Thanksgiving Learning Fun

I love this time of year.  Really, I just love holidays.  They are so festive, fun and provide an excellent learning opportunity for my boys!  

In keeping with the spirit and because planning can be so helpful in preparing our children for any holiday, I thought I would post links to past Thanksgiving learning projects we've done!  As you can tell, we love hands-on learning in these parts.  Give them a costume and we're golden!  

What are you doing this month to celebrate or learn about Thanksgiving?  If you have any ideas or have blogged about anything related to Thanksgiving, Pilgrims, religious persecution, native americans, etc feel free to leave a comment and/or link!

Mayflower Nut - a tutorial

We did this child-friendly, eye appealing project last year and it was a huge hit.  The boys loved playing with them and they doubled for beautiful decorations!

Mapping the Mayflower

 Our adventure mapping the journey of the Mayflower and reviewing why they left the Old World for the New World.

Mayflower Living for Wee Folks

Two years ago we learned about what life was like on the Mayflower.  Our favorite activity was dressing up as boys on the journey over.  We ate food similar to what they ate (w/out the bugs, mold and extent of staleness) and slept in a replica we made of a family's quarters on the Mayflower.  The boys loved it.  I for one am glad we don't live at that time and that I have a nice king-sized bed!

This post also includes links to our favorite books on the Pilgrims!

 Of Measuring and Comparing

Along with learning about the Mayflower, Xander was also learning about the story of Noah in Awana's that year.  To gain perspective, we went out to our street and measured the dimensions of both the Mayflower and Noah's Ark.  It was so helpful for my boys to visualize the sizes...

Life at Plymouth

We also had a co-op day that year, learning all about pilgrim life.  Our little group loved learning about planting corn, how instrumental Squanto's help was, having a make-believe hunt, etc...

Turkey-Gratitude Countdown

Several years ago, we made our first Turkey countdown.  It was such a hit that we did it again last year.  We incorporated learning about gratitude by writing down something we were thankful for each day.  When all the feathers were filled in, we were ready to celebrate!

Here are some other fun ideas that I've seen out there.

I'm just in love with this idea over at Rhythm of the Home.  I definitely want to make a set for my kids!  Giving kids the opportunity to use pretend play really reinforces what they have learned.  The Wampanoag Indians didn't actually live in tipi's, but watu's/wigwams.  The tipi is so cute though, isn't it!?!

I love this idea of having a 'popcorn' turkey. One Charming Party has excellent directions to assemble this visually appealing Thanksgiving treat!  This would make a great addition to a Thanksgiving Feast re-enactment!

I love these Thanksgiving Story Beads idea at Little Page Turners.  It is a darling way to help kids review the basics of the Pilgrim's story...

Here is a cool Mayflower handprint project that could be fun too over at Almost Unschoolers.


Finally here are a few free digital books that you can download.  They are beautifully written and make for great read alouds.

Mapping the Mayflower

Since we have been exploring world geography for the last several months, we decided to pull out our Global Twister map and chart the path the Mayflower took.  There is something magical about getting to 'experience' that trip for themselves.  As they grabbed their walnut Mayflower ships, we talked about how the pilgrims left England for Holland (to escape religious persecution), but then left Holland (because they were losing their kids to the secular culture) and departed for the new world, etc...

It is amazing how raptly they listen so they can re-enact the journey! 

Of course, this turned into an impromptu review of all we've learned as they wanted to sail all over the world.  They were turned loose for some exploratory free play!  It is amazing to watch children's minds busy at work while they play.  What a wonderful, painless way to review and solidify what they've learned!

And of course, we couldn't put the map away...

...without playing some Global Twister!

Related Posts:

Going Global

(including how we play our Global Twister game)

Global Twister - tutorial

All Geography Posts

Walnut Mayflower tutorial

Check out all of our Thanksgiving related posts as well as many others at:

Mayflower Nut - a tutorial

I'll be the first to admit that we are a little nutty over here!  But that's just how we roll...

In preparation and anticipation of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I always love to review a little history.  We've pulled a few of our favorite Thanksgiving books together and I couldn't help squeezing in a few fun projects before we leave to visit family.

So here's our homemade miniature Mayflower ships and a quick tutorial so you all can make this super easy craft too!

