Thanksgiving Read Alouds, DIY Crafts, and Activities for Kindergarten

Today marks the halfway point in November. I can’t believe it! We are entering one of the busiest times of the year. There’s so much to be done to prepare for the holidays, both at school and at home. Last week I shared some Thanksgiving centers and freebies in this post. But today I’m back sharing some Thanksgiving ideas for Kindergarten that are a breeze to implement. It’s easy to add a festive flair to classroom activities without all the planning by using these Thanksgiving Read Alouds, DIY Crafts, and No Prep Activities for Kindergarten!

Let’s talk Thanksgiving read alouds, super easy peasy art projects, and then a no prep packet that will make planning fun activities easy as Thanksgiving pie.

First up, is a collection of my absolute favorite Thanksgiving read alouds.

Your Kindergarten classroom and homeschool students are going to love the Thanksgiving read alouds, easy DIY crafts, and no prep activities included at this blog post! You'll see 13 great book ideas, an easy turkey craft project, a FREE Thanksgiving place mat download perfect for Thanksgiving day, and no prep printables that help cover CVC words, beginning - middle - end sounds, alphabet recognition, numbers to five and ten, and more for your math or literacy centers, morning work, & more!

You can use my affiliate link to grab any of the Thanksgiving read aloud titles through Amazon.

One is a Feast for Mouse

The Great Turkey Race

The Best Thanksgiving Ever

The Littlest Pilgrim

T is for Turkey

Who Will Carve the Turkey This Thanksgiving?

This is the Turkey

Thanksgiving Rules

Thanks for Thanksgiving

The Amazing Turkey Rescue

Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

Balloons Over Broadway

Bear Says Thanks

Last month I shared a DIY fire safety craft that is easy to prep and looks adorable when finished. These DIY projects are my favorite kinds of craft projects because they aren’t cookie cutter. Meaning they don’t all look the same when they’re done. There’s no tracers for the kids. Instead you show them by example, which means they have to listen and pay attention!

Aren’t these adorable? They are so easy to prep because nothing has to be exact. Just grab your paper cutter and start cutting! Each student gets two pieces of paper for the head and body, 6 pieces of paper for feathers, and small pieces to make the rest of the turkey.

For the head and body I cut brown squares. The head is about a 5″ x 5″ square and the body is about a 6″ x 6″ square. Earlier in the year when we practice scissor skills, we also work on rounding corners. So the students round the corners for the head and body. You could give the kids circle tracers if rounding corners is too difficult.

Each student gets six feathers. They can pick the six different colors that they would like their turkey to have. I don’t make the students all use the same colors. I use a paper cutter to cut the strips about 4″ long and 1.5″ – 2″ wide for the feathers.

They also get small pieces of paper for the eyes, beak, wattle, and feet. I just cut small squares about 2″ by 2″, there really isn’t a correct or exact size. I model how to make eyes by rounding corners.For the beak we fold the paper in half and make two cuts. The feet can be a rectangle or square. The wattle can be a rectangle or a squiggly type shape – it really is up to them. Which makes every project unique.

And now for the easiest craft you’ll find for Thanksgiving! You can use it in a writing center or as a fun activity before Thanksgiving break. {And it’s on a single page too, so it’s definitely copy budget friendly.}Students will need a copy of the place mat page, a 9″ X 12″ piece of construction paper for the place mat and a 4″ x 7″ish (nothing needs to be exact) piece of construction paper for the napkin. Students color the pieces and then draw and label a picture of something that they are thankful for. Afterwards they cut out the pieces and glue them on the large piece of construction paper.

On the top students can write Happy Thanksgiving or another message or leave it blank. Laminate these and they make a super cute take home place mat to use at Thanksgiving. Or use them during your Thanksgiving celebration while you enjoy my pumpkin pie in a cup recipe!

Click on the picture below to download the FREE place mat page.

And finally, here’s a packet that will provide your students with loads of fun while practicing the necessary skills. It will save you loads of prep time, because there is none – just print! It contains over 35 pages of skills that are just right for Kindergarteners during the fall months. The pages are great for morning tubs, literacy and math stations, fast finisher activities, and even sub tubs! Students can complete the pages using crayons.

Word Family Practice: Students read the CVC words and use two different color bingo dabbers to sort them by word families. They record the CVC words under the corresponding headings on the right.

Secret Code CVC Words are a fun way to practice CVC words and here’s a no prep version! Students identify the beginning sound of each picture and write it on the line to spell a CVC word. They dab the CVC word that matches the one they wrote.

Students say the name of the picture and then dab the circle the to show where you hear the sound in the word: beginning middle or end.

Students will need four different color bingo dabbers to make their own color code. They use their color code to dab the sight words. Once they are finished, they count up each sight word and at the bottom record how many of each.

Here’s a fun way to practice the letter order. Students start at the letter A and dab their way through the alphabet maze to get to the letter Z. You could also slide this page in a page protector and have students complete the maze with snap cubes. There’s also some number versions included in the packet as well.

Students dab and then write the two numbers that make five. Those that need additional support can use snap cubes or themed erasers to practice making five.

More making five practice. Students dab the turkeys and record different ways to make five. You can give students a dot cube and have them roll and record the first number and then determine how many more are needed to make five. {Be sure to cover the number six side with a dot sticker and have students use that as zero.}

I love when we can practice two skills are one time! Students identify the number on the ten frame. They dab the number, record it on the line, and count on the record number that is one more.

Another fun way to practice ten frames. Students need two different color bingo dabbers. They dab the ten frame and the matching number the same color.

Click on the image below to check out this packet in my TpT shop. Or save 20% by checking out the YEAR LONG BUNDLE.