I blinked, and suddenly, it’s Thanksgiving, which means it’s time to pull out your favorite Thanksgiving music activities! The fall season is one of my favorite times of the year, as there are so many fun and exciting music lessons you can do, especially for Thanksgiving! In this post, you will find my top 4 Thanksgiving music lessons I use with my students every year- hopefully you find something new to take back with you into your own classroom!
If you’d love to check out the video version of this blog post, then make sure to check out the Whimsically Musical Youtube channel, where we dive deeper into each of these musical activities!
Now, let’s dive into the good stuff. Here are some of my top Thanksgiving music activities you can start using as early as tomorrow!!
1. Run, Turkey Run
This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving music activities to do with my students! I start by reading the story to my class, and every time the book says “Run, Turkey Run!” I insert the turkey song I created for the story. Students then learn the orff arrangement for the song, and then we read the book again, this time adding the accompaniment. (You can get the Orff arrangement and slide show here)
You can use this activity with both younger and older grade levels (I created a slide show that uses the song to introduce quarter and eighth notes and teaches them a steady beat bordun accompaniment, but for the older ones they have a crossover bordun pattern). This is a fun and easy thanksgiving music activity for sure!
2. The Turkey Is A Funny Bird/Ten Fat Turkeys
This is a song and game I usually use with 2nd and 3rd grade, but even my 5th graders still request this game, as they love getting to use the turkey gobblers, which you can purchase here.
I cannot share the original song I learned with this game, as it was one I learned in my Orff Levels, but this song works just as well!
I start by reading the story Ten Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston to my students, adding the song The Turkey Is A Funny Bird to the end of every page. Once my students know the song, we play the game:
All of the students will be seated in a circle with their hands behind their back.
One student will have both turkey gobblers in their hand as they walk around the circle. On the words “Wobble, Wobble,” and “Gobble, Gobble, Gobble” the student will stop and shake the turkey gobblers. On the last “Gobble” the student will place one of the turkey gobblers into one of the hands of a student that is sitting down in the circle. That student will then stand up and try to chase the other person around the circle before they get back to their spot, just like Duck-Duck Goose. If the student gets caught, they go into the middle, and are eaten for Thanksgiving dinner, which my students LOVE!
You can purchase this resource that also comes with a simple orff arrangement for the song here
3. Ho-Ho Watanay
This is another Thanksgiving music activity my students love so much! I actually got this song and book pairing from Lindsay Jervis over at Kodaly Corner, and I just loved the introduction of Native American music and lullabies for the little ones, it has been a hit every year!
The song Ho-Ho Watanay is an old Iroquois lullaby, which pairs well with the book Northwoods Cradle Song, a book about the Menominee tribe. (I could not find a good Iroquois children’s book to use instead). Every time the story says “Go to sleep little Warrior, go to sleep, go to sleep” we sing the song Ho-Ho Watanay.
We then use Lindsay’s resource where she has the students keep the beat to the song (You could easily add an unpitched instrument for the students to accompany the song if you want a further extension), and then she also includes slides to introduce ta and ti-ti if you want to use that song as your presentation lesson, or even just for review of quarter and eighth notes. I definitely recommend adding this song to your repertoire as a great thanksgiving music lesson!
4. As I Came Over Yonder Hill
This is one of my favorite thanksgiving music lessons, as the song is just so silly!
This is an activity I use primarily with fourth and fifth grade, as I use it to focus on different tempos such as presto, largo, etc.
To teach the song, I use David Row from Make Moments Matter’s Folk Song Powerpoints, which are always amazing.
Students are seated in a circle. I will give one of them the turkey plush to pass around the circle to the beat during the song. Whichever student has the turkey on the last word “dirty” is out, and will move to the xylophones to play the accompaniment. That student will also decide the tempo for the next round of the song from the following choices (Tempo is focused on heavily for the fourth grade’s music end of year county exam they have to take, so we spend lots of time reviewing varying tempos). I allow the students to choose from the following tempos:
- Largo
- Andante
- Moderato
- Allegro
- Presto
I am not judging accuracy, as the students usually do not perform as well at the presto tempo, but I am assessing their understanding of each tempo. The students really love this game!
Furthermore, hopefully these Thanksgiving music activities spark creativity and joy within your classroom! I’d love to know in the comments down below which of these you plan on using in your classroom next!
