The week of Thanksgiving is its own strange little season in a music room. Depending on your district you might have two days, three days, or a full week with a half day on Wednesday. Attendance drops as families leave early, energy is somewhere between sleepy and chaotic, and the winter concert is looming right behind it. Starting a brand-new unit feels pointless, but showing a movie feels like a waste of precious class time.
After a lot of years teaching middle school music, my answer is simple: plan standalone, hands-on activities that still build real musical skills, that work no matter who shows up, and that a sub could run if needed. Below are the Thanksgiving music activities for middle school classes that have worked best for me in choir, band, orchestra, and general music, plus a sample plan for the short week.
Three rules for planning Thanksgiving week
1. Every lesson stands on its own
If 30 percent of the class is gone on Tuesday, Wednesday's lesson cannot depend on Tuesday's. Pick activities that start and finish in one class period.
2. Keep students making music
Short weeks are a great time to play with skills you already taught: rhythm reading, solfege, listening vocabulary, composition. Review through games feels like a treat, but it is still practice.
3. Have a sub-ready backup
Thanksgiving week is prime time for teachers to be out too (travel, sick kids, a cold that finally caught up with you). Have one plan printed and ready that requires zero music-teacher expertise to run.
Thanksgiving music activities that actually teach something
Thanksgiving speech rhythms
This is my go-to for the first day of the week. Write a handful of Thanksgiving words and phrases on the board: "turkey," "pumpkin pie," "mashed potatoes," "cranberry sauce," "pass the gravy, please." Have the class speak each one in rhythm, then figure out the notation together. "Turkey" becomes two eighth notes, "pumpkin pie" becomes two eighths and a quarter, and so on.
Then put students in groups of four and have each group build a four-measure rhythm piece from the words. Layer two or three groups as ostinatos and you have a Thanksgiving speech ensemble. Finish with body percussion (pat, clap, snap, stomp) instead of words. This works in every ensemble, and band and orchestra students can play their rhythm on a single pitch at the end.
Sing "Turkey In My Belly"
Every Thanksgiving week I pull out "Turkey In My Belly," a short, silly song I wrote (lyrics and music). It is a free, one-page reproducible PDF: a single melody line in F major and 4/4, 14 measures long, with chord symbols over the staff. The verses are all about the food ("Turkey in my belly!" and "'Tatoes in my tummy!"), each followed by a shouted "Yum, yum!" written with x noteheads. Then the ending turns sweet: "But I'm thankful most of all for my friends and my family and my clothes and my shoes; I'm thankful for it all!"
It pairs perfectly with the speech rhythm activity above. Teach it by rote first, then hand out the sheet music and have students find the eighth notes they just clapped on "turkey" and the x noteheads on "Yum, yum!" (a nice way to introduce unpitched notation). From there, you can add a simple accompaniment on piano, guitar, or ukulele using the chords on the page (F, B flat 7, C, and G minor), or let band and orchestra students read the melody on their instruments.
Download the free "Turkey In My Belly" PDF here.
A "what I'm thankful for" listening log
Ask each student to nominate one school-appropriate song they are thankful for this year. Play short clips of several and have the class fill out a quick listening log: tempo, dynamics, instrumentation, meter, and one sentence about the mood. Students love hearing their song chosen, and you get a real listening vocabulary check out of it. Preview every song before class, of course.
Thank-you letters to a composer or musician
Give students 15 minutes to write a short thank-you letter to a composer, performer, or music teacher who has influenced them. To make it musical and not just a writing exercise, require three music vocabulary words and one specific piece. This is a lovely, quiet activity for the half day before break, and the letters make a great bulletin board for December.
Beethoven's Mystery Escape Challenge
For the day when you want something that feels like a special event, my Beethoven's Mystery Escape Challenge is built for exactly this. The story: students are sent back in time to help Beethoven complete his 9th Symphony. Along the way they answer music theory and music history questions and perform some of his famous work. It uses the same interactive video technology as ThreeMinuteTheory.com, and it works for late elementary through high school, either in class or independently.
What you get: access to the interactive video escape room, a reproducible Google Form of the corresponding questions, and a PDF with easy-to-follow instructions. That Google Form is what makes it perfect for a low-attendance week, because students who are absent can do it at home.
