Kindergarten Thanksgiving Lesson Plan that will be a keepsake for all the students. Parents appreciate artwork from their kids especially if they are functional.
Read a book on Thanksgiving such as Clifford’s Thanksgiving (Cartweel Books, 1983) to the class. Print the word thanksgiving in a bubble in the middle of chart paper. Ask students what they are thankful for. First tell them what you are thankful for to begin the discussion. Draw a picture of what you are thankful for and place it on the chart paper around the word Thanksgiving. As well, print the name of the picture.
Tell the students, they will be making a Thanksgiving place mat and it will take several days to complete. Explain the process as you show them all the steps involved in creating the Thanksgiving place mat.
Thanksgiving Placemat Activity
- First Step: Trace each students hand and print their name on the back of the hand. The hand will be the tail of the turkey. Students will decorate the hand with markers and pencil crayons. No crayons since the placemats will be laminated. Students may color the hand different colors or draw pictures. Have a few examples to show the students.
- Second Step: Precut a turkey face with neck attached. As well, precut a large oval for the body of the turkey. Give students the oval to draw a picture of what they are grateful for. Examples are a picture of their mom and dad, table of food, playing a game with a friend and much more. Review the examples you did on day 1 and have the chart paper up for students to look at for inspiration. As the students are drawing their picture, go to each student and ask what they are thankful for and print the word or short sentence in marker at the bottom of the oval.
- Third Step: Have students draw the eye and mouth on the turkey. Demonstrate this with the class. You may wish to do this as a class with students at their desk.
- Fourth Step: Assembly the turkeys, you may do this with the students and some parent helpers or assembly without the class. It depends on the level of your kindergarten students.
- Fifth Step: Students will write their name on the placemat with the year. The name may be at the top of the Thanksgiving placemat or at the bottom of the placemat. You may wish to print James is thankful for… or on the top of each placemat print I give thanks for, be creative.
- Sixth Step: Students decorate around the turkey, any design they wish. They may draw pictures of other things they are grateful or print words of things they are grateful. It is up to the individual student.
- Seventh Step: Teacher must laminate all of the placemats.
- Eighth Step: Distribute the placemat a few days before Thanksgiving to ensure all students have the placemat for Thanksgiving.
The copyright of the article Thanksgiving Placemat Activity in Teacher Tips/Training is owned by Debbie DeSpirt. Permission to republish Thanksgiving Placemat Activity in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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