Family and Homeschool Activities for Teaching Thanksgiving
These family and homeschool activities are designed to complement the Thanksgiving topic page on BrainPOP Jr.
Thanksgiving History
Together with your child, discuss how you’ve celebrated past Thanksgiving. If possible, find photographs of different Thanksgivings to make a scrapbook. Your child can also draw pictures of them if photographs are not available. Collect the pictures in a book and have your child write a few sentences about each holiday. Then as you and your family celebrate more Thanksgiving holidays, add to the book to create a family Thanksgiving history album.
Helping Hand
Thanksgiving is more than just about the food, football, and parades. Encourage your child to think about how Squanto helped the Pilgrims during their first year in the New World. Together with your child, volunteer your time helping other people in need. You may want to work in a shelter serving Thanksgiving meals to the needy or delivering meals to the elderly. You can focus on helping other people in need or improve common areas in the community, such as a park or recreation center.
Harvest Time
The Pilgrims and Wampanoag observed traditions of celebrating the harvest long before they met. Has your child ever witnessed a harvest? If possible, take your child to a farm to experience apple picking or visit a farm and observe workers bale hay or gather vegetables. If a farm experience is not an option, take your child to a local green market and walk around. What vegetables and fruits are available? Are certain kinds of produce available at certain times of the year? Because of the bounty available in modern supermarkets, your child may not realize that produce is associated with particular seasons. Encourage your child to think about why getting food in the winter was difficult for the Pilgrims.