One Way to Have a Little Turkey Fun

If stores are any indication, Thanksgiving has become the forgotten holiday! By the beginning of October, Christmas merchandise starts sneaking onto their shelves. Then, it completely takes over the second Halloween has passed. You’re lucky to find a few Thanksgiving, turkey, or harvest items languishing in a corner or on a hidden shelf.

Even with all the Christmas hype, there’s still time and opportunity for Thanksgiving in the classroom… learning about the history of the first Thanksgiving, contrasting the differences between long ago and today, and focusing on gratitude.

Oh, and don’t forget to have a little turkey fun!

Reasons You Should Try Turkey Collect and Sort

I adore this Turkey Collect & Sort activity for several reasons.

One activity can be used to focus on different skills with different kids.
It is relatively easy to prepare.
This is a hands-on learning activity designed to engage.
This activity can be repeated across the seasons with different themes.

How Can You Differentiate This Activity

Turkey Collect & Sort, a free download, is a partner activity crafted to engage preschoolers, kindergarteners, and beginning first graders on several levels.

Your youngest learners can enhance their fine motor skills and match/ identify colors, simply by collecting counters and sorting them by color.

Older learners can follow-up by counting, writing numerals, and representing quantities with ten frames and tally marks. Additionally, they can graph and compare quantities.

How to Prepare and Play Turkey Collect and Sort

You will need:

Cardstock or paper for printing selected pages
Laminator, optional
25 one-half to seven-eighths inch counters (pompoms, buttons, or M & M’s) in red, brown, and yellow for each pair of players, with a more or less even color distribution

To prepare:

Choose to print in color or black/ white.
Decide on a spinner or a cube. Print and cut. Color the black and white, if using. You can make a spinner with purchased hands; a paper clip and pencil; or a brad and paperclip. Score, fold and glue the cube.
Print one turkey game mat for each pair of players.
Print one sorting mat for each player (optional, 2 per page). Color code the black and white.
Pick and print one or both optional recording sheets.

To play Turkey Collect & Sort:

Place 25 red, brown, and yellow counters in the spaces on the turkey mat.
Take turns with a partner.
Spin or roll.
Collect one counter that matches your color. Place the counter on your sorting mat, if using. If all the counters that match your color have been collected, you lose your turn.
Play until all the counters have been collected.

Count to find out how many of each color you collected. Which color did you collect the most of and the fewest of? Count to find out how many counters you collected in all. Who collected the most or the fewest?

Recording Sheets:

Follow-up with one or both of the recording sheets. If desired, color the circles to match the color words.

Count how many of each color you collected. Write the number. Color spaces on the ten frame to match each quantity. Draw tally marks to match each quantity.
Count how many of each color you collected. Color the bars on the graph to match each quantity. Use the data on the graph to complete the statements.