Okay, so I had no idea how to start this blog post. I wanted to get our Thanksgiving toddler themed activities written out and posted before Thanksgiving so you could try something over the long weekend. Then I realized my American friends have tons of time to plan for these activities. I apologize to my Canadian readers. You’ll have to save this for next year. I’ll break down the activity, where the materials can be found, and then where I got the inspiration. These ideas are awesome and I in no way came up with them. I adjusted and made them my own, but the ideas are not. Here is my Thanksgiving Toddler Themed Activities.
When I make the week’s activities I like to have a few books for the week that fit the theme. Plus some of each type of play really. Independent play, sensory play. Working in gross motor and fine motor play too. Then we do some alphabet, colors, and counting.
At the beginning of the week, I put up the “word” we are learning and his numbers are up there, I add a new one once we get to that point. So I used these magnets on the fridge for the word “TURKEY” and then numbers 1-5.
* click the title of the activity for the original idea and blogger who posted it.
Feed the Turkey
This one was the best I think. Mal loved every minute of it and he actually played with it for a solid 20 minutes before getting bored. Which is insane for this kid. It’s great for fine motor skills, and you can even make it into a color or counting option.
Materials:
- Tongs
- Pompoms
- Plastic container (I used a boathouse juice container.)
- Construction paper (yellow, orange, red)
- Googly eyes
Color Matching Turkey Themed
This was so fun to watch him do. He didn’t quite get it, but it’s been good to familiarize him more with his colors! He’s been doing so well. And we also use Mega Blocks (link) to help with that too.
Materials:
- Wooden clothespins (I bought regular ones and colored them myself, with paint and markers.)
- Construction paper (Brown or white for the turkey body, then red, orange for the beak and face. And then whatever colors you want around the turkey)
- Googly eyes
Turkey Feather Counting
This one was just a printable I found. However, I cannot find it again. 🙁
It came from a small download email subscription thing I did a while ago. Sorry. But pinterest has tons.
The Letter “T”
Another printable. Just to introduce the letter T to him and the turkey – we did this the first day because most of our activities involved the turkey so it was a nice way to introduce it.
Materials:
- Printer (to print page)
- Construction paper if you want to paste it on a different paper.
- Markers (I used red, orange, brown, and yellows.)
Mess-Free Turkey Painting
My favorite way to paint because other than my hands there is virtually no mess. They can move the paint around and do what they want without the mess. So it’s nice to have for those busy days, quick activity with no cleanup. Messy play is important, though, we just didn’t get any done this time around.
Materials:
- Paint
- Large ziplock bag
- Paint paper
- Permanent marker
Thanksgiving Sensory Bin
I love sensory bins – just a fun activity to have out whenever that plays with different textures and different motions.
Materials:
- Rice
- Food coloring
- White vinegar
- Large ziplock bag
- Corn kernels
- Black beans
- Apple sauce container cups
- Scoops, mixing, and other utensils.
- farm animal “chicken” or “turkey” figure
- Natural fall items or styrofoam play ones (Walmart decor)
* the rice and food coloring – to create colored rice @messymamapod showed me how. 1 cup of rice, ½ tsp vinegar in the ziplock bag. 4 drops food coloring, mix in the bag and lay it out to dry.
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Hope you guys enjoy all of these! And if you’re trying them out I’d love to see it all!! <3 Tag me @courageouslynavigating. You can also check out the IG Reels and IGTV of our week of activities.
Love, Crystal
