Thanksgiving is all about spending time with family, being thankful, and of course the added bonus of great food! Taking time before the holiday arrives to talk to children about what this holiday means and how to be thoughtful and grateful is a wonderful teaching opportunity. Here are some ideas for you to help teach children about the important values of Thanksgiving.

Talk About Why We Celebrate Thanksgiving

• Teach the children about the Fall Harvest between the Native Americans and the Pilgrims. Find out how the children in your care celebrate Thanksgiving with their families. This will allow you to connect their family traditions and celebrations to the original story of the fall harvest celebration.

Encourage Parents to Limit Television and Electronic Time

• Who doesn’t love to watch the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade in the morning or watch the afternoon football game? These are all great traditions that a lot of families incorporate into their celebrations. Encourage families to limit the amount of time they are spending with the television on this holiday. Thanksgiving is all about family and being thankful. Maybe they would consider just watching the parade in the morning and then playing a board game with their family instead of watching the football game.

Talk About Family Traditions and Tell Stories

• Share your Thanksgiving traditions with the children in your care. Do they celebrate the same way with their families? Do you or the children get together with friends on this holiday as well? Do your traditions include multiple generations?

Talk About Your Thanksgiving Feast

• Find out what the kids usually eat on Thanksgiving. What is their favorite food of the day? Do they like Pumpkin Pie? Talk about where their food comes from and how it’s made. Maybe you could even enjoy a Thanksgiving feast in your classroom together.

Share and Donate

• Teach the kids the importance of sharing with people that might not be as fortunate as they are. Some kids on Thanksgiving don’t get to enjoy turkey and mashed potatoes. Talk about ways that they as children can help their community during this time.

Create Something for Thanksgiving Together

• Create a Thanksgiving craft that you can all do together in class. This is a great way for the kids to spend time together and learn the importance of doing so. A few great Thanksgiving crafts that we love are: Handprint Turkeys, Corn Cob Painting, and Thanksgiving Placemats.

Have Fun!

• Encourage parents to incorporate family games and activities while celebrating this holiday. You can also come up with fun activities to do in class with the children like an extra craft, game or playing outside if the weather is nice enough.

We love Thanksgiving and hope that you, the children, and families in your program have a safe and fun holiday! We are thankful for you!

Excerpts found at Bright Horizons