When we get to the holidays, our schedules tend to fill up. I know in our homeschool, I’m ready to wind down as we prepare to celebrate. I’m always looking for something super easy, and the solution for us has been books! This Thanksgiving I invite you to simplify your routine and try this out.
Below is a list of four books. Each book is absolutely wonderful on it’s own, but sometimes it’s fun to add a little something extra. With each book, I have described a simple activity to go along with it.
Choose one of these, two of these, or do them all. That’s it! No worksheets, no schedule, just read the books with your kiddos. If you want to add in the activity, go for it! We have loved using picture books to study this Thanksgiving, and I hope it can do the same for you and your family too!
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The Story of the Pilgrims
BOOK: “The Story of the Pilgrims” by Katharine Ross
This book is cute and kid-friendly. We read it each year in our house and the story covers a little bit of everything about the Pilgrims. It starts with why they left to what happened when they got there. It describes how the Native Americans helped them and ends with a feast at the end. It’s a very simple, and easy-to-understand story.
ACTIVITY: Thanksgiving Story Trail Mix
This trail mix recipe can be downloaded for free! It’s the cutest thing and it’s so fun to do along with this book. For example, one part of the recipe says to add marshmallows because the Pilgrims had to survive a long winter. When you get to the page in the story that talks about that, pause to add your marshmallows. It really is a perfect pairing! (We do this one every year – it’s a blast!)
Keepunumuk: Weeachumun’s Thanksgiving Story
BOOK: “Keepunumuk: Weeachumun’s Thanksgiving Story” by Danielle Greendeer
This is a newer book and it is so, so wonderful. The book is beautifully illustrated and the story is told from the perspective of the three sisters – corn, beans, and squash.
ACTIVITY: The Three Sisters Craft
This craft was inspired by another blog, but we added our own twist. The supplies you’ll need are construction paper, pipe cleaners, yellow pom poms, hot glue, and beans. (TIP – if you want to simplify this even more take out the pipe cleaners, beans, and hot glue and just use markers to draw it on)
As a side note, the process of growing the three sisters is so incredibly interesting to me. If you are not familiar with it, read more about it here.
You’ll need to cut out the shapes, and it may help to do it in advance. See the photo above for a visual of these items. For each craft you’ll need a corn stalk, 3-4 pieces of corn, 3-4 green husks, and squash leaves.
Glue all of the paper pieces to your background paper. Next, take your pipe cleaners and wrap it around a marker. This will give it the twirl-y look. We used two per craft. Glue the pipe cleaners onto the stalk (this is the vine for the beans). Finally, glue the beans and the yellow pom poms to finish.
Three Young Pilgrims
BOOK: “Three Young Pilgrims” by Cheryl Harness
This book is really special as it follows the journey of the PIlgrims through the perspective of three young children. The illustrations are so beautiful, but the book does an amazing job teaching the reader that the voyage was not all fun and games. The book also provides factual information through pictures, maps, and extra pages at the end. I can’t wait to add this one to our personal library.
ACTIVITY: Interactive Mayflower
I found this craft from another blog, but I want to share how we changed it up to fit our family. First, we used watercolor to paint the ocean. I let the kids decide how they wanted to do the sky (colored pencils, more watercolors…).
Next, I prepared the pieces for the ship. This was easy to cut out right before we started. Each child needed 1 brown ship, 2 white sails, 2 toothpicks, and 1 craft stick. After putting one together for my youngest, my older children were able to assemble their ship on their own, using my example.
Finally, I cut a slit in the paper plate, and we were finished. Each child added their own special touch and played with the interactive boat for a while. When they finished I taped the craft stick on the back of the plate and hung it up on our art display!
Squanto’s Journey
BOOK: “Squanto’s Journey” by Joseph Bruchac
This book tells you all about Squanto’s life, starting before the time he helped the pilgrims. There was a reason he was able to learn English, and this book allows you to learn all about what he went through. His story is one to remember!
ACTIVITY: Wigwam/Wetu Craft
This craft is one we did with another story we read (directions linked here), but it’s the perfect activity to go along with this book as well. Native Americans lived in many different types of homes, depending on where they were and what tribe they were from. The type of home that Squanto may have lived in is like a wigwam. From the stories we read and the research I did, the house was called “wetu”.
