The preschool years can be so much fun, but challenging too.
It can seem like they are never thankful for anything even though we work hard to teach them gratitude.
Thanksgiving is the perfect time to add a little more gratitude practice into your homeschool preschool. One way we do that is with Thankful Straws.
Grab 4 straws of 4 different colors so you end up with 16 straws. On a piece of paper, color a circle for each color straw you have. Then assign one of the thankful topics below to each color.
- Name a person you’re thankful for
- Name a thing you’re thankful for
- Name a place you’re thankful for
Then add the straws to a jar. Every morning in November, invite your child to draw a straw and use the color code of thankful topics to tell what they are thankful for.
So simple and a great way to practice gratitude throughout the year as well.
But not all of your Thanksgiving activities need to center around gratitude.
Our Favorite Thanksgiving Activities for Preschoolers
Alphabet Pie
You’ll need a pie plate and moveable letters.
Place the letters inside the pie plate and read the poem…
Tom Turkey likes to bake
Alphabet pie is his favorite to make
He adds some letters and makes their sounds
His pie is the best around
Now pick a letter from his pie
Then make the sound
Go ahead and give it a try
Invite your kiddo to do as the poem says until all the letters are gone.
Turkey Baster Races
This one is so much fun, even I spend hours playing with them.
Grab a turkey baster and a couple of feathers.
Start by showing your child how to use the turkey baster. It may take a little practice to learn how to squeeze it hard enough to make air come out.
Then give them a feather. Use the turkey baster to blast air on the feather to move it around.
We like to do feather races. We start at one end of the table and use the basters to move the feather to the other end.
Pluck the Feathers
This is a great math activity.
Grab a colander, some feathers, and dice. Place the feathers in the holes of the colander. We use this as our turkey.
Up the challenge, by having your child roll the dice twice, add the two numbers together, then pull that many feathers.
To help you out, I’ve created a simple 30 Day Gratitude Challenge Printable. Each person in your family should have their own printable. At dinner time or bedtime, let your kids write what they are thankful for that day. There is enough space on the printable to let your kids write what they are thankful for that day.
Younger kids can use the printable with prompts for each day. Even preschoolers can take on the challenge with the thank you prompts on the printable. Actually, I’m sending a copy to my daughter who has a 3-year old. The prompts are a simple way to stay focused on thankfulness all of November.
For, older kids and parents, I suggest writing at least 3 things you are thankful for each day. Once you sign up, you’ll receive an email with specific ideas for older kids.
Be sure to check back here (or sign up for our email updatesat the top of this post) throughout November for lots of great ideas to help you teach gratitude to your kids. For now, take the 30 Day Gratitude Challenge and get your free printables below.
Amanda Stockdale is on a mission to help families fall in love with their homeschool. She uses her 4 essentials to child-led learning framework to help homeschooling moms raise passionate learners while still finding some YOU time every single day. She is the creator of Learning Through Experiences: A Child-Led Curriculum and her signature course Raising Passionate Learners.
