Enhancing Enrichment

Are you looking for a fun and engaging way to celebrate Thanksgiving with your students before the holiday break? These activities are designed to get your upper elementary students thinking, creating, and collaborating while exploring the history, traditions, and spirit of Thanksgiving. From hands-on STEM challenges to creative projects, your students will enjoy learning in a meaningful and festive way that ties directly into the season.

ELA Activities

• Thanksgiving Socratic Seminar
• Thanksgiving SCAMPER
• Thanksgiving Word Ladders
• Show Gratitude with Thank You Cards

Thanksgiving Socratic Seminar

If you want to spark meaningful discussion and critical thinking before the holiday break, try a Thanksgiving-themed Socratic Seminar. Pose thought-provoking questions such as:

• Should turkeys be the symbol of Thanksgiving?
• Should Thanksgiving focus more on history or gratitude?
• Should holidays like Thanksgiving be changed as we learn more about their history?

These questions encourage students to consider multiple perspectives while using evidence-based reasoning to support their ideas. During the discussion, they practice active listening, respectful dialogue, and empathy. This activity develops deeper comprehension, communication skills, and real-world thinking. Read more in the Socratic Seminar blog post or download the free Socratic Seminar graphic organizers to use with any topic.

Thanksgiving SCAMPER

Looking for a creative Thanksgiving activity that builds thinking and literacy skills? Try the SCAMPER strategy! SCAMPER invites students to Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, and Rearrange ideas to spark imaginative thinking.

For example, students might:

• Substitute feathers on a turkey for leaves
• Combine a pumpkin with a parade float
• Adapt a cornucopia into a lunchbox

As they brainstorm and explain their ideas, students practice descriptive writing, expand vocabulary, and strengthen creative expression. SCAMPER not only supports literacy but also fosters innovative problem-solving in a fun, festive way. Read more about using this creative thinking technique in the SCAMPER blog post.

Thanksgiving Word Ladders

Word Ladders challenge students to move from one word to another by changing only one letter at a time. Each step must create a real word (no proper nouns), and the start and end words must have the same number of letters.

You can create your own word ladders with this word ladder solver or use the ready-to-use Thanksgiving Word Ladders (with or without clues). If you’re new to the concept, check out the Using Word Ladders post for tips and strategies.

Show Gratitude with Thank You Cards

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to help students reflect on gratitude and kindness. Have your class write thank you cards to show appreciation for others in their lives, such as teachers, classmates, staff members, veterans, or family. This simple activity builds empathy and strengthens writing skills while fostering a positive classroom community.

Students can personalize their cards with drawings, messages, or decorations that express what they are thankful for. If you are looking for a quick, ready-to-use option, you can use the free thank you cards with United States flag and Thanksgiving themes. It is a meaningful, low-prep way to combine writing, creativity, and gratitude during the holiday season.

Math Activities

• Math Logic Puzzles
• Thanksgiving Day Math
• Design a Parade Float

Math Logic Puzzles

Math logic puzzles are a must-have for challenging high-achieving students. In these puzzles, symbols replace numbers, and students must use their knowledge of equations and operations to determine each symbol’s value. This type of problem-solving encourages critical thinking, strengthens algebraic reasoning, and provides a fun, hands-on way to deepen understanding. Learn more in the Using Math Logic Puzzles post.

These Thanksgiving Multiplication and Division Logic Puzzles are designed to engage and challenge advanced math students. After students solve twelve puzzles where pictures take the place of numbers, they are then ready to extend their learning by designing their own logic puzzles to challenge their classmates. Students can create, solve, and self-assess their puzzles using the provided rubric.

You can also introduce mobile puzzles, which help students explore balance and equality. Each mobile works like a hanging balance where every side must be perfectly even. Using given numbers or pictures, students determine missing values so the entire mobile stays balanced. Read more in the Using Mobile Balance Puzzles post, try some free emoji puzzles, or grab the Thanksgiving version for your classroom.

Thanksgiving Day Math

A great real-world math activity is to give students a variety of local grocery store ads and have them “shop” for a meal for their family. Using printed or online flyers, students choose ingredients for a complete meal while staying within a set budget. For an added challenge, they can be asked to include items from each food group, apply coupons to calculate discounts, or compare unit prices to find the best value.

If you need a no-prep activity, this Thanksgiving Day Math Project is ready to print and use. Students apply advanced math skills, like decimals, time, multiplication, division, volume, area, and percentages, while working through a real-life challenge. Students purchase their Thanksgiving meal, plan cook times, calculate calories, and even plan their Black Friday shopping trips.

With two differentiated versions included, you can easily adjust for varying ability levels while keeping every learner motivated. This project reinforces key concepts, promotes critical thinking and problem-solving, and helps students see how math connects to everyday life.

Parade Float Project

You can incorporate math into a parade float project by giving students a budget for their float materials and having them make choices about what to buy. They’ll practice adding, subtracting, and comparing prices while deciding how to spend their money. For example, students have a budget of $100.00. The base and wheels cost $45.00, but students must decide between extra decorations of varying costs.

After building their floats, students can figure out the volume and surface area of their floats. They might also measure area and perimeter for flat decorations. It’s a fun way for kids to see how math connects to real-life planning, designing, and problem-solving.

Read all about having a parade in your classroom in this Thanksgiving Parade Project post.

STEM Activities

• Build the Mayflower
• Feather Tower
• Trap a Turkey

Build the Mayflower

In this Build a Boat STEM Challenge, students use the engineering design process to ask, imagine, plan, create, test, and improve as they explore how objects float and hold weight. Using simple materials, they design and construct a boat that stays afloat, even with added weight.

Connect this challenge to Thanksgiving by discussing the Mayflower and the Pilgrims’ voyage. It’s a fun way to blend science, history, and hands-on learning.

Build a Feather Tower

Challenge your students to build the tallest, freestanding Feather Tower that can hold a lightweight object like a candy pumpkin for at least ten seconds. Using simple materials (feathers, paper, straws, tape, glue, and scissors) students explore balance, stability, and engineering design.

They plan, sketch, test, and reflect on their designs while measuring their final tower height. This activity promotes creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving while applying real engineering concepts.

Trap a Turkey

Looking for a fun way to keep students engaged before break? The Trap a Turkey STEM challenge is a favorite! Students apply their knowledge of simple machines to design and build a chain reaction machine to catch a turkey.

Using the engineering design process, they imagine, create, test, improve, and reflect as they bring their ideas to life. This project combines creativity, teamwork, and scientific thinking and it only requires common classroom materials like ramps, balls, dominoes, cups, blocks, and cardboard.
Read more in the Chain Reaction Machine post or grab the ready-to-use resource.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to mix creativity, critical thinking, and fun in the classroom. From discussions to hands-on projects, these activities help students learn, collaborate, and reflect on gratitude while celebrating the season in a meaningful way. I hope you found a new activity to try this Thanksgiving!