Thanksgiving Activities the Kiddos Will Love!

Although life looked very different in 1621 – the first year Thanksgiving was held – there is one aspect of the first Thanksgiving that we can still experience today – science! Channel your little ones’ energy and keep them learning while on break with these hands-on, engaging Thanksgiving STEM activities.

Cranberry Slime

What’s Thanksgiving without the cranberries?  And this completely edible cranberry slime is a fun way to include some seasonal flavors and aromas into your STEM activities. For this cranberry slime, you will need only two ingredients – 1 cup of cranberry sauce and 1 cup of corn starch.  Then, just mix the two ingredients together, adding more corn starch if necessary for the desired consistency.  And voila!  Your slime is ready to play with and enjoy.  This would even be a great activity for Thanksgiving Day, while the kids are waiting for the grownups to get that delicious feast ready for the dinner table. When finished, just store in a jar or container in the fridge with a tight-fitting lid.  

Pumpkin Volcano

This activity calls for a small pumpkin (gutted), orange food coloring, baking soda, and vinegar. Inside the gutted pumpkin add a few drops of orange food coloring, some baking soda, then slowly pour the vinegar in to make the pumpkin volcano come to life!  It’s easy, messy and fun!  And we all know that easy, messy, and fun are some of the most important ingredients in stem activities for kids.  

Turkey Cages

Your kids can engage in a simple STEM activity using just toothpicks and marshmallows. All you need to do is get each kid a paper turkey (there are many free templates online) and tell them they must capture the turkey and keep it in a cage. Let them get creative and see what kind of cages they come up with!