Pilgrims for Kids

Make learning about pilgrims for kids fun and engaging with this hands on history for kids unit for preschool, pre k, kindergarten, first grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, and 4th grade students! The unit includes pilgrim printables, DIY costumes, how to make marbles, johnny cakes recipe, writing with quills, and so much more! Us this for a thanksgiving history lesson for kids, to learn about life in colonial America, or to learn about American history.

Pilgrims for Kids

We love making history come alive for kids so that they will learn more and retain more too. Our history units contain not only free printables and book recommendations, but lots of hands on history activities, games, costumes and more so your preschoolers, kindergartners, grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, and grade 4 students will feel like they lived through and experience that moment in the past. This Pilgrims for Kids unit is perfect for helping children learn about life in early America.

In our second week of learning about the colonial america for kids in our  history for kids  we are exploring the pilgrims. Sure we all have heard of the Pilgrims from Thanksgiving, but how much do you really know about them. In this week’s study you will make some costumes, write with a quill, make your own marbles, try johnny cakes, and can print more pages to your free printable life in colonial America book. Whether you are a family preparing some meaningful Thanksgiving activities, a teacher planning a fun Pilgrim week, or a homeschooling family creating an immersive pilgrim history lesson – you will loe these clever history activities for your students.

Pilgrims History

The next Colonial settlement we read about  the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 and settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Pilgrim Activities

We started by getting in costume and made stereotypical costumes (easy Pilgrim hat tutorial here)

Thanksgiving Activities

Squanto taught the Pilgrims to plant corn so we made a pictures showing his method by gluing a goldfish & 3 corn kernels topped with soil. I HIGHLY recommend Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving by Eric Metaxas. It is a beautiful, informative, and faith written book. There is a LOT about Squanto that I did not know!

Thanksgiving Activities for Kids

We practiced writing like the Pilgrims did with a Quill feather. We made our authentic “ink” using dirt, water, and charcoal. It came out great and the kids thought it was hilarious!

Colonial Food -Johnny Cakes

We also talked about Colonial food. Cooking was hard work and dangerous as they cooked over an open fire. They grew their own vegetables, made their own bread, milked cows for milk, churned mil to get butter, and used corn a lot! To reinforce we had Johnny Cakes, traditional colonial dish with corn (see Great Colonial American Projects for recipe). We also had Pumpkin Pie to celebrate the 1st Thanksgiving.

Colonial America Pilgrims Books to Read