Free Thanksgiving Crafts, Games and Activities for Kids

Fun + Easy Ideas for Busy Teachers

Need quick, meaningful Thanksgiving activities your students will love—without spending hours prepping?

In this post, you’ll find:

• 3 simple crafts
• Literacy + vocabulary games
• 3 active classroom games
• Free printable Thanksgiving resources (math, ELA, and writing)
• My two best-selling Thanksgiving activities

Note: This post contains affiliate links to my Teachers Pay Teachers and Amazon Associate stores. I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Thanksgiving Crafts for the Classroom

Handprint Turkey Craft

A favorite for all ages! Students trace their hands, add eyes and a beak to the thumb, and decorate the fingers as feathers. Add legs to complete the turkey.

Thankful Poster Collage

Using old magazines or catalogs, students cut and paste images that represent things they’re thankful for. Great for group bulletin boards!

Foldable Thanksgiving Card Craft

Students draw or write on a foldable card to thank someone special.

Includes 6 differentiated templates for writing or drawing.

🦃 Get it HERE.

Thanksgiving Literacy + Vocabulary Activities

Vocabulary Word Sort

Give students Thanksgiving word cards and have them sort into categories like foods, people, and traditions.

ABC Story Challenge

Challenge students to write a Thanksgiving story using words in alphabetical order. (Example: Abundance filled the table. Blessings were shared...)

Thanksgiving Word Charades

Students act out words like feast, gobble, or parade. The rest of the class guesses the word!

Thanksgiving Movement Games

Turkey Feather Races

Each student gets a straw and a feather. They race by blowing the feather across a table or hallway.

🦃 Get classroom-safe feathers HERE.

Turkey Bowling

Set up pins made from empty plastic bottles decorated like turkeys. Students roll a small ball (or mini pumpkin) to knock them down.

Pin the Feather on the Turkey

A fun twist on “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.” Blindfold students and see who can get closest to the turkey’s tail!

Free Thanksgiving Printables for Your Class

All of these are ready to print and go—perfect for centers, early finishers, or sub plans.

Thanksgiving Writing Paper 

Great for story prompts, gratitude reflections, or writing centers.

Thanksgiving Money Task Cards 

Includes coins, dollar bills, 20+ game ideas, and a student response form.

Thanksgiving Contractions Task Cards 

Grammar review made fun! Play SCOOT, use in small groups, or for morning work.

Order of Operations Task Cards

Challenge cards with answer key—no prep required!

Best-Selling Thanksgiving Resources You’ll Love

These are my two most popular classroom Thanksgiving products—used by hundreds of teachers every year.

Foldable Thanksgiving Card Craft

Includes multiple templates for writing and drawing. Great for gratitude lessons or classroom gifts.

No-Prep Literacy Packet

ELA activities with a Thanksgiving theme. Great for centers, fast finishers, or independent work during short weeks.

Thanksgiving Math Facts

Includes addition and subtraction worksheets with coloring, cut and paste, and more!

 Thanksgiving Amazon Associate Store

👉 Click HERE to see fun resources.

Final Thoughts

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to make Thanksgiving fun and meaningful in your classroom.

With just a few simple crafts, games, and no-prep printables, you can keep your students engaged and focused—without adding extra stress to your plate.

Looking for more Thanksgiving fun?

👉 Click HERE to explore all my Thanksgiving printables on TPT.

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Click HERE to view our Teachers Pay Teachers Promoting Success store.

Shelly Anton is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. ** This means there are Amazon affiliate links in these blog posts. This does not mean you pay a dime more when you purchase a product through the link. It just means I am trying to save you valuable teacher time by making it easier for you to find great resources for your students, and I earn a few cents for my research and time. Thank you for all you do for kids!