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.
Thanksgiving Activities for Preschoolers
How to Make Marbles for Kids
We read Samuel Eaton Pilgrim Boy to see what a day looked like for a Pilgrim boy. Then we talked about what Colonial life would have been like for kids. Goofy thought it was HILARIOUS that boys wore dresses until they were 7! Then we made our own marbles to play with like Colonial kids did.
Making your own marbles is actually really easy! Simply mix in a sauce pan 1/2 cup cornstarch, 1 cup baking soda, 5/8 cup water and continue stirring over medium heat until it forms a ball. Cool on wax paper. Add in food coloring if you want to make colored DIY Marbles. Shape your marbles and allow them to cool completely. You are ready to play some fun marble games just like the pilgrims would have played hundreds of years ago!
Pilgrim Printables
We added the pilgrim worksheets to our Life in Colonial America book we’ve been making to record what we’ve learned in our unit. Each page includes a place for children to draw a picture or place a photograph of a pilgrim activity you did together. The pages included with these free pilgrim worksheets include:
- Squanto being taken
- Squanto helps the Pilgrims
- Food in Colonial America
- Clothes in Colonial America
Make learning about history for kids exciting with lots of fun, hands-on history lessons to learn about countries around the world, US states, early explorers, colonial America, Westward Expansion, and more!
Thanksgiving Printables
- Thanksgiving Worksheets for Preschoolers
- Printable Thanksgiving Writing Activities
- Thanksgiving Color by Letter
- Free Thanksgiving Theme
- Turkey Word Family Sort
- Thanksgiving Sight Word Coloring
- Arthur’s thanksgiving activities
- HUGE Pack of Thanksgiving Worksheets
- Thanksgiving Alphabet
- Life Cycle of a Turkey Printable Worksheets
- First Thanksgiving Reader – Thanksgiving First Grade Printable
- Thanksgiving Counting by 10s
- Candy Corn Printable – Count and Trace the Turkeys
- Thanksgiving Color by Number Addition
- Hands-on Turkey Math Count to 10
- Pumpkin Count and Trace Numbers 1-10
- Turkey Spin – Thanksgiving Shapes Printables
- Subtraction Thanksgiving Math Worksheets
- Thanksgiving Color by Number
- Cut and Paste Thanksgiving Worksheets
- Free Thanksgiving Math Worksheets & Games
- Thanksgiving Color by Hundreds Chart
- Addition Pumpkin Patch Game
- 30+ November Crafts for Kids
- Lots of fun November Activities for Kids
- Fun pilgrims for kids history lesson
- Edible Turkey Craft
- Thanksgiving Hat Printable
- Turkey Craft with cup and feathers
- Paper Plate Turkey Craft
- Turkey Colour matching
- Cute Turkey Craft with cup and feathers
- Super cute Turkey Crafts for Kids
- Thanksgiving pre-Writing Worksheets
- Turkey Crafts with Pumpkin Seeds
- Printable Turkey Colors Printable Sorting Activity
- Thanksgiving Playdough Cards
- Turkey Packing Peanut crafts
- Free Printable Thanksgiving Skits
- Thanksgiving BINGO
- Easy Paper Turkey Craft
- Candy Corn Printable – Count and Trace the Turkeys
- FREE Thanksgiving Pictionary for Families
Plus don’t miss our family favorite Thanksgiving recipes
- yummy leftover turkey pie recipe
- Leftover Turkey Soup
- perfect every time, Best Pumpkin Pie Recipe
- Super cute thanksgiving jokes place cards
- Thanksgiving Meal Planner with free printables
Pilgrims Worksheets
By downloading from my site you agree to the following:
- This is for personal use only
- This may NOT be sold, hosted, reproduced, or stored on any other site (including blog, Facebook, Dropbox, etc.)
- All downloaded materials provided are copyright protected. Please see Terms of Use.
- I offer free printables to bless my readers AND to provide for my family. Your frequent visits to my blog & support purchasing through affiliates links and ads keep the lights on so to speak. Thanks you!