• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds

  • Home
  • Start Here
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Printables Terms of Use
  • Subscribe!
  • Printables
    • Free Printables
    • Circle Time Printable Packets
    • Fall Printable Packets
    • Themed Printable Packets
    • Fine Motor Printable Packets
    • Dramatic Play Printable Packs
    • Literacy and Story Time Printable Packets
    • Color Recognition Printable Packets
    • Winter Printable Packs
    • Spring Printable Packets
  • Preschool
  • Toddlers
  • Lesson Plans
    • Preschool Lesson Plans
    • Toddler Lesson Plans
You are here: Home / Fall Activities / Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

This post might contain affiliate links. Click here for more information. Thanks for visiting!

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

November 19, 2018 by Sheryl Cooper

Share
Pin
Tweet
Email

 Inside: The Thanksgiving theme is a good time to talk about what you are thankful for, as well as having fun with turkey crafts and pretend play. Come see how we’ve set up our toddler and preschool classroom!

Each year we close our fall units with a Thanksgiving theme.

We focus on what we are thankful for, although that can be a hard concept for young children to understand.

So, as I will talk about more in a separate post, I ask them what makes them happy. What do they love?

This is also when we make a turkey craft and have fun with feathers. This year we even painted with them!

We read fun turkey books and sing songs such as Five Fat Turkeys Are We.

As with all of our themes, we provide lots of playful, hands-on activities!

👉 All of the free printables I created for this theme are towards the bottom of this post. Make sure to check them out!

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

 

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

 

Dramatic Play

What’s for Thanksgiving dinner?

I created picture cards (available towards bottom of this post) that we used in our dramatic play area. These cards are a fun way to enrich literacy skills while building conversation about what we want to eat for Thanksgiving.

We had pretend food, dishes, and utensils ready to go, too!

Related: 25+ Dramatic Play Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Circle Time

It’s easy to build skills through activities that are done at circle time!

I created a printable (available below) of a turkey with rainbow feathers. I handed each of our toddlers and preschoolers a feather and we called out the name of each color as we placed them on the turkey.

You can see snippets of it in this video.

Related:

The Secrets to a Successful Toddler Circle Time

The Best Circle Time Tips for Preschool Teachers

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Books

I’m Feeling Thankful

This Little Turkey

10 Fat Turkeys

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Art

Watercolor Turkeys

We created these turkeys in 3 steps. The result were festive turkeys with colorful feathers!

Read more here:

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

 

We Are Thankful Banner

We used the leaves that were removed from the leaf suncatchers to make a fun “We are Thankful” banner. It looks so colorful in our classroom window!

Related: How to Create a Friendship Banner

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Stamping with Leaf and Turkey Cookie Cutters

One of the simplest art activities is stamping with cookie cutters. We rolled out large sheets of paper and let them stamp leaves and turkeys all over them!

Related: Simple Fall Art for Toddlers Using Cookie Cutters

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Thanksgiving Necklaces

I dyed macaroni different fall colors and invited the children to thread them onto tipped yarn to create Thanksgiving necklaces. A nice calm activity that strengthens fine motor skills!

You can see how we made them here.

Related:

Easy Thanksgiving Necklaces

Rainbow Threading Activity

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Sensory Bin

We filled our sensory bin with water and dishwashing liquid and pretended to wash Thanksgiving dinner dishes and utensils.

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Easel

Painting with feathers is quite different than using brushes, as we discovered this week at the easel! I simply placed feathers and paint at the easel along with sheets of paper and let the children have fun painting.

Related: Art at the Easel

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Playdough

We used the same cookie cutters that we used with our Thanksgiving paint stamping activity and added turkey cupcake toppers.

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Blocks Center

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, not every center is theme-related. I also go by the interests of the children.

Construction has been a constant love with this group since the very first day of school.

Awhile back we experimented painting on a 3D surface using boxes. We decided to turn them into parking garages for our vehicles. And, I will be honest, our 2 year olds just wanted to fit as many vehicles in each box and carry them around. Because that’s what 2 year olds do!

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Light Table

I had my first experience with Squigz Toobz. They are basically suction cups that are fun and a great fine motor activity. It took our children awhile to figure out how to use them, but once they did, they carried them around the classroom to see where else they would stick. (The window was the biggest hit!)

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Here are the printables we used during our Thanksgiving theme:

Free Thanksgiving Dinner Printables for Pretend Play

Free Thanksgiving Color Page

Free Thanksgiving Turkey Printable

free toddler leaf template

Free Preschool Rectangle Matching Printable

 

 

Setting Up the Thanksgiving Theme for Toddlers and Preschoolers

More themes for toddlers and preschoolers:

Forest Animals

Shapes and Colors

Pets

Hibernation

 

🍎 Fall Activity Plans 🍎

I’ve teamed up with other early childhood teachers and homeschoolers to put together these hands-on fall activity plans for toddlers and preschoolers!

Easy to follow activities that include modifications and adaptations to meet the needs of all learners.

Note: This is a digital product. That means when you make a purchase, you will be emailed a link to the activities.

For more information, click on the graphics below:

toddler lesson plans fall

preschool lesson plans fall

FREE CIRCLE TIME PLANNER!

Get your FREE circle time planner as a gift when you subscribe to my free weekly newsletters.

Here is my Privacy Policy

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit
Share
Pin
Tweet
Email

Filed Under: Fall Activities, preschool, Teachers, Themes, Toddlers Tagged With: fall, preschool, printables, teachers, Thanksgiving, themes, toddlers

About Sheryl Cooper

Sheryl Cooper is the founder of Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds, a website full of activities for toddlers and preschoolers. She has been teaching this age group for over 20 years and loves to share her passion with teachers, parents, grandparents, and anyone with young children in their lives.

Previous Post: « Easy Toddler Turkey Craft with Watercolors and Feathers
Next Post: Easy Toddler Thanksgiving Activity {that Teaches Thankfulness) »

Primary Sidebar

You can also find us here!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Looking for something specific?

Categories

Welcome! I'm Sheryl Cooper, teacher of 2 and 3 year olds for over 22 years. Read more about me here!

More Printables!

preschool printables

Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds is a participant in Amazon Associates.

preschool printables

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds · Privacy Policy