Celebrate gratitude and creativity this fall with the Thanksgiving Turkey Art Lesson by Ms Artastic! This engaging, low-prep art project helps your students explore thankfulness while building art, reading, and writing skills in a hands-on, joyful way. Perfect for Kindergarten through Grade 3, this mixed-media lesson blends drawing, painting, literacy, and social-emotional learning into one meaningful classroom experience.

Students will follow a guided step-by-step art tutorial to draw and paint their turkeys using wax crayons or oil pastels and watercolor or tempera paints. Along the way, they’ll learn about Thanksgiving, reflect on gratitude, and express what they’re thankful for through both visual art and writing.

This complete resource includes a lesson plan, rubric, reflection pages, reading comprehension, writing prompts, and printable teaching tools — giving you everything you need to create a beautiful, thoughtful Thanksgiving art experience for your classroom or homeschool.

🍂 Why Teachers Love This Lesson

If you’ve ever wanted an art project that’s festive, meaningful, and easy to teach — this one’s for you.

This art lesson encourages your students to:

• Reflect on gratitude through art and writing.
• Build art skills in line, texture, and color.
• Engage in meaningful discussion about kindness and thankfulness.
• Follow directions, express ideas visually, and take pride in their final work.

It’s designed to fit easily into your existing routine — great for a short seasonal unit, a Thanksgiving-themed art day, or a cross-curricular literacy connection that keeps your classroom calm and creative during the busy fall season.

🎨 About This Resource (Non-Editable, American English)

This is a complete Thanksgiving art lesson for Grades K–3 that includes everything you need to teach successfully — from prep to display.

Inside you’ll find:

Full 2-Page Lesson Plan:
Step-by-step instructions, learning objectives, suggested discussion prompts, classroom management tips, and optional art extensions.

Lesson Hook: Picture Puzzle Activity
A fun, hands-on hook that gets students thinking and predicting before the art-making begins!

About Thanksgiving Reading Passage:
A short, age-appropriate nonfiction reading to introduce the topic of gratitude and Thanksgiving.

Teacher Guide: “The Thankful Turkey”
Includes discussion starters, anchor chart ideas, and questions to help guide deeper reflection on gratitude and kindness.

Art Tutorial:
A 14-step visual and written guide for students to draw and paint their turkey artwork using wax crayons and watercolor or tempera paint.

Art Rubric:
Clear, simple rubric for assessing creativity, craftsmanship, and responsibility.

Writing & Literacy Activities:

• Reading comprehension story: “Tim’s Thankful Day” with question pages and an answer key.
• Opinion writing and draw-and-write prompts on thankfulness.
• Sight word tracking and word bank for early readers.
• Compare & Contrast chart: “Thankful for Things We Have vs. Thankful for Things We Can Do.”
• Creative writing and reflection pages (Artist’s Statement, 3 Stars & a Wish, Feelings reflection, etc.).

Art Reflection & Assessment Pages:
Includes KWL chart, art feelings page, artist’s statement, “3 Stars and a Wish,” and more to support reflection and self-assessment.

Bonus Elements of Art Pages:

• Element of Art: Line
• Element of Art: Value (Gray Scale)
• Symmetry Practice Worksheet

Display Materials:
Printable bulletin board sign and artwork display ideas to create a stunning fall classroom showcase.