Thankful Pie for Toddlers & Preschoolers Collaborative Art Activity

Ages/Grades

Toddler

Preschool

Pre-K

Early Elementary

 

Learning Domains

Language & Literacy

Social-Emotional Development

Creative Arts

 

Materials:

• • Crayons, markers, and other writing or coloring materials
• • Construction Paper
• • Recycled materials like packing paper, cardboard boxes, etc.

Conversations to Introduce the Activity:

 

This time of year, many people celebrate fall by gathering with friends or family, enjoying special meals, and taking time to reflect on what they’re thankful for. One food that often shows up during these celebrations is pie — a harvest tradition made from fruits and vegetables like apples, pumpkins, and berries that grow in the summer and fall. When there’s an abundance of something, people often bake it into something warm and delicious to share.

 

Explain to children that to celebrate this season of gratitude, your class will be creating a Thankful Pie together. Each child will contribute a paper fruit shape that includes something they are thankful for. It might be a person, a place, a pet, or anything that brings joy and comfort. Children can create their Thankful Fruit at home with their families, or in class. Their gratitude can be conveyed by drawing, writing, or their words can be transcribed by families or teachers.

 

Before creating your Thankful Pie, invite children to share stories about their own fall and family traditions. These conversations help build connection and celebrate the many ways people gather, give thanks, and enjoy special foods together.

 

• • “Does your family gather with others for a special meal in the fall?”
• • “Who comes to your celebration?”
• • “What foods do you eat together?”
• • “Are there any special dishes your family makes every year?”
• • “Have you ever tasted pie? What kind?”
• • “Have you ever helped make a pie or another special treat?”

 

Encourage children to notice similarities and differences in what their families celebrate and how they do it. Use this time to highlight that there are many ways to show gratitude, and many kinds of traditions that are meaningful.

 

Ready, Set, Create:

 

Prepare the Pie Crust

• Use paper from a large roll, or recycled cardboard or packing paper or use a circle cut from cardboard to create your class pie base. Add crust details if desired.

 

Thankful Fruit

• Use construction paper to create one or more “fruit” pieces. Encourage them to illustrate or write a thankful word or message on each fruit shape. This could be as simple as “Mom,” “my cat,” or “pancakes!”

 

 

Decorate

• Invite children to embellish their fruit as desired, adding color or texture with crayons or markers.

 

 

Share

• Depending on the size of your class (and of your pie!) children may create more than one piece of Thankful Fruit, or you may invite family members to create their own pieces to share as well.

 

Complete Pie

• Add your Thankful Fruit to your pie crust. This could be part of a special circle time where children are invited to share their gratitude with classmates or could be done informally.

 

Enjoy!

• Enjoy your collaborative creation! Make sure to take photos to share with families. Keep adding to it throughout the season or keep it displayed all year as a shared space to collect moments of gratitude.

 

 

Engage Children in Conversation

 

• • “How do you feel when you think about your thankful word?”
• • “Is there someone else you’d like to make a fruit for?”
• • “What would it taste like if we really baked this pie?"
• • “Do you help with cooking or setting the table at home?”
• • “What’s your favorite food to eat at a special meal?”
• • “How does your family show they’re thankful?”
• • “What are some other ways we can show we care about people?”
• • “What colors, smells, or sounds remind you of your family traditions?”

 

Modifications

 

• • Count how many fruits each child added
• • Sort fruits by color or shape
• • Graph the types of fruit (real or imagined)
• • Use a ruler or non-standard tools to measure the pie’s diameter
• • Make a real classroom pie or a “Friendship Fruit Salad” together
• • Set up a “pie bakery” in dramatic play
• • Create a class “Thankful Pie” book with a page for each child’s fruit and message