It’s turkey season, everyone! 🦃 Today on the blog, I’m sharing some fun and easy Thanksgiving music lesson ideas you can use this November. These activities mix rhythm review, instrument play, and music reading practice—perfect for keeping your students engaged and learning during this busy time of year!
🥁 Run, Turkey, Run! — Instrument Play-Along
Run, Turkey, Run! by Diane Mayr is a delightful and silly story about a turkey who disguises himself around the farm to escape!
To make this story musical, I start by teaching my students a short song to sing every time the book says, “Run, turkey, run!”
On day two, I like to add a simple steady beat bordun (D and A) on Orff instruments. Then, we layer in unpitched percussion instruments to match the sounds around the farm:
- Clompity, Clomp – Hand Drum
- Muckity, Muck – Egg Shaker
- Splashity, Splash – Triangle
- Clankity, Clank – Wood Block
- Crunchity, Crunch – Guiro
Now you’ve got a whole Thanksgiving music performance piece built right into your literacy connection! Read the story again and let your students play their parts as the story unfolds.
🍽️ Thanksgiving Meal Rhythm Review
There’s so much you can do rhythmically with Thanksgiving foods! These rhythm-based music centers and composition ideas are always a hit with my students.
🎯 Meal Sort
- Set out large paper plates labeled with rhythm types (Quarter Notes, Paired Eighths, Sixteenths).
- Print out small Thanksgiving food cards.
- Quarter Notes: Pie, Roll, Corn
- Paired Eighths: Stuffing, Turkey, Gravy, Cider
- Sixteenths: Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potato, Macaroni
- Quarter Notes: Pie, Roll, Corn
- Students sort each food onto the correct plate!
✍️ Thanksgiving Meal Composition
- Give students a “plate” worksheet with 4–8 boxes drawn on it and plenty of food rhythm cards.
- Students create their own Thanksgiving meal composition by placing rhythm food cards in each box.
- They perform their composition by speaking or clapping the rhythms.
You can even turn it into a rondo performance:
A Section: “Gobble, gobble—what’s next on the plate?
Let’s hear your meal—can’t wait!”
Then, students take turns performing their rhythm “meal.”
🚶 Thanksgiving Write the Room
- Place rhythm food patterns around the room.
- Students walk around with clipboards or dry-erase boards to decode and notate each rhythm they find.
🍴 Popsicle Stick Decoding
- Place “holiday plates” face down—each one has a Thanksgiving food pattern.
- Students reveal a plate, decode the rhythm using popsicle sticks, and check their answer before choosing the next one.
These are simple but powerful ways to reinforce rhythm reading while keeping the holiday fun going!
🎃 A Pumpkin Ran Away — Dotted Half Note Practice
This witty song (find the notation here) tells the story of a pumpkin rolling away to avoid becoming pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Day! It’s a classroom favorite—and it’s also great for teaching the dotted half note in a seasonal way.
Here’s how I use it:
- Introduce the dotted half note. Explain what the dot beside a note does.
- Play the chords and melody on Boomwhackers.
- Play the game!
The game works perfectly with the song—similar to One, Two, Three, O’Leary! It ties beautifully into the idea of the pumpkin trying to roll away.
If you can find pumpkin playground balls, they make this lesson even more interactive and hilarious! 🎃This activity keeps you on track with your music reading objectives while still bringing in the seasonal fun.
🎈 Thanksgiving Day Parade — Solfege Game
My Thanksgiving Solfege Parade resource helps students aurally identify solfege syllables in stick notation while having a blast organizing the Thanksgiving Day Parade!
The goal: organize the parade floats and balloons by matching solfege patterns they hear.
Teaching Process:
Lesson 1 – Interactive Google Slides
Students see three floats, each showing a solfege pattern (so/mi for 1st, adding la for 2nd, and do/re for 3rd grade). When they click on the parade volunteer, they hear a solfege pattern and must identify which one matches.
Lesson 2 – Manipulative Cards
In pairs or small groups, students use the Parade Route Game Board and solfege cards to practice matching and sequencing patterns. It’s a great way to differentiate instruction and reinforce aural skills.
Thanksgiving is such a great time to add some seasonal fun to your music lessons! Whether you’re exploring rhythms, practicing solfege, or adding instruments to a story, these activities keep your students learning while celebrating the season.
Each of these lessons—Run, Turkey, Run, Thanksgiving Meal Rhythm Activities, A Pumpkin Ran Away, and the Thanksgiving Day Parade Solfege Game—are part of my Thanksgiving Music Lesson Bundle on Teachers Pay Teachers. The bundle includes everything you need for a smooth, musical November—lesson plans, printables, and engaging digital options for your students.
👉 You can grab the Thanksgiving Lesson Bundle here: Music and Motivate on TpT
Bring a little extra joy (and less prep!) to your November music room with lessons your students will love year after year.