 Here's a quick inventory of what you will need for this project:

• playdough (we used our favorite recipe and I added cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to capture that scrumptious 'fall' smell.)  Clay would probably work better, but I don't keep any of that around.
• walnuts (I bought three in case I ruined any of them.  I knew I needed at least three 'good' boats.)
• toothpicks
• paper
• pencil and scissors not pictured, but needed to draw and cut out sails

FIRST: Using a butter knife, carefully separate the walnut into two halves.  In hindsight, I wish I had bought a couple of extra walnuts.  I think the boys would have enjoyed trying to do this.  Since I was afraid of ruining all of them, I did this step.  Gut the walnut shell halves and have a snack!

SECOND: Trace three rectancles (with sides angled inward) in graduated sizes.  Cut them out.  Depending on the age of the child this can be a you job, a them job or both (and then let them pick what set of sails they want to use.

 THIRD: Let them place a line of glue down the center of each sail and place toothpick with at least two centimeters of space at the bottom of the toothpick blank.

FOURTH: Allow to dry.  Go play with the playdough! Pinch off small bits of playdough to stick inside the walnut shells.

FIFTH: Place your sails and embark!

Up Next: Playful learning with our new Mayflower ships!


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Lessons in Thanksgiving!

I love this time of year.  Really, I just love holidays.  They are so festive, fun and provide an excellent learning opportunity for my boys!  This year, the boys are counting down the days until we get to fly out to see their grandparents and experience a midwest Thanksgiving!

In keeping with the spirit and because planning can be so helpful in preparing our children for any holiday, I thought I would post links to past Thanksgiving learning projects we've done!  As you can tell, we love hands-on learning in these parts.  Give them a costume and we're golden!

I would also love to hear any ideas that you all have.  There is a linky at the bottom and if you've blogged about how you celebrate and learn about Thanksgiving with your children, I'd love for you to share!  If you don't have a blog, comments are also most welcome so we can have a central spot with lots of ideas!

Mayflower Living for Wee Folks

Last year, we learned about what life was like on the Mayflower.  Our favorite activity was dressing up as boys on the journey over.  We ate food similar to what they ate (w/out the bugs, mold and extent of staleness) and slept in a replica we made of a family's quarters on the Mayflower.  The boys loved it.  I for one am glad we don't live at that time and that I have a nice king-sized bed!

This post also includes links to our favorite books on the Pilgrims!

Of Measuring and Comparing

Along with learning about the Mayflower, Xander was also learning about the story of Noah in Awana's last year.  To gain prespective, we went out to our street and measured the dimensions of both the Mayflower and Noah's Ark.  It was so helpful for my boys to visualize the sizes...

Mayflower Nut - a tutorial

A child-friendly, eye appealing craft that is fun to play with and also use as a decoration.

Mapping the Mayflower

 Our adventure mapping the journey of the Mayflower and reviewing why they left the Old World for the New World.

Life at Plymouth

Last year, we also had a co-op day, learning all about pilgrim life.  Our little group loved learning about planting corn, how instrumental Squanto's help was, having a make-believe hunt, etc...

Turkey-Gratitude Countdown

Several years ago, we made our first Turkey countdown.  It was such a hit that we did it again last year.  We incorporated learning about gratitude by writing down something we were thankful for each day.  When all the feathers were filled in, we were ready to celebrate!

Now I'd love to hear from you.  I will keep the linky option open for the entire month.  I love tucking away good ideas to use both this year and for next.  If you blog (or have blogged in the past) about how you plan on teaching or sharing Thanksgiving with your kids, feel free to leave a link so we can check it out!

Ideas for celebrating/learning about Thanksgiving could include: craft ideas, pilgrims, mayflower, religious freedom, gratitude, plants they grew, animals they hunted, etc...

If you post, feel free to grab the button below:



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Pilgrim Learning, Part 2

This last Wednesday we had our monthly co-op get together and the theme was Thanksgiving, naturally.

After reading, Pilgrim Cat, one of the boys favorite Thanksgiving related books, we did some corn planting of our own, Squanto style.  A few goldfish, popcorn kernals, sand and globs of glue later, they proudly showed off their neat rows of newly planted corn!

Next we went on a hunt for game.  Each child took an imaginary bow or musket outside for the hunt.  Turkeys, deer and rabbits were found and brought in!

