Thanksgiving is celebrated in Canada on the second Monday in October in order to give thanks for a bountiful harvest.
In the United States of America, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November and commemorates a feast in 1621 that the Pilgrims shared with Native Americans since they had taught them to plants crops and hunt wild game. In both countries a feast is held in order to express gratitude and appreciation for the good things that have occurred in the past year.
Discuss with preschool aged children the story of Thanksgiving, the spirit of thankfulness, and the symbols associated with Thanksgiving. Some traditional Thanksgiving symbols include turkeys, Indian corn, pilgrims, autumn leaves, and cornucopia. A good Thanksgiving lesson plan includes activities in a variety of areas of development. The following activities focus on fine and gross motor development.
Thanksgiving Fine Motor Activities for Preschoolers
Fine motor skills are those that involve small muscle movements like those in the fingers in coordination with the eyes.
Native American Necklaces
Let children lace beads, macaroni, straw pieces to make Native American necklaces. Alternatively students can string cranberries to make cranberry necklaces. Lacing and sewing activities support fine motor development.
Turkey Feather Activity
Materials needed:
- Coffee filters (one per child)
- Brown turkeys cut from brown construction paper (one per child)
- Markers and crayons
- Tape
Have students flatten coffee filters and decorate them (both sides) with markers or crayons. Show children how to fold and tape the coffee filters to the back of the turkey to create feathers. This activity helps children develop strengthens hands and fingers and helps little hands become more agile.
Autumn Leaf Connect the Dots
Using a pencil, students can use a dot to dot worksheet such as the one offered by abcteach.com to create and color an autumn leaf. This is not only a fine motor activity which allows children to develop appropriate pencil grasp, but also a cognitive activity for those children who can count to ten.
Thanksgiving Finger Puppets
Using Thanksgiving finger puppets can create their own finger plays and songs about Thanksgiving. Playing with finger puppets help children develop strength and dexterity in their hands and fingers. If using turkeys, try “Five Fat Turkeys” [Step by Step Childcare, 2008].
Five fat turkeys were sitting on a fence.
The first one said, 'I'm so immense.'
The second one said, 'I can gobble at you.'
The third one said, 'I can gobble, too.'
The fourth one said, 'I can spread my tail.'
The fifth one said, 'Don't catch it on a nail.'
A farmer came along and stopped to say
'Turkeys look best on Thanksgiving Day.'
Thanksgiving Gross Motor Activities
According to the Encyclopedia of Children’s Health [Gale, 2005], gross motor skills are the abilities required in order to control the large muscles of the body.
- Decorate a box like a turkey and cut a hole where the turkey’s mouth should be. Then let children toss beanbags into the turkey’s mouth.
- Play Native American music and let the children dance.
- Turkey bowling is always fun. Decorate many two-liter soda bottles to look like a turkey. Paint it brown then glue on a turkey face and feathers. Partially fill each turkey with sand. Then let children take turns knocking over the turkeys with a small ball.
- Teach the turkey strut. Tape turkey footprints all over the floor and play some music. Children can pretend to be strutting turkeys. Stop the music, and have the turkeys find footprints to stand on (one turkey to a footprint). Then start the music again and let the turkeys continue strutting around the room. Repeat. [Childfun Family Website, 2008].
Carla Snuggs - As a writer for Suite101.com since 2005, it is a privilege to continue on as theTopic Editor for the subject of Day Care. I received a ...
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