Food and Climate Change: Thanksgiving Activities For K-2

Thanksgiving dinner connects directly to climate change through the food systems that bring it to the table. This collection of Thanksgiving activities for K-2 covers food production, waste, and land use, and how each affects our changing climate and the ecosystems we depend on. Inside you'll find lesson plans, games, videos, and worksheets across subjects — fun activities for kids ready to bring into your classroom this holiday season.

Explore this Guide

Lesson Plans for Thanksgiving

These food-themed and Thanksgiving lesson plans for grades K-2 cover every part of the food journey from the farm to your plate. Explore lessons on food production and climate science with hands-on activities to make these concepts accessible to our younger learners.

Food Origins: Science Lesson

In this lesson, students learn where food comes from and the importance of preserving Earth's natural resources and biodiversity.

Teacher Author: Dena James

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More Food Lesson Plans

Students learn about composting and its benefits to Mother Earth in this SubjectToClimate lesson. From Teacher Author: Angelique Hammock

This lesson plan from Population Education, contains a composting experiment that investigates the decomposition of waste.

Students learn about the importance of bees as pollinators in our food systems. From Teacher Authors: Ghislaine Fandel and Lisa Greenwood

View Resource

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Games & Activities

Build your students’ understanding of climate and food in subtle, fun ways using interactive games, printable thanksgiving activities for kids, and activities that help students connect what they are learning to the real-world impacts of climate change.

Rumble in the Jungle

In this short game, students can test what they know about what does and does not belong in their home compost bin. This could be a fun Thanksgiving activity to do with your kids when they return from break!

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More Thanksgiving Games & Activities

In this perfect-for-Thanksgiving writing activity, students explore the foods they eat and where those foods come from.

Students will use these worksheets to practice identifying initial sounds in compost-themed words.

Students will use these printables to segment and count syllables in food and compost-themed words.

View Resource

Activities in this section created by Teacher-Authors: Elizabeth Ward, Dena James, and Angelique Hammock.

Videos & Books

Engage students with relevant discussions on food and global warming using visual storytelling resources. Find grade-level appropriate videos, books, and read-aloud activities that will expand students’ climate literacy.

Tuyen's Tremendous Trash Tour

In this digital picture book, Tuyen and Earthly tour Vietnam and learn about food waste and its environmental impacts on surrounding habitats.

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This animated video tells the story of a girl who cares for a sick bee and teaches students to protect pollinators.

This picture book tells the story Andrea, Flavio, and Earthly as they explore sustainable farming methods in Brazil.

This lesson contains a read-along activity and a video about composting.

View Resource

Resources from Our Partners

Looking to bring more lessons on food into your curriculum and Thanksgiving activities for K-2? Our partners have you covered! Check out these amazing resources from our partners, Center for Ecoliteracy and FoodCorps!

Enrichment Activities

These activities explore fruits and vegetables through taste testing, games, and movement.

Posters

This set of five posters is a great way to decorate and inform students about fruits and vegetables.

People Who Feed Us

In this lesson, students learn about where food comes from through a read-aloud activity.

Plant a Pizza Garden

In this lesson, students will learn what ingredients they can grow to make a pizza.

View Resource

How to Use These Resources

Start with one of the Thanksgiving lesson plans to introduce where food comes from, then layer in games and activities. From there, pick and choose based on your available time and subject focus:

For a full lesson: Pair the Food Origins lesson with the Composting or Protecting Bees follow-ups to build a complete food-to-climate arc across a few class periods.
For a quick activity: Use Rumble in the Jumble as a standalone 10-15 minute compost sorting game, no prior lesson needed.
For literacy time: Bring in the Writing Activity, Beginning Sounds, and Composting Syllables worksheets to reinforce climate vocabulary during ELA blocks.
For read-aloud or circle time: Tuyen's Tremendous Trash Tour and the Videos & Books collection work well as standalone engagement hooks.

Check Out These Climate Change Explainers for More Background Knowledge

Does Fertilizer Impact Climate Change? Learn more about the role fertilizers play in climate change.
Does Climate Change Affect Agriculture? This article explores how food systems and agriculture relate to climate change.
What Are Biofuels? Learn more about what biofuel is and its connection to climate change.

Next Steps

We're excited for you to bring easy Thanksgiving activities for kids into your classroom with the hands-on lesson plans, outdoor activities, and engaging visuals in Food and Climate: Thanksgiving Activities for K-2. Deepen your students' understanding of Earth systems and the greenhouse gas emissions of food, while incorporating themes of sustainability and climate action into your classroom. Explore SubjectToClimate.org to find K-2 resources on food, climate change education, and more!

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Food and Climate Change: Thanksgiving Activities For K-2

Explore this Guide

Lesson Plans for Thanksgiving

These food-themed and Thanksgiving lesson plans for grades K-2 cover every part of the food journey from the farm to your plate. Explore lessons on food production and climate science with hands-on activities to make these concepts accessible to our younger learners.

Food Origins: Science Lesson

In this lesson, students learn where food comes from and the importance of preserving Earth's natural resources and biodiversity.

Teacher Author: Dena James

More Food Lesson Plans

Students learn about composting and its benefits to Mother Earth in this SubjectToClimate lesson. From Teacher Author: Angelique Hammock

This lesson plan from Population Education, contains a composting experiment that investigates the decomposition of waste.

Students learn about the importance of bees as pollinators in our food systems. From Teacher Authors: Ghislaine Fandel and Lisa Greenwood

Looking for More Free Teaching Tips, Bundles & Classroom Resources?

Games & Activities

Build your students’ understanding of climate and food in subtle, fun ways using interactive games, printable thanksgiving activities for kids, and activities that help students connect what they are learning to the real-world impacts of climate change.

Rumble in the Jungle

In this short game, students can test what they know about what does and does not belong in their home compost bin. This could be a fun Thanksgiving activity to do with your kids when they return from break!

More Thanksgiving Games & Activities

In this perfect-for-Thanksgiving writing activity, students explore the foods they eat and where those foods come from.

Students will use these worksheets to practice identifying initial sounds in compost-themed words.

Students will use these printables to segment and count syllables in food and compost-themed words.

Activities in this section created by Teacher-Authors: Elizabeth Ward, Dena James, and Angelique Hammock.

Videos & Books

Engage students with relevant discussions on food and global warming using visual storytelling resources. Find grade-level appropriate videos, books, and read-aloud activities that will expand students’ climate literacy.

Tuyen's Tremendous Trash Tour

In this digital picture book, Tuyen and Earthly tour Vietnam and learn about food waste and its environmental impacts on surrounding habitats.

More Videos & Books for K-2

This animated video tells the story of a girl who cares for a sick bee and teaches students to protect pollinators.

This picture book tells the story Andrea, Flavio, and Earthly as they explore sustainable farming methods in Brazil.

This lesson contains a read-along activity and a video about composting.

Resources from Our Partners

Looking to bring more lessons on food into your curriculum and Thanksgiving activities for K-2? Our partners have you covered! Check out these amazing resources from our partners, Center for Ecoliteracy and FoodCorps!

Enrichment Activities

These activities explore fruits and vegetables through taste testing, games, and movement.

Posters

This set of five posters is a great way to decorate and inform students about fruits and vegetables.

People Who Feed Us

In this lesson, students learn about where food comes from through a read-aloud activity.

Plant a Pizza Garden

In this lesson, students will learn what ingredients they can grow to make a pizza.

How to Use These Resources

Check Out These Climate Change Explainers for More Background Knowledge

Next Steps