Out-of-the-Box Thanksgiving Activity

There was not one out-of-the-box Thanksgiving activity when I think back to my own school experience in elementary school. I distinctly remember the rows of desks (the kind with the seats attached to the desk) and sitting in alphabetical order. I remember doing a lot of memorizing “correct” answers and then regurgitating those answers on test day. Occasionally a teacher would surprise everyone by putting the desks into a U shape instead of rows, but the focus was primarily memorization of facts so that even now I can tell you that the Magna Carta was signed in 1215 and that the Battle of Hastings took place in 1066 without having to use Google.

My teachers prepared me for a future that they deemed would be very similar to the life my parents led. They did not anticipate the flooding of information and the ubiquitous use of search engines in our daily lives. In fact, according to Forbes magazine, every day 2.5 quintillion bytes of data is produced and that in the last two years alone, a whopping 90 percent of the data has been created. That is a lot of information. All of this information means that it is impossible to keep up, let alone memorize everything to even keep up-to-date.

It is also important to realize that everyone has instant access to this wealth of information in the form of smart phones and devices of all kinds. Every type of information is available with only a few strokes of a quick keyword search. That being the case, it has been argued that it is less important that children memorize loads of facts, but instead it becomes more necessary that children learn how to think creatively with the information that they are given. They need to be able to learn how to gather reliable information and come up with creative ideas or solutions to problems using that information. It also becomes imperative that children learn how to discern information and think critically when looking for bias in the plethora of information being placed in front of them daily.

A Different World

In essence, our world is vastly different from the one that we grew up in. For this reason, our children need to be taught differently. Businesses now value employees that can think creatively and who can comprehend and manage all of the data that is being thrown at them. This kind of thinking requires so much more than mere memorization and regurgitation.

The good news is that young children are already creative thinkers. Babies and toddlers are scientists because they are constantly testing the world around them. They test what happens when they drop their sippy cup for the millionth time. Toddlers are also expert storytellers. Go ahead, ask a toddler how they got chocolate smeared around their mouth when they were supposed to be taking a nap. Oh, the story you will hear! These skills are already there. Too many times, regular schooling and the thoughts of a “right way” of doing work zaps it out of them. Our job then, becomes fostering this innate sense of experimentation and out-of-the-box thinking.

The Freedom to Create

As home educators, you have the freedom to allow our children to create and innovate. Invite your children to create or to think about something in a different way. We know that turkey day is right around the corner and we would like to share a fun activity to try with your children to get those creative juices flowing. While this paper bag turkey seems like an activity for younger children, challenge kids of all ages to add decorations, glitter, little pom-pom puffs, or whatever you have in your craft bag to make the turkey “unique”. Take it to the next creative level and have the child name the turkey (Tom Turkey, Tina Turkey, Tough Guy Turkey, you get it…) and THEN take the turkey out and about. For example, if you go to the grocery, have conversations with your child about how the turkey is feeling about his or her first adventure out in the world. Have your child explain to the turkey what a grocery store is and what the turkey should expect to see, hear, feel, etc. in the store. Perhaps your child will want to shield his or her turkey from the meat department. Egads! Start a journal titled “Adventures with Tina Turkey” and have your child write about the turkey’s experiences. After a collection of these stories, share it at Thanksgiving time. What a treat for others to see the creative, out-of the-box thinking going on with your homeschooler!