Thanksgiving songs for kids

I got an e-mail today from an early education teacher in New York who is looking for some good Thanksgiving songs for a preschool performance. When I read the e-mail, it dawned on me that, unlike just about every holiday and notable event of the year, I couldn't think of one memorable Thanksgiving song that jumped out at me. I remember the crafts we made at school (a lot of turkey-themed things and pilgrim hats). I remember Thanksgiving performances where we dressed up like Pilgrims and Indians and recreated that first Thanksgiving feast. But I have no memories of singing Thanksgiving songs at school, or listening to Thanksgiving music at home on Thanksgiving day. For such a large holiday, that's odd.

When I started looking around for Thanksgiving songs online, about 65% of the "Thanksgiving" songs I found were about turkeys. Another 10% about pumpkins.

It's tough to write a Thanksgiving song, in part because the concept of truly giving heartfelt thanks, something I think a a lot of Americans genuinely feel on Thanksgiving, is difficult to capture with lyrics. Also, it's a very personal thanks we give. Some of us are thanking God, some thanking our family/friends/some thanking Mother Earth...we all are giving our own personal thanks. It's not easy to capture that.

Here at our school in Tokyo, we celebrate Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, Christmas, etc. Thanksgiving....not so much. A big part of that is that Thanksgiving is not easy to explain in a way that gives people a feeling for what the holiday is really about.

After some searching, looking for a song which would be lyrically and melodically simple enough for a preschool performance, but not reduce Thanksgiving to just a day where we eat turkey, I came across this suggestion at www.preschooleducation.com (a great site for song ideas for very young ones):

Thanksgiving song Sung to: "Twinkle, Twinkle little star"

Thank you, thank you, very much
For everything that I can touch.
Thanks a lot for nature’s food.
And for when I’m feeling good.
Thank you, thank you very much.
For moms and dads and friends and such.

I like the simplicity there, though I wish we could get deeper while keeping it just as simple (we need to channel Fred Rogers!).

I'm afraid that's the best I can do for now, but I'll keep looking and maybe try to write something simple. In the meantime, anybody out there have any favorite Thanksgiving songs?

Comments

[Stefan]

"(I'm Gonna Eat) on Thanksgiving Day" by Laurie Berkner, off her first album, "Whaddaya Think of That." In the liner notes, Berkner says she wrote it precisely because they really weren't any Thanksgiving songs. It's a round, if that makes it more (or less) appealing.

[Devon T]

Thanks Stefan...nice song for a performance.

There's this one from Nancy Stewart: http://www.nancymusic.com/Tdayplay.htm

I think that one may work better in circle time than in a performance, but it's got a lot of fun gestures the kids can do as they sing.

[Anne S.]

I'm looking for a Thanksgiving song I learned years and years ago...like 65+ years past. The lyrics, as I remember them are:

"There's a big fat turkey on my grandpa's farm and he thinks he's very gay.
He spreads his tail into a great big fan
and he struts around all day.
You can hear him gobble at the girls and boys,
for he thinks he's funny when he makes that noise.
But he'll sing his song another way upon Thanksgiving Day!"

Do you know of this song? I know it was in one of our early school music books. I would appreciate knowing if it can be found.

[jerry]

Here's a catchy little turkey song and animation from the Emmy Award-winning "Its JerryTime!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBt6IhjAvyw

[brawer]

i did write a little thanksgiving song, but i can't get the melody to you. what i did was teach the children some simple american sign language for love, mom, dad, teacher, eat, world, family, friend...decide how many you want to teach and then i sang....there are good sites on line to show you the simple signs...
i switched hands back and forth to keep it interesting and reinforce the repetition and at the end used two hands together to make a whopping thank you! when you learn the sign for thank- you you'll understand.

thank you (signing and singing throughout)
thank you
thank you for the ones i love (sign love)
thank you
thank you
thank you for the ones i love

thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you
thank you.

thank you (signing)
thank you
thank you for
the food we eat (sign eat) (twice)

thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you
thank you.

continue with new words. hope this inspires something!

[Michelle]

Thanks Brawer, I'm going to be using your thank you song tomorrow with my 2 year olds. It's nice to have something simple, interactive and comprehensible to this age group. I'm putting the "thank you" part to the sol, mi notes.

[Jessie]

John McCutcheon wrote a veery nice T song called "Thanksgiving Day." Might be a little advanced for preschoolers, but well worth downloading a copy of it, and you can get a copy of the lyrics from his web site at folkmusic.com.

A song your preschollers might enjoy is "Albuquerque Turkey" I found it somewhere on the net...try a search for it. It's delightful!