Perspective on Thanksgiving

Though kids may view Thanksgiving as the first stop on the school holiday vacation train, there's a lot more for them to know about it than simply no class, stuffed turkey and whipped cream-topped pumpkin pie.
                                       

This November, teach your children historically accurate facts about this important holiday by learning about the events that led up to the well-known first feast and doing creative Thanksgiving activities together. Share these activities with your nanny, so she can do them with your kids too.

Read Together
Share an educational story time with your children, no matter their age, by reading a Thanksgiving-themed book.

                                             

Journey to 1621
Use the topic of Thanksgiving to investigate the journey of the pilgrims. Children can learn important historical facts in a fun, interactive way. Plimoth Plantation, a Massachusetts-based living history museum about the Plymouth Colony, provides an award-winning and free downloadable Thanksgiving activity that's appropriate for children of any age. See Link http://www.plimoth.org/what-see-do/mayflower-ii/journey-mayflower

Visit the Mayflower

The education experts at Scholastic have developed a complete and thorough unit dedicated to Thanksgiving. In addition to holiday-themed book recommendations, printable worksheets and informative videos, the site allows children to take a virtual tour of the Mayflower. Kids can also learn what daily life was like for the pilgrims and Wampanoags by comparing their living quarters, schools, chores and games.

Complete Thanksgiving Activity Sheets
Find coloring sheets, word searches, hidden picture sheets or puzzles that relate to Thanksgiving.  See Link http://www.edhelper.com/Thanksgiving_Activities.htm 

Do Crafts that Teach Gratitude
Children can construct a "Thankful Paper Chain" to count down the days until Thanksgiving. Have them write what they are thankful for on strips of construction paper and then loop them together.

Create a "Thankful Tree" by tracing your child's hand on pieces of red, orange and yellow construction paper, and having them write why they are thankful on each. Then attach with glue to a brown tree trunk made of construction paper.

You can also add pictures to a photo album or scrapbook of people, places, foods, pets, toys, movies or events that are special to your family. Include interesting stories of gratitude or explanations in your "Blessings Book."

Decorate the Feast Table
Since Thanksgiving centers around making peace with people and sharing food, pay special attention to the table setting. Encourage children to make it special by constructing Thanksgiving-themed table decor themselves. Talk about what the pilgrims and Indians would have had available, and use those objects in your decorations.

USE: cardboard tubes, construction paper, pompom balls and googly eyes to make pilgrims and Indians to set at each place setting. Kids can cut leaf shapes out of construction paper and write the name of each guest on one side and why they are thankful for them on the other.

Plan Games

Games are a great way to learn anything in a competitive, but fun way. Have a relay race in which children pass holiday-themed items like acorns, cranberries, nuts, peas and corn kernels to each other using chopsticks. Play trivia with fun Thanksgiving facts or create Thanksgiving bingo cards with historical information or Thanksgiving foods in the squares.

                                                            

Today, Thanksgiving is a holiday signified by loved ones coming together to share a meal and give thanks for each other. By taking the opportunity to explain its origin to children in creative ways, they can not only understand its historical importance, but its relevance in their everyday lives.

Photos provided by google images, content provided by Mary Evett a freelance writer. Edited by Nancy Perez