During November, keeping your little learners focused can be tricky. But when phonics practice feels like play, engagement skyrockets! These Thanksgiving-themed games help students review key reading skills, such as letter sounds, CVC words, rhyming, and sight words, all wrapped up in a fun fall theme. Plus, they’re low-prep, easy to organize, and perfect for small groups, centers, or early finishers. Check out these November Phonics Activities!

Check out these related posts:

• Turkey Trouble Book Activities
• Science of Reading Literacy Center Ideas for Kindergarten
• Sight Word Teaching Slides

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Festive Fall Word Mapping

Practice mapping words with themed word mapping mats. Students will say, tap, map, graph, and write words to practice encoding and build fluency. Fun Tip: Give students a turkey feather to tap sounds and blend words.

Choose your favorite Fall Word Mapping mats from Simply Kinder + HERE!

Thanksgiving No-Prep Phonics Printables

If you’re short on time (and what kindergarten teacher isn’t?), you’ll love our Thanksgiving No-Prep Phonics Printables. These print-and-go pages from Simply Kinder help your students build phonics confidence through:

• Color-by-code phonics pages for short vowels
• Roll, Read, and Write games for CVC word families
• Sound sorting activities to practice middle vowels
• Picture searches that reinforce decoding skills

They’re perfect for morning work, sub plans, or take-home practice. Just print and you’re ready to go!

👉 Available inside Simply Kinder + HERE – members can download instantly and save time this Thanksgiving season.

Candy Corn Sight Words

Bring learning (and sweetness) together – Build-a-Sight-Word with Candy Corn!

How It Works

1. Write or print sight words on large index cards or check out the Sight Word Directory at Simply Kinder + HERE for printables.
2. Give each student a handful of candy corn.
3. Have students place candy corn pieces on each letter to “build” the word.
4. Once the word is built, students trace it with a dry-erase marker or write it again.

You can even have students read the word aloud before eating one candy corn (which makes it the best incentive ever!).

Thanksgiving No-Prep Phonics Games

Simply Kinder’s Thanksgiving No-Prep Games make phonics practice feel like play! These fun, no-cut games include:

• Read and Race to the Middle – blend CVC words to move your piece closer to the finish.
• Spin and Cover – spin a short vowel picture and cover the matching word.
• Short vowel race boards – a game for every vowel sound.

Grab Thanksgiving No-Prep Phonics Games from Simply Kinder + HERE!

Turkey Sound Snatch

This fun game strengthens phonemic awareness. Students sit across from a partner and listen for a targeted sound. Practice isolating sounds, letter names/sounds, and so much more! The first person to snatch the correct turkey sound is the winner. Keep playing until there is one student left (think musical chairs). This is a great game to play for phonemic awareness warm up activities or brain breaks.

CVC Turkey Words

This is a simple, low-cost, and super fun center idea that’s perfect for small groups or independent learning!

What You’ll Need

• Marker or labels
• Toilet paper rolls
• Popsicle sticks

How to Set It Up

1. Label each toilet paper roll with a short vowel (A, E, I, O, U).
2. Write CVC words on popsicle sticks that match those vowels (like cat, web, pig, hot, sun).
3. Students “feed” each word stick into the correct vowel roll.

It’s an easy, hands-on way to sort and read CVC words while reinforcing vowel sounds. This activity can be modified for any phonics skill (digraphs, blends, CVCe).

November is the perfect time to slow down, have fun, and let your students show off how much they’ve learned this fall. With these November Phonics Activities, your little learners will be practicing phonics skills in meaningful, memorable ways.