Next we talked talked about how thankful the pilgrim settlers were for God's provision throughout their first tough year in the new land.  To help them start thinking about things they could be thankful to God for, we played a fun game.  The boys have been clamoring to play this again, so I'm guessing we'll have several family rounds of this in the next week!

Materials needed: a hankerchief of some kind.

Everyone sits in a circle and passes the hankerchief around while chanting:

Thankerchief, thankerchief, around you go --

Where you'll stop, nobody knows.

But when you do, someone must say,

What they are thankful for this day. 

The player holding the "thankerchief" when the poem ends, must say aloud, one thing for which they are thankful. This continues until everyone has had their turn.

Once we had ideas flowing on how many things we have to be thankful for, we revisited our Turkey Countdown from last year!

The boys have had fun filling in something they are thankful for each evening as we count down the days until Thanksgiving!

Part 1 found here.

Mayflower Living for Wee Folks

Despite our rocky start, our Mayflower day was still fun.  My goal was to give the kids a small, prek/k friendly, taste of life aboard a boat...

Families tacked up blankets to give themselves a little privacy aboard the Mayflower.  Although we couldn't mimic the crowded conditions aboard, we did decide to set up some "living quarters".

Our quarters were a bit fragile (playing football in and around quarters, as well as a 20 month old on the loose has a way of doing that).

After some finagling we were set for our day.  To get in the mood, the boys decided to dress the part! 

As I mentioned before, I ended up putting together our meal all by myself.  Did little pilgrim boys not cook?  They seemed to think so...

Due to 'severe' (imaginary) storms, we had dinner in our living quarters below deck.

We dined on stale biscuits, dried meat and cheese.  In a departure from historical accuracy, we didn't go for worm-infested food... No one really complained, except daddy.  But I don't think any of us would be thrilled with a diet of this and very little else.

Later that night we bedded down for the night in our tight quarters.  They had a blast and think living on the Mayflower would be lots of fun.  Mommy, on the other hand, is so thankful for modern day comforts like a dry home, soft mattress and SPACE!  One night of my feet sticking out of our living quarters and little limbs smacking me was enough.

Maybe in the future, they will grasp how hard life was on the Mayflower and how incredibly easy we have it nowadays...  For now they enjoyed stepping into another life for a while.

Part 2 of our Pilgrim learning adventure found here.
Measuring - A lesson in comparison - Noah's Ark vs. the Mayflower.

Favorite Thanksgiving/Pilgrim/Mayflower Books of ours:
The Story of Thanksgiving ~ This charming board book is the perfect introduction to Thanksgiving for the 1-4 year old.  We loved reading it last year, but were unable to get it from the library in time, this year...
Pilgrim Cat ~ This is one of their favorite pilgrim books.  It follows a pilgrim girl and her cat during their Mayflower trip as well as first year in Plymouth.  Keegan had me read this to him 5 or 6 times the first day we had it.  It introduces several key Thanksgiving story themes in a very relatable way.  The boys were running around taking turns being Samoset and Squanto.
On the Mayflower: Voyage of the Ship's Apprentice and a Passenger Girl ~ This charming book includes photographs from a reinactment aboard the Mayflower II.  The boys found the photographs mesmerizing and loved the perspective being from the young boy and girl.
You Wouldn't Want To Sail On The Mayflower!: A Trip That Took Entirely Too Long ~ Interesting tidbits about the trials of life aboard the Mayflower.  For kids a bit older, but easily adaptable down to this age.
. . . If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620
Off to Plymoth Rock! ~ This lyrical, rhyming book is the first book Xander ever received.  When my mom gave it to me at the Thanksgiving of 2003, none of us knew that Xander was growing inside of me!  The hopeful grandma had signed it - 'from Mom/MIL/sometime Oma.'  Subtle mom, real subtle. ;)
Squanto And The Miracle Of Thanksgiving ~ A beautiful telling of Squanto's story and how God brought him to the aid of the Pilgrims.
Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy ~ The photographs in this book are captivating for my boys.  The text is a bit advanced for a 3 and 5 year old, although there are times that Xander enjoys it.  We will definitely get this and the girl companion book as the kids get older. 
Sarah Morton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl
Tapenum's Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy In Pilgrim Times