Thanksgiving Activities for Social Studies in Elementary School

Thanksgiving social studies activities help students learn the background of the holiday. The activities center around the historical nature of Thanksgiving. They teach children that there is more to the holiday than hand-print turkeys and eating lots of food. The activities work well for all elementary grade levels. For older kids, have them go more in-depth in their Thanksgiving projects.

Thanksgiving Time Line

A time line serves as a handy graphic organizer to document the development of the Thanksgiving holiday. Major events that led to the first Thanksgiving as well as changes along the way work well for the time line. You can make one large class Thanksgiving time line or have each student make his own.

First Thanksgiving Recreation

Dramatic reenactments naturally go well with social studies and historical events. The first Thanksgiving provides a good option for a historical reenactment in an elementary social studies class. After reading about the first Thanksgiving, the students create the scenery and costumes for the reenactment. They work together to come up with a script for the event. You can share the first Thanksgiving reenactment with other classes or parents of the students.

Life in Plymouth

Plymouth Plantation is known as the location for a harvest feast that is considered important to the origins of Thanksgiving. The way of life kids enjoy today is vastly different from that of the kids at Plymouth back in 1621. Have the students compare their lives with those of the Plymouth settler children. You can work together as a class to research and compare the lives, or split the class into two sections. If you divide the class, one section is assigned the task of describing current times while the other group represents the 1621 Plymouth lifestyle. The two groups present their findings so the class can compare.

Retelling the Thanksgiving Story

The students take on the role of participants in the first Thanksgiving for this activity. Each child writes either a letter or journal entry describing the event. They can assume any role in the feast as long as they write from the perspective of someone from that time period. This activity lets the kids put themselves in the place of the first Thanksgiving participants for a better understanding of the event.

References

• Teachnology: Thanksgiving