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- 🦃 Need Thanksgiving activities? K-2 digital & hands-on resources inside!
🦃 Need Thanksgiving activities? K-2 digital & hands-on resources inside!
Plus, a deep dive into Balloons Over Broadway and a fun STEM parade project for K-2!
Karly Moura & Christina Sciarrotto
November 18, 2025
Get Ready for the Gratitude Season 🦃
The days are getting shorter, the leaves are turning golden, and that cozy November feeling is officially here. Before you dive into planning for those last few weeks before the holiday break, we want to help you make this Thanksgiving season meaningful and fun for your students.
This month, we're focusing on bringing the spirit of thanks, history, and community right into your classroom with a fantastic collection of K-2 resources. Forget the endless searching! We've rounded up a whole flock of digital and hands-on activities—from choice boards and Book Creator templates to STEM-focused parade projects—that integrate seamlessly into your literacy, math, and social studies blocks.
In this issue:
💡 Thanksgiving Collections: Dive into 5 different collections of tips, templates, and activities for teaching gratitude and history.
📺 Teaching with Teachflix Junior: Inspire your little learners with the story behind the Macy's Day Parade in a deep dive on Balloons Over Broadway.
🛍️ Teacher Finds: A gentle reminder to prioritize self-care with a lovely de-stress coloring book.
We know planning can be a heavy lift, especially during the holidays. That’s why we’re excited to share resources from, TeachAid, which can turn your teaching ideas into full, ready-to-use units in minutes. Check out their offer below to spend less time prepping and more time connecting with your students.
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💡 Tips, Tools and Templates
Time for Turkey, Thanks, and Terrific Tech!
As the days get shorter and the aroma of pumpkin spice fills the air, it's time to bring the spirit of Thanksgiving into your K-2 classroom! This holiday is a wonderful opportunity to integrate themes of gratitude, history, literacy, and community into your lessons.
🦃 Thanksgiving Activity Collections for K-2
We’ve collected a fantastic flock of digital and hands-on resources—from virtual escape rooms to creative choice boards—to keep your little learners engaged and thankful this season.
1. Twelve Thanksgiving Activities You Can Try Today
Source: Virtual Escape Rooms
If you’re looking for a great mix of digital and simple hands-on activities, this collection is ideal. It offers creative ideas, including templates and tutorials for:
Creating a "What I Am Thankful For" turkey by adding feathers in Google Slides.
“Carving” your own Thanksgiving turkey with graham crackers.
Getting creative with Thanksgiving Maker Mats.
Using digital tools to disguise a turkey to save it from the holiday table.
2. Thanksgiving Template Book for Book Creator
Source: Book Creator Blog
Leverage your students' creativity with this ready-to-use digital activity book. The Thanksgiving Activity Book template is designed to be added to your Book Creator library and copied by students. The interactive book is packed with tasks like:
Designing their own front cover.
Writing and drawing about things they are thankful for.
Retelling the Thanksgiving story in a fun, accessible comic book form.
Interacting with a built-in quiz, word search, and jokes.
3. Thanksgiving Choice Board
Source: Van Meter Library Voice Blog
This pre-made choice board is a fantastic way to offer flexible and personalized learning in your classroom. Created by a librarian, the board curates high-quality, engaging media for K-2 students, including:
Links to read-aloud videos and a Thanksgiving song.
A KidLitTV interview with Traci Sorell, author of We Are Grateful, Otsaligeliga.
Engaging activities like a BreakoutEDU "Turkey Trot" game and a fun Balloons Over Broadway project.
4. Thanksgiving Choice Board
Source: Symbaloo Choiceboard
Another simple-to-share digital choice board, presented as a curated collection of bookmarks (tiles) on the Symbaloo platform. It is designed to quickly provide students with a variety of Thanksgiving-themed links and activities organized in one visual space, perfect for independent exploration or station work.
5. Fun Thanksgiving Activities & Lesson Plans for Elementary Students
Source: HMH Shaped Blog
This post provides a strong blend of cross-curricular, low-tech activities:
No-Bake Pumpkin Pie Math/Literacy: A fun activity that uses a recipe card to practice following directions, answering comprehension questions, and challenging students to double and triple measurements.
Cornucopia Harvest Lesson: An activity where students learn about local harvest times and create a planting wheel calendar craft.
Dancing Corn Experiment: A simple science experiment using popcorn kernels, baking soda, and water to explore chemical reactions.
Gratitude Posters and Trivia: Hands-on activities focused on social-emotional learning and fun historical knowledge.
📺 Teaching with Teachflix Junior
🎈 Balloons Over Broadway
🎥 Video Link: Balloons Over Broadway
Everyone’s a New Yorker on Thanksgiving Day, when young and old rise early to see what giant new balloons will fill the skies for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Who first invented these “upside-down puppets”? Meet Tony Sarg, puppeteer extraordinaire In brilliant collage illustrations!
Ready-made video resources:
✏️ THINKsgiving: STEM Parade
Looking for a fun, integrated way to tackle STEM this Thanksgiving? The THINKsgiving STEM Parade is a flexible set of four, 15-minute activities centered around the famous Thanksgiving Day Parade. After a motivating read-aloud of Balloons Over Broadway 2, K-2 students will engage their skills in curiosity, collaboration, and creative thinking.
Science: Make it Float! Students conduct a classroom experiment to understand how to mix a gas that is lighter than air, explaining how the parade's massive balloons can stay aloft.
Engineering: Make a Prototype! Students are challenged to use materials like balloons, construction paper, and tape to design and build a prototype of a new parade float, putting their imagination to work.
Math: Work the Numbers! Students practice their thinking skills by solving fun, parade-themed math problems.
 | Celebrate the Thanksgiving season with a focus on STEM through these four parade-themed activities. |
✏️ Resource
This art lesson is inspired by the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon created by artist Jeff Koons. It guides students through creating a cityscape background and then assembling a sleek, shiny "balloon dog" using simple techniques like highlights and shadows to give it a rounded, three-dimensional look.
 | This lesson puts a fun twist on the traditional balloons, with a sleek, shiny, balloon inspired by Jeff Koons’ signature style |
✏️ Design Your Own Parade Balloon
This fun, cross-curricular Seesaw activity encourages Kindergarten through 2nd-grade students to put their design skills to use by creating a balloon for the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Students will use the Seesaw tools to draw a picture of their unique balloon design and give it a creative name. The activity integrates STEAM and Writing standards by challenging students to explain why Macy's should choose their design for the famous parade.
 | Design your own balloon for the Thanksgiving Parade. |
🛍️Teacher Finds for the Classroom
🖍️ Mindfulness Coloring Book for Relaxation
For the dedicated K-2 teacher, reserving time for self-care is a crucial part of surviving the holiday season, and this coloring book provides the perfect opportunity. This adult coloring book is filled with intricate, soothing patterns designed to help relieve stress, improve focus, and promote mindfulness after a busy day in the classroom. Consider this your invitation to unplug, grab some colored pencils, and cultivate a sense of calm just for yourself.
🤭 Giggle of the Week
h/t to We Are Teachers