful when time is limited.

Pilgrim Life with Scholastic News

“This video explores the chores and games of Pilgrim children in the 1620s.” – Excerpt Scholastic News

The Wampanoag Way

“The Wampanoag are a Native American tribe from the northeastern United States. They were there when the Pilgrims arrived in 1620 and they are still there today. Learn about their lives long ago by meeting two modern-day Wampanoag girls.” – Excerpt Scholastic

The Story of Thanksgiving

This cartoon is short and entertaining. Kids from Kindergarten to adults will find it fun.

The First Thanksgiving

As with all videos, it is important to pre-watch anything before sharing with your little ones. This video shows the reality of what happened from a young girls experience. Death was a part of the Pilgrims experience.

Fun Facts About Turkey’s

“Jessi and Squeaks learn some amazing turkey facts, from the sounds they make to what their poop looks like!” – Excerpt SciShow Kids

This video is fun and kids will enjoy. SciShow Kids is one of my favorites!

BONUS Videos

We have to add a few cool Thanksgiving music videos and one from Rob our children’s online art instructor.

Thanksgiving Feast

10 Little Turkey’s

Thank you Thanksgiving!

How to Draw Cartoon Pilgrim’s (boy and girl)

Printable Resources

The last few resources are from some of my peers at Teacher Pay Teacher. Even if you are not a traditional classroom teacher, any caregiver can download free and/or purchase these teachers created resources from the TpT website.

Cranberry Experiment

“This freebie includes 2 different recording sheets for cranberry experiments. One is a cranberry sink or float and one is a cranberry bounce experiment. Your students can make a prediction, then draw/write the results after performing the experiment. These activities are perfect for science time right before Thanksgiving!” – Excerpt Josie’s Classroom

Unplugged Coding

“These screen free Thanksgiving themed coding activities are great for beginners to learn the basics of directional coding and computational thinking. There are 7 different ready to print activities that have students follow directional codes and create their own program using arrows. Use these activities as a STEM center or for independent work as an introduction to coding. These activities are a great way for students to participate in the Hour of Code™ and beyond without using technology.” – Excerpt Rosie’s Superstars