Like millions of other Americans the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade will be on the television in my house on Thursday morning. In the past Macy’s has published some resources for learning about the history of the parade. This year they’ve expanded their offerings to includes some ideas for hands-on STEAM lessons related to the parade.
Parade 101 features four video demonstrations of hands-on activities that students can do at home with their parents or in your classroom. The four activities include inflating balloons through the use of baking soda and vinegar, designing balloons for the parade, making and using sculping dough, and building model floats. All of the videos include lists of needed supplies.
I like all four of the activities. If I was to recommend one for Thanksgiving day it would be building model floats or designing because they can be done with cardboard, paper, glue, markers, and other common household materials that don’t make a mess and don’t have to be done in a kitchen. That said, I think the most fun one is the inflating balloons activity.
In addition to the videos and STEAM projects Parade 101 offers some printable coloring sheets and puzzles. The interactive timeline of the history of the parade is still available to view as well.
Finally, if you are looking for some history of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade videos, take a look at the following videos that I’ve shared in the past.
