For those in the US looking for Thanksgiving activities to share with your classrooms, here are several great ideas and blog posts from other teachers with many creative and entertaining possibilities.
1. Elizabeth Caldwell shares her favorite Thanksgiving music lessons on her site, Organized Chaos. You’ll find several activities and songs relating to Thanksgiving, including “Gobble Gobble” and “5 Little Turkeys”.
2. In this post, Tracy King shares many entertaining Thanksgiving Ideas for Music Class. You’ll DEFINITELY want to check out Disco Turkey!
3. This Kindermusik page explains the history of Over The River and Through The Woods and includes several activities appropriate for different age ranges.
4. Mrs. Warner’s 4th Grade Classroom shares several Thanksgiving related music videos, including “Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving”, “Over The River And Through The Woods” and “Turkey Calling” (this might be an interesting one to share with the class…to see if they can imitate the turkey calls). There is also a fun video which demonstrates how to draw a cartoon turkey.
5. Vanessa Levin shares some great activities in her post, Thanksgiving Music For Preschool Kids. These songs and videos will work well for younger students to sing and dance along with, including “All You Turkeys Dance Around”, “Thanksgiving Day”, “Do The Turkey Hop” and many more.
6. Another great idea from Vanessa Levin is the Corn Shakers Music Activity. All you need are some clean and empty containers, some unpopped popping corn, and some music. The corn shakers make great rhythm instruments, which can be used along with any of the Thanksgiving music mentioned above.
7. This fun activity, called the Gratitude Game, can be found on the Teach Beside Me website. The game is very similar to pick up sticks. To make it kid-friendly you could change out the sticks for different colored straws. Once someone picks a stick, they name something they are grateful for.
8. Here is a link to Jan Mason’s Pinterest page Thanksgiving Music Class. There are so many great ideas! Plan to spend some time looking around!
9. Looking for a SMARTBoard activity? Cherie Herring shares her SMARTBoard Thanksgiving Thankful Turkey Song. This is a fun activity with an emphasis on gratitude. This can definitely be adapted for all ages.
10. The Lesson Zone shares a syncopation lesson called “Run From The Farmer”. This is a great opportunity to teach syncopation and to get your classroom moving!
Do you have any favorite Thanksgiving activities for your music classroom? If so, let us know on the Midnight Music Technology Training Facebook Page. We’d love to hear your ideas!
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