Free Thanksgiving Tracing Worksheets

Thanksgiving tracing worksheets were one of my go-to activities when my son was in preschool, especially during those busy days leading up to the holiday.

While I was juggling cooking and guests, he was happily working through simple lines, letters, and festive shapes at the kitchen table.

These kinds of worksheets gave us both a little breathing room, and they snuck in some solid fine motor and early writing practice without it feeling like school.

If you’re looking for a quiet, low-prep way to keep little hands busy and learning this season, these free Thanksgiving tracing pages might be just what you need.

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Thanksgiving Tracing Activities

Back when my son was in preschool, tracing worksheets were one of the easiest ways to keep him happily occupied while I handled holiday prep. He felt like he was “doing school,” but really he was just having fun with pencils and crayons.

These five printable pages became a simple way to blend festive fun with early learning, and they’re completely free to use at home or in the classroom.

Each sheet focuses on a different skill ,line tracing, letter formation, and shape recognition, all wrapped in a cheerful Thanksgiving theme.

Whether you need a quick morning activity before the parade or a quiet task while dinner finishes cooking, these pages work beautifully for preschool and kindergarten kids.

Line Tracing Activities

The line tracing pages were always a hit in our house. My son especially liked the ones with zig-zags that connected little turkeys and owls.

Kids trace along dotted lines, straight, curved, loopy, or zig-zag, and then color in the cute Thanksgiving images when they’re done. It’s low-pressure, builds hand control, and adds just the right amount of holiday cheer.

Letter Tracing

One of the worksheets focuses on letters, with phrases like “T is for Thanksgiving.” It includes both uppercase and lowercase practice, which made it easy to reinforce early literacy.

Seeing the holiday words helped my son connect what he was learning with what we were celebrating, it made the alphabet feel a little more exciting.

Picture Tracing and Coloring

There’s also a page where kids trace around festive shapes like a pie, a pumpkin, a pilgrim hat, and a turkey.

Watching my son trace those lines and then carefully color each picture was such a sweet moment, he was always so proud of his work. It’s great for pre-writing and also gives them space to be creative.

Tips for Making the Most of Pre-Writing Worksheets

Over the years, I’ve found that fall tracing worksheets, especially around Thanksgiving, can do more than just fill time.

With a little intention, they become a hands-on way to build early writing skills while keeping kids connected to the season.

Here are a few tips that worked well for us:

• Build Fine Motor Strength Naturally – Tracing different lines and shapes (like loops, zigzags, and spirals) helps strengthen the muscles little hands need for writing. I always reminded my son to slow down and stay on the lines, not for perfection, but for better pencil control.
• Support Pre-Writing Readiness – These worksheets gave us a fun way to practice pencil grip and hand-eye coordination without needing formal lessons. When we paired tracing with letter sounds or counting games, it became a simple but effective early literacy routine.
• Add a Creative Twist – Once the tracing was done, I let my son take the lead, coloring, decorating, even turning the shapes into his own little characters. That freedom made the activity feel like his, not just a task.
• Keep It Themed and Fun – Thanksgiving images like turkeys, pies, and pilgrim hats made it feel like a celebration, not schoolwork. We’d even talk about the pictures as we traced, what kind of pie we’d have, or what we were thankful for that day.

These kinds of small, seasonal activities add up, and they really helped lay the foundation for more confident writing later on.

More Preschool Thanksgiving Printables

If your child enjoys these tracing worksheets, there are plenty of other Thanksgiving-themed activities that mix learning with creativity:

We’ve had a lot of fun making Thanksgiving handprint art, turning little hands into turkeys, pumpkins, or fall leaves. It’s a great way to sneak in fine motor work while making keepsakes you’ll want to hang on the fridge.

Thanksgiving alphabet worksheets are another favorite. My son loved tracing seasonal words like “T is for Turkey” and “P is for Pie”, it made letter practice feel more like play than work.

For something a bit more playful, try a Thanksgiving I spy coloring page. Kids search for themed objects, count them up, and color as they go, great for observation skills and early math.

And if you want to mix in some graphing practice, a simple Thanksgiving graphing worksheet lets kids tally items like pies and turkeys while also tracing and coloring. It’s surprisingly fun and sneakily educational.

Thanksgiving Books for Preschoolers

These are the best picture books about Thanksgiving both you and the kids will love this fall:

Taylor the Tooting Turkey. A humorous and lighthearted story about Taylor, a turkey who can’t stop tooting, teaching kids about self-acceptance and laughter while adding a touch of fun to November.

How to Catch a Turkey. A lively tale filled with rhymes and creative traps as kids and adults team up to catch a runaway turkey.

Turkey Trouble. This was one of our favorite November reads. My son loved guessing what disguise the turkey would come up with next!

Get Your Free Turkey Tracing Worksheets Here!

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Last Updated on 7 August 2025 by Clare Brown