12 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 1

Days of Thanksgiving

I've always loved these ideas that extend through multiple days to celebrate the holiday seasons (did you catch my 13 Days of Halloween posts?). This year I found ideas for the 12 Days of Thanksgiving and I couldn't resist sharing them with you. The ideas in this post came from a very vintage magazine called Copycat Press from 1990 (which just doesn't feel like it should be labeled very vintage, but I suppose that's because I am very vintage myself!) 

The ideas are centered around using the poetry from It's Thanksgiving by Jack Prelutsky. I didn't have this book in our Club library, but I did find a few versions of read alouds online. Here's the one that includes the entire book (which is helpful since you'll use different poems each day).

First Day of Thanksgiving
Read aloud the poem "It's Happy Thanksgiving." Then read it a second time with the help of your group, reading alternate lines. For most people, Thanksgiving is a time for being together with family and friends and giving thanks. Have kids share vivid memories of Thanksgiving past. Provide copies of the roast turkey reproducible. Have kids color, cut out, and paste it on a large sheet of drawing paper, then draw family and friends seated at Thanksgiving dinner table.

Note: It's important to remember that there is no right or wrong family dynamic. Before starting this project, it's a great time to have the discussion about how all families look a little different. I use the example of how my parents were foster parents while I was a child - our family never looked the same from holiday to holiday, but that made our family special. Encourage kids to share some ideas of what families look like and don't forget to include your Club family!

Click on the image above to access the larger image for saving and printing (just right click on the large image and save to your computer). I hope you enjoy this activity with your group. If you want to incorporate this into a standard program you might opt to use it for KidzLit or Smart Moves.

Additional Idea: After reading the poem "It's Happy Thanksgiving," discuss with members ways in which Grandma makes her grandchildren happy on Thanksgiving. Then, invite members to create scrolls for those who make their Thanksgiving a happy day. First, have them write and illustrate a verse about the special person on Thanksgiving or why they give thanks for that person. Then have them roll up and tie their scrolls with ribbon. Finally encourage each child to present their special person with the scroll on Thanksgiving Day.