Thanksgiving is a time for expressing gratitude and celebrating the blessings in our lives. What better way to plan engaging activities for High school students than Fun Thanksgiving Activities. These Fun Thanksgiving Activities for High School Students will not only promote class engagement and learning but also promote unity. They will also encourage socialization and community services.
There are countless Fun Thanksgiving Activities for High School Students to make your lecture planner outclass. By adding Thanksgiving-themed Activities, your lesson plans can be a pleasant learning experience for them and increase their potential for study.
We enlist the top 15 thought-provoking activities that will captivate your students on track with their learning objectives and provide them inner satisfaction and joy. If you are also searching for fun thanksgiving activities for high school students, our list has got you covered.
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Thanksgiving Activities for High School Students
Let’s explore some exciting and engaging Thanksgiving Activities for High School Students that are both educational and fun!
1. Complete an In-Class Volunteer Project
This Thanksgiving fun Activity for High School Students lets them work together in groups, plan a project, choose a topic they are passionate about, and work for its successful execution. This activity fosters teamwork and leadership skills among students and will also teach them the importance of giving back to their community. It’s the best approach to break up typical classroom routines and provide students with a fun and meaningful learning experience.
2. Create a Teen Pilgrim Magazine
Creating a Teen Pilgrim Magazine activity encourages students to go towards the Pilgrim’s journey and make a worthwhile living in the New World. In this activity, students will use their knowledge to create a magazine. The magazine tells its story from a modern teenage perspective.
This Thanksgiving Activity for high school students will develop critical thinking and research skills among them. It will also let them express their creativity pleasantly and meaningfully. This integration of history and language arts curriculum delivers unique learning values to the new generation.
3. Organize Gratitude Writing Activities
Gratitude writing thanksgiving activities for high school students promote positivity and a sense of appreciation among them. In this activity, students reflect on the things they are grateful for and write them down. It can be performed both individually or as a group activity. It will help students to develop a positive mindset and identify the blessings in their lives.
This will reduce their stress or depression and improve their mental health. The gratitude-sharing activity will enhance empathy and kindness among students with each other and create a sense of community and unity in the classroom. It will lead to a more positive classroom environment.
4. Play The Giving Game with Another Classroom
One of the best fun activities for high school students is to participate in The Giving Game with the students of another classroom. The purpose of this activity is to engage students with one another and brainstorm to give something valuable to others. This can be a great opportunity for students to develop unique skills and thoughtful ideas.
It will not be too expensive, but it will work a lot for the personal and practical growth of your students. Students involved in this activity will create a mural outside the classroom and comply with kind thoughts or organizing behaviors. They will get a sense of accomplishment when it’s done.
5. Play Thanksgiving Price is Right
Price Activity is also a very pleasurable Thanksgiving activity for high school students. It’s about creating a list of traditional Thanksgiving ingredients and assigning a price to each item. Once the list is completed, divide your class into teams and give them 3-4 minutes to guess the cost of each item.
After they guess, the round will be completed, no matter if the guess is right or wrong. You will reveal the actual cost at the end and award a point to the team that guessed the closest or right one. This activity will be a lot of fun and positively grab your students’ attention in their studies and classroom.
6. Fabric Wall Art Fun Activity
By using fabric scraps and a simple template, students can create a unique piece of art that they can be proud of. Thanksgiving art project is a unique heart blowing Thanksgiving activity for high school students that can unleash the hidden artist of everyone. In this project, they will make wall art out of fabric scraps. They can freely create designs that they like with the help of available templates and a few basic materials. This activity is the best way to encourage creativity and provide pleasure to the students.
7. Do a 14-Day Gratitude Journal Practice
It’s a grateful thanksgiving activity for high school students to create gratitude journals or engage in gratitude provoked. Start the activity by explaining what gratitude is and how it can bring benefits to us. Give some examples, such as increased happiness and better relationships. Then, provide students with journals or prompts and encourage them to reflect on what they are grateful for in their lives.
They can write down things they are thankful for or can participate in class discussions focused on gratitude. This gratitude activity can develop a more positive mindset among high school students.
8. Thanksgiving Fun Mad Libs Activity
Thanksgiving Mad Libs is an entertaining activity for high school students to enjoy. For its setup, you should have to follow very few instructions. Gather a list of Thanksgiving-related words like symbols, cities, and family members’ names.
Then, write a story with blank spaces where the selected words will fit in. Provide the students with a list of chosen words and ask them to fill in the blanks to complete the story individually. Once students complete their stories, read them loudly to the class and enjoy the hysterical silly results.
9. Thanksgiving for Food from Farm to Table
This is the most optimistic activity among all other fun thanksgiving activities for high school students. From this act, students will learn to respect and appreciate others’ efforts positively. They will work together to prepare a list of the variety of foods that are usually served at Thanksgiving and also write up the specific ingredients that are used to prepare those dishes.
You will work to prepare different tasks and questions to test their devotion to the activity. Afterward, you will put the answers into a worksheet called “The Geography of My Thanksgiving Dinner.” It will be helpful to better understand where your food comes from and how much hard work and others’ devotion are included.
10. Look at the Economics Behind Thanksgiving Activities
Thanksgiving Activities for High School Students provide an opportunity to teach students about economics and financial check and balance. You can create an engaging lesson plan that can assist students in learning about the economic impact of the holiday.
You can include a discussion about different topics, such as Thanksgiving stimulating the economy, the average cost of a dinner, its variation according to standards, the impact of increasing prices on your expenses, the increased food shopping budget, and more. In addition, this thanksgiving activity is something that students can learn through research. So, it sharpens their analytical reasoning and critical approach.
