Thanksgiving Food Activities for ELLs

 This resource is part of the Food Unit for Elementary English Language Starters.

LINK: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Food-unit-for-Elementary-English-Language-Learners-Starters-11035412

Students learn Thanksgiving key food words through games, and speaking prompts that help build confidence in using new vocabulary. Celebrate Thanksgiving in your ELL classroom with this engaging, low-prep Thanksgiving food resource pack designed for young English learners! 

Build a Thanksgiving Menu. Give students flashcards and blank “restaurant menu” templates. They choose 5–7 food flashcards to create their own Thanksgiving menu, labeling each item and drawing it. Extension: Students present their menu to a partner.

Do You Eat It? Game. Show a flashcard and students show the YES puppet, or the NO puppet. Then they complete the speaking prompt: I like peas or I don’t like cranberry sauce.

Thanksgiving Food Pictionary Relay Two teams. One student draws the food from a flashcard; teammates guess the word in English. They swap artists each round. Perfect for vocabulary recall + teamwork!

Class Survey. Students walk around asking: “What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?”
They tally answers and make a bar graph. Use small cards as visuals during the survey.

Alphabet Order Race game using the small Thanksgiving food cards. This scene will feature children with flashcards taped to their backs, arranging themselves in alphabetical order.

Flashcard Swat: Place several small cards face-up on a table. Give one student a fly-swatter. The teacher says a Thanksgiving word (e.g. “corn!”), and the student must quickly swat that flashcard and say the word. Then pass the swatter to the next classmate.

I Like / I Don’t Like Writing Activity. Students choose a Thanksgiving food card and write a sentence about their opinion using “I like…” or “I don’t like…”. Example: I like mashed potatoes. I don’t like peas. This activity helps students practice sentence structure, express opinions, and connect language to real-world vocabulary.

My Thanksgiving Dinner. Students draw their Thanksgiving dinner on the plate template on the worksheet. Then, write 2–3 sentences about what is on the plate. End with a Show and tell activity.

Using “there is” and “there are” with food on the worksheet. “There is” helps students describe single items (There is a turkey.) “There are” teaches them to describe plural items (There are carrots and peas.) These structures support basic sentence formation, descriptive language.

Children read each Thanksgiving food word on the worksheet and draw the correct food on the empty plate next to it.

Crossword puzzle worksheet where students read the clues and write the correct food words to complete the puzzle. It’s a fun way to reinforce spelling.

This worksheet helps students practice polite food requests using Thanksgiving vocabulary. Learners look at the food items and answer the question: “What do you want?” with short, polite responses like: “Ham, please.

Do You Like Turkey? – Thanksgiving Food Opinion Practice. This fun worksheet helps students express their food preferences using “Do you like...?” questions and short answers like: “Yes, I do.” or “No, I don’t.”

Thanksgiving Food Survey – Ask, Record, and Graph! This interactive worksheet gets students moving, speaking, and graphing! Learners walk around the classroom and ask 7 classmates questions like: “What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food?”    They record their friends’ answers, then use the data to complete a simple graph showing class favorites. It’s perfect for practicing speaking, listening, tallying, and data interpretation—all through fun Thanksgiving food vocabulary.

This fun worksheet strengthens reading comprehension and food vocabulary.

Thanksgiving Food Bingo. Each student gets a strip with 5 food pictures while the teacher uses a calling mat. As the teacher calls out each food, students mark their cards. The first to complete their strip shouts “Bingo!” Great for listening practice and word recognition. Easy to prep.

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