Getting Ready for the Feast

Check out books at the library on the first Thanksgiving. Show your children pictures of Thanksgiving feasts—contemporary celebrations (look through magazines for a picture of a typical modern-day Thanksgiving feast) as well as those from long ago (your library books may have several different artist renderings of that first Thanksgiving). As you look at these pictures together, ask you and your child the following questions:

• How are these dinners alike? How are they different?
• What foods did the Pilgrims and Native Americans eat? What foods do you eat on Thanksgiving?
• Look at the eating and serving utensils. Did the Pilgrims eat with their hands or wooden spoons instead of silverware? Did they use wooden mugs and plates? What type of plates and glasses do we use today?
• Did the Native Americans and Pilgrims dress differently? How did they dress?
• Who comes to Thanksgiving dinner at your house?
• For what were the Pilgrims thankful? For what are you thankful?