Solfege bingo with Super Solfege Seven
If your students need a sight-singing tune-up before concert season, Super Solfege Seven is a bingo-style solfege and rhythm identification game. Students identify 4-beat pitch and rhythm patterns and cross off the matching notation on their handout. On the back of the handout, there is pre-arranged staff where students create their own melodies using the patterns they just identified. The gameplay is all explained in the video (about 20 minutes long), and with the handout it easily fills a 40-minute class. There are 10 unique handouts, so you can play it again after break.
Music crosswords for the half day
The half day before break is not the time for anything complicated. My Google Sheets Crossword and Word Search Bundle includes 5 Google Sheets crossword puzzles (with PDF versions) and 5 reproducible word search PDFs. In the Google Sheets versions, students hover over a box to see the clue and start solving, and you can edit the crosswords to fit your own context. It works for students in the room and for anyone finishing work from home.
If you will be out: a ready-made sub plan
If there is any chance you will be absent this week, set up your sub plan now. The Music Sub-Plan Bundle has 3 reproducible lesson plans designed for late elementary through high school. For in-class learning, each PDF includes teacher instructions and student handouts. For online learning, each lesson has a Google Form version, and you can add or edit questions to fit your class. Print one, leave it on your desk with your seating chart, and stop worrying about it.
A sample plan for a three-day Thanksgiving week
- Monday: Thanksgiving speech rhythms, then learn "Turkey In My Belly." Groups compose, layer, and perform. Ensembles finish with 10 to 15 minutes of concert rehearsal.
- Tuesday: Beethoven's Mystery Escape Challenge or Super Solfege Seven. Absent students get the Google Form or handout.
- Wednesday (half day): Listening log or thank-you letters, with crosswords for early finishers.
For a two-day week, drop Monday's composition into a 20-minute version and keep the escape room for the last day. For a full five-day week, add a day of the Melody Creation Project (more on that below) and a day of focused concert sectionals.
Don't forget the winter concert
For choir, band, and orchestra, Thanksgiving week is often your last calm stretch before the December concert crunch. I like to keep 10 to 15 minutes of real rehearsal each day, then switch to the seasonal activity. Two ways to keep reading skills sharp in short bursts:
- ThreeMinuteTheory.com: lessons are about 3 minutes, you can project with no student login, and there are 300+ games plus Rhythm Rumbler, a rhythm warm-up the whole class can clap and play along with. Its Music History volume pairs nicely with the composer thank-you letters.
- SightReadQuest: students sing or play into the mic and get graded automatically. Flash Mode (a short burst of notes, then sing or play it from memory) is a perfect five-minute sight-reading challenge for a short week.
Looking ahead to December
If you want a project that carries you from Thanksgiving into the end of the semester, the Melody Creation Project is a 3-part reproducible PDF that fills 3 or 4 forty-minute class periods. Students study a pre-made melody and create a percussion accompaniment, add an ostinato bass part, and finally compose their own 16-measure melody with ostinato and percussion. Groups perform at the end of each part. Start Part 1 the week of Thanksgiving and finish after the break.
You can find all of these on my Music Class Fun page, along with other music teacher tools.
FAQ: Thanksgiving music activities for middle school
What music activities work when half the class is absent?
Choose activities that finish in one period and have a take-home version, like a Google Form, a crossword, or a listening log. Avoid anything that depends on yesterday's lesson.
Are there Thanksgiving songs for middle school choir?
Yes, but many directors skip long ones because rehearsal time is going to the winter concert. A short, one-page song like "Turkey In My Belly" (free PDF above) or speech rhythms with Thanksgiving words give you the seasonal fun without a big new piece to learn.
How do I keep band and orchestra rehearsing during a short week?
Keep 10 to 15 minutes of focused concert rehearsal at the start of class, then move to a seasonal activity. Short daily sight-reading also keeps skills sharp.
What is a good music sub plan for Thanksgiving week?
Something printed, self-explanatory, and editable. The Music Sub-Plan Bundle includes 3 lessons with teacher instructions, student handouts, and Google Form versions.