11. Corn and Pumpkin Paper Weavings Activity
This fun thanksgiving activity for high school students involves crafting paper weavings with colored construction papers. It also can be played by students of different levels for fun and pleasure. The materials required to organize this activity are only a variety of colored construction papers.
Students will create paper weavings that can be made into different shapes. They also can add a festive touch to this activity by making delicious pictorials like corn, pumpkins, and other favorite foods. This activity is a fun and engaging way to celebrate the season and get creative with different colors and textures.
12. The Great Thanksgiving Listen Activity
The Great Thanksgiving Listen is a fun thanksgiving activity for high school students. It can be implemented for middle school students as well. This activity is about conducting interviews with their inspiring personalities. It can be a friend, mentor, or elder one. The goal of this project is to create an oral history of the modern-day school experience. They will ask about their achievements and note down their priceless sentiments.
This is an exciting and engaging digital activity that teachers and students can participate in and engage with each other. Adding this project to your lesson plans lets you enjoy listening to a collection of unique stories. It’s a great way to learn about others’ experiences and develop interviewing and recording skills.
13. Attitude of Gratitude Activity
The Attitude of Gratitude activity is designed for fun thanksgiving activities for high school students. It will let your students focus on the positive aspects of their lives instead of sticking to the negatives. It involves creating gratitude journals. In those journals, students will list all the things they are thankful for in their lives.
By doing this act, they shift their mindset from negative to positive. It will develop a more optimistic outlook and improve their overall well-being. This will also encourage mindfulness and self-reflection to appreciate the good things in their lives.
14. Listen to a Podcast Thanksgiving Activity
Anytime before Thanksgiving activity, you can gather and engage your students meaningfully. Arrange a podcast system and ask them to listen to one of two podcasts. When they listen to them, take a complete follow-up about the activity. For instance, you ask students to create gratitude to reflect on and express their gratitude.
Another one is to do research and determine the Native land they are living on. It will develop an understanding and appreciation of the history and culture of the area. Providing this opportunity to students can help them explore the world around them and to be more mindful and empathetic.
15. Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt
A Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt is an adventurous activity that can be enjoyed by both kids and adults. It can also be added to any curriculum. To start this activity, you can divide the students into small groups and note some items. The objective of all teams is to find each item before the other teams.
This friendly competition will add an element of excitement and keep the students engaged. Anyhow, it’s just an idea you are not bound to apply to it. You can plan the game to fit the curriculum, with different clues or tasks related to the topics being covered in class. Scavenger hunts will promote creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving skills among your students.
16. Thanksgiving Minute-to-Win-it Game Station Setup
The other game among fun thanksgiving activities for high school students is known as “minute-to-win-it” games. These are short games, usually timed, where players must achieve a milestone in under a minute to win. I would like to give you an idea of what you can plan for this activity. One idea is to set up a plate with small objects, and the other is called the “Sticky Cranberry Situation.”
In the first one, students will prepare a platter with delicious items like popcorn, candy corn, and more, and then use chopsticks to “peck” every item one by one and transfer them to another plate. In “Sticky Cranberry Situation” Players have to bounce cranberries onto a bread slice covered in cranberry sauce until the cranberries stick. Both games can be played in small teams or add an element of competition for larger groups.
17. Do a Gratefulness Mural to Display in the Hall
This is a fun activity for high school students that can perform during Thanksgiving time. It will create a gratitude mural among students that can be displayed in the classroom and overall behavioral activities in school. To create this mural, students can work together to plan their visions and goals for life. Each student can contribute to the mural as he wants, like by drawing and painting or creating some symbols that represent his gratitude for having some blessings.
In addition, the class can work together on a larger painting that displays the theme of gratitude. Once the task is completed, it can be displayed in any specific space to encourage students, such as in the hallway, the principal’s office, or the classroom. This will let others see the students’ work and appreciate the message of gratitude.
18. Essay Writing Activity on thanksgiving Feelings about Special Day
The essay writing activity for Thanksgiving lets students reflect on their feelings about the special day or moment. The essay may include personal experiences, cultural significance, or family traditions. Once students have brainstormed, they can begin writing their essays.
Teachers can guide them on how they can organize and structure the essay. They also should have offered feedback and support throughout the writing process. This will boost their thinking ability and develop their writing skills to express themselves effectively.
19. Thanksgiving Reading Buddies Pair Up
This fun Thanksgiving activity for high school students can simply be performed to pair students up with a buddy to read a book. Reading buddies will read books and then discuss their opinions with each other. The activity includes some simple steps, i.e., first, the buddies will introduce themselves to each other, then start reading a book. Once the book is completed, they will discuss it and share their opinions.
The reading buddies can also share their family traditions or customs that they enjoyed and always remembered during their holidays.
20. Perform a Gratefulness Mural Activity to Display in the Hall
The Geography of Thanksgiving Dinner is a discussion about the origins of the foods eaten during a Thanksgiving meal. This geography-based approach to fun thanksgiving activities for high school students considers the food traditions of different areas of the country. It lets them explore how they have influenced the modern Thanksgiving feast.
Likewise, the cranberry sauce is most commonly served with Thanksgiving dinners in turkey, but it is also associated with New England because cranberries are grown here in a wide range. Similarly, cornbread stuffing is a combination found in Southern cuisine, while its sweet potato pie is also a popular dessert in the South and Midwest.
Final Thoughts
My final opinion about fun Thanksgiving activities for high school students is that these fun thanksgiving activities for high school students offer a unique opportunity to engage them in meaningful ways that develop gratitude, community, and personal growth. From hangouts to indoor game challenges and fun to learning activities, there are lots of creative ways to entertain high school students.
Just freely choose any of the activities mentioned in the list and make your class more interesting and engaging for students.
