Classroom Activities, Holidays, Holidays, Teacher Resources

Thanksgiving Photo Booth Props for the Classroom & Free Template

October 28, 2014 TCR Staff Comment

What better way to celebrate and capture what Thanksgiving is all about than with a fun classroom photo session. Create playful Thanksgiving photo booth props using borders, accents, and decorative items that you may already have in the classroom. You can use the free pilgrim hat and feather headband template here to trace and cut.

A great lesson idea would be to discuss the history of Thanksgiving, engage students in conversation about what they are most thankful for, and then end it with a fun photo booth and photo props session. However, are you looking for Cheap Clipping Path Service Provider? This Zenith Clipping is a professional clipping path service provider and they offer the best photo editing services. They are a well-reputed top-ranked image editing company in Bangladesh serving since 2010.

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For each prop you will also need scissors, glue and a wooden dowel rod or any long stick. You can easily find them at any craft store.

Pilgrim Hat

Materials:
Black Construction paper
Zebra Chevron Dot Ribbon Runner
Orange Sassy Solids Double-Sided Border

Instructions:
1) Use the free pilgrim hat template to trace and cut a hat out of black construction paper
2) Cut Zebra Chevron Dot Ribbon Runner into a 5” strip and glue to hat
3) For the buckle, cut Orange Sassy Solids Double Sided Border into a 2” square and cut a smaller square within it and glue to ribbon runner
4) Glue pilgrim hat to wooden dowel rod

Feather Headband

Materials:
Black & White Chevrons Double-Sided Border
Purple Sassy Solids Double-Sided Border
Orange Sassy Solids Double-Sided Border
Yellow Mini Polka Dots Scalloped Border Trim
Lime Colorful Circle Scalloped Border Trim

Instructions:
1) Cut the Black & White Chevrons Double-Sided Border so that it is about 8” long
2) Use the free feather template to trace and cut four feathers out of border trim
3) Glue all four feather to the Black & White Chevrons Double-Sided Border
4) Glue feather headband to wooden dowel rod

Pumpkin Pie

Materials:
Orange & Teal Wild Moroccan Pennants
Chocolate Polka Dots Scalloped Border Trim
Chevron Frames Mini Accents

Instructions:
1) To make the crust, cut Chocolate Polka Dots Scalloped Border Trim into a 6” strip and glue to the edge of the Orange Wild Moroccan Pennant
2) Turn the Chevron Frame Mini Accent over and glue to the middle of the pennant
3) Glue pumpkin pie to wooden dowel rod

Gobble Glasses

Materials:
Turkey Accents

Instructions:
1) Cut a 1” hole into the middle of two turkey accents and glue edges together
2) Glue Turkey accents to wooden dowel rod

Note: You could also use Turkey Mini Accents for mini gobble glasses

For the Bow props, we used these Bow Accents.

For the Gobble Gobble Word Sign we used Speech Thought Bubble Accents.

For the I’m Thankful for sign we used Green Sassy Solids Name Plates.

Have your class take photos behind a white wall or decorate the wall with pennants and border trim to create a photo booth area. Use the props to take solo Thanksgiving photos as a gift to parents. Don’t forget to take a silly class photo all together! Check out our Holiday & Seasonal Projects Pinterest Board for more Thanksgiving classroom activities.

Teacher Resources

Thanksgiving Craft for Kids: Pilgrim Hat Place Cards

November 11, 2013 TCR Staff Comment

Here is a fun and simple Thanksgiving craft idea that only requires a few supplies. Kids will have so much fun making them in class or you can print the directions for them to make at home.

Materials:

Styrofoam cups, one for each place card
Black paint
Paintbrush
Black, yellow, and white construction paper
Pencil
Colored pens or markers (optional)
Scissor
Glue
Craft Knife

Let’s Do It!!

1. Use black paint to cover the outside of the cups, including the bottom. Allow the paint to dry.

2. For each cup, draw a circle on the black construction paper that is larger than the top of the cup.

3. Glue the circles onto the open end of cups. Turn the cups over so they are resting on the black circles.

4. For each cup, cut a square belt buckle shape from the yellow construction paper. Glue the buckle just above the black circle.

5. Place the hats so that the buckles are facing you. Use the Craft Knife to carefully make a slit from side to side across the top of each hat. Write a name on white construction paper strips and place them in the top of the pilgrim hats.

Tip: You can use this activity for Saint Patrick’s Day, just paint the hats green!

From Teacher Created Resources,#3198 Creative Kids: Art for All Seasons

Lesson Plans

Thanksgiving Activities

November 21, 2008 TCR Staff 1 Comment

First, a little Thanksgiving background for your students…
• The Pilgrims sailed to the New World on a ship called the Mayflower.
• The Mayflower was 113 feet long.
• The Pilgrims set sail from Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1620.
• There were 102 Pilgrims on the Mayflower.
• The journey to the New World took 65 days.
• An agreement called the Mayflower Compact was written to set rules for life in the new land.
• The first home the Pilgrims built was called the common house.
• All the Pilgrims lived together in the common house until individual homes were built.
• Only 51 of the Pilgrims survived to celebrate the first Thanksgiving feast.
• In 1863, Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving Day a national holiday.

Giving Thanks Turkey – Activity

Materials
• Crayons
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Glue

Directions
1. Download this activity here (other Thanksgiving activities are also included!).
2. Give one copy of the Thanksgiving turkey (page 94) to each student.
3. In the feathers, students can write nine things they are thankful for (one thing per feather).
4. Next, color the feathers and the turkey parts.
5. Cut out the pieces.
6. Glue the tail pieces behind the body, and voilà! A Giving Thanks Turkey!

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Know a great activity students and teachers can do for Thanksgiving? Share it in our comment roll!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Classroom Activities, Holidays, Holidays, Teacher Resources

Giving Thanks: An Easy Classroom Craft

November 9, 2023 Brent F. 1 Comment

Thanksgiving provides us with a great excuse to sit on the couch all day, overeat, and maybe catch a game or two (or a parade!), but it’s also the perfect time to stop and reflect on the things in our lives that we’re most thankful for.

As much as I enjoy the holiday, our house never gets the attention it deserves for Thanksgiving. We’re usually too exhausted from taking down the Halloween decorations and busy making plans—and space—for the soon-to-be Christmas explosion that besieges our house annually. We do, however, have a couple of turkey-themed decorations that make it onto our walls and shelves in November; and our hands-down favorite is a turkey our daughter made in the first grade. She’s off at college now, but her “Giving Thanks” Turkey still lives at home on our mantle above the fireplace. It’s not a complicated craft, or even all that original, but it’s a reminder to all of us to stop and be thankful for the blessings in our lives. Like my daughter almost 14 years ago, I’m very grateful for my family, my health, my friends, ice cream, and my toys.

I encourage you to create your own “Giving Thanks” Turkey with your students. It’s a fun snapshot of a moment in time, and hopefully something that will find a place on a shelf in their own home one day.

This craft only requires a few materials (shown above):

Materials

precut “feathers” made from construction paper of various colors
paper plates (orange plates look great, or you can use white and have students color them any color they want)
toilet paper rolls
googly eyes
small plastic or paper cups (3-ounce cups work great)
construction paper scraps for beaks and wattles

Procedure

I always think it’s best to start an activity like this with a group discussion about what it means to be thankful and why we should be thankful for certain things and people in our lives. It’s surprising how many young students have never been asked to stop and reflect on this.
Often, it helps to create a classroom list of all the suggestions. A list will help to get the wheels turning and help with spelling.
Allow each student to choose nine feathers. On each feather they should write one thing that they are thankful for.
Demonstrate how to attach the feathers to the “top” of a paper plate (the final turkey will have the bottom of the plate facing forward). Start with the top feather (in the 12:00 position). Glue works best, but a stapler could be used. Add two more feathers (in the 11:00 and 1:00 positions) so that the turkey looks even and balanced. Continue to add the remaining 6 feathers, taking care to leave the bottom third of the plate featherless.
If necessary, color the toilet paper roll, and then glue it to the bottom of the plate. If you’re able to fit a stapler inside the toilet paper roll, a staple or two really helps to secure the two pieces together. The turkey should now be able to stand on its own.

Cut out a beak and wattle and, along with two googly eyes, glue everything in place. Add the cup to the turkey’s head for the final pièce de résistance. You can also make the hat out of construction paper if you’re feeling extra crafty.

We have found that we sometimes need to place a little tape on the back of the turkey to keep it from leaping off our mantle, but attaching a weight inside the base of the toilet paper roll would more than likely produce similar results.

Happy crafting. We hope this activity generates some important conversations in your classroom and some fun “Giving Thanks” Turkeys for your students to share with their families.

Happy Thanksgiving.