Thanksgiving building brick mats are a fun way to strengthen little hands this November! The Fine Motor Mats for Thanksgiving | Building Bricks include 20 mats where preschool and kindergarten children use LEGO® bricks or snap cubes to build Thanksgiving pictures like a turkey, corn, a cornucopia and a boat.

Building fine motor skills helps young learners develop the hand, finger and thumb control they need for writing, cutting and everyday tasks. On each mat, children match brick colors to build the picture on a grid, placing one brick in each space. The mats also add early literacy and math with letter and word tracing, beginning sounds, shape recognition and counting.

With these Thanksgiving building brick mats, you get

• 20 fine motor mats with Thanksgiving designs
• Color matching and one-to-one correspondence on every mat
• Letter and word tracing for pre-writing practice
• Beginning sounds, shape recognition and counting practice

Set out a bin of bricks and a mat and children are ready to build.

What's Included

• 20 fine motor mats with Thanksgiving-themed designs
• Thanksgiving pictures to build on a grid, such as a turkey, corn, a cornucopia and a boat
• Color matching with LEGO® bricks or snap cubes
• Letter and word tracing for pre-writing practice
• Beginning sound and shape recognition practice
• Counting practice, such as counting the ship pictures on the boat mat

Why Teachers Love It

• Hands-on learning: Fine motor work comes together with literacy and math on every mat.
• Uses materials you already have: LEGO® bricks or snap cubes become learning tools.
• Encourages independent work: The mats fit centers, morning tubs and busy bins.
• Adaptable for every learner: The mats work for preschool, pre-K, kindergarten and special education classrooms.
• Holiday fun: Thanksgiving designs fit right into your November lesson plans.

Skills Students Practice

Primary Academic Skills

• Fine motor strength: Grabbing, stacking and pressing bricks builds finger strength and hand-eye coordination.
• Color matching: Children match each brick to the color shown on the mat.
• One-to-one correspondence: Children place one brick in each space on the grid.
• Pre-writing skills: Tracing letters and words builds early handwriting control.
• Beginning sounds: Children connect letters to the first sounds in Thanksgiving words.
• Shape recognition and counting: Children identify 2D shapes and count pictures on the mats.
• Spatial reasoning: Children look at the design and figure out where each brick belongs.

Secondary Life & Learning Skills

• Following directions
• Maintaining attention
• Working independently
• Using mathematical language
• Building confidence during group participation

How to Use It

Step 1: Print the Thanksgiving mats and laminate them for durability so children can trace with a dry erase marker.

Step 2: Set out LEGO® bricks or snap cubes in the colors children need. Model how to match each brick to its space on the grid.

Step 3: Children build the picture, then trace the letters or words and complete the beginning sound, shape or counting practice.

Materials You'll Need

• LEGO® bricks or snap cubes

Easy Differentiation

Children come to fine motor centers with different hand strength and building experience. These mats are easy to adjust for each of them.

For Children Who Need More Support

• Provide only the colors and bricks needed for the picture
• Cover part of the mat so children can work on one section at a time
• Offer larger bricks that are easier to grasp
• Trace the letters together with a finger before using a marker

For On-Level Practice

• Build each picture independently with matching colors
• Trace the letters and words on each mat
• Say the beginning sound of each Thanksgiving picture
• Count the pictures on the counting mats

For an Extra Challenge

• Build the design beside the mat without building on top of the picture
• Count how many bricks of each color the picture uses
• Name another word that starts with the same sound
• Invite children to design their own Thanksgiving picture with bricks

For Speech, OT, ELL or Special Education Support

• Use the mats in OT sessions for pincer grasp and finger strength
• Practice Thanksgiving vocabulary such as turkey, corn and cornucopia
• Practice color words with a frame such as "I need a ___ brick."
• Let children point to choose each brick while an adult or peer helps place it
• Give extra processing time and model the first few bricks

Perfect For

• November fine motor centers
• Morning work and morning tubs
• Literacy centers
• STEM centers and building challenges
• Small groups
• OT sessions
• Special education classrooms
• Homeschool learning
• Rainy day activities and indoor recess

Standards

These Thanksgiving building brick mats support the 2022 Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and Virginia's Early Learning and Development Standards (2021), and they build toward kindergarten skills in Common Core, the TEKS (ELAR, adopted 2017) and the Virginia English SOL (2024):

Common Core State Standards

• CCSS RF.K.1.d: Recognize and name uppercase and lowercase letters.
• CCSS RF.K.2.d: Isolate and say the first sound in simple spoken words, such as Thanksgiving picture names.

Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines

• Texas Pre-K Guidelines PK4.IX.B.1: Show control in tasks that take small-muscle strength, such as pinching and pressing bricks onto each space.
• Texas Pre-K Guidelines PK4.IX.B.2: Show growing control in tasks that need eye-hand coordination while placing each brick in the design.
• Texas Pre-K Guidelines PK4.III.C.1: Recognize and name letters while tracing them on each mat.

Texas TEKS

• TEKS ELAR K.2.D.v: Identify uppercase and lowercase letters.

Virginia Early Learning and Development Standards

• Virginia ELDS HPD3.1: Use eyes and hands together, matching each brick to its place on the mat.
• Virginia ELDS HPD3.2: Develop small muscle control while picking up and pressing small bricks.
• Virginia ELDS CLLD3.3: Handle writing tools while tracing letters and words.

Virginia SOL

• VA SOL English K.FFR.3.A: Identify capital and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Check out what other educators are saying:

★★★★★ Jillian S. wrote, "My students had a lot of fun with this! It was great to do as a station right before Thanksgiving break."

★★★★★ Leslie C. wrote, "My students really enjoyed doing this activity during independent math centers!"

Add the Fine Motor Mats for Thanksgiving | Building Bricks to your cart today and watch your students build hand strength, letters and holiday fun with 20 Thanksgiving mats ready for November!

These mats are also included in the Fine Motor Mega Pack: Check out the Fine Motor Mega Pack here

LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group, which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this resource.

Download Details

Please note: This is a digital download that will be available to you directly after purchase. Nothing will be mailed to you.

You will receive a link to the download in three places

1. On the 'thank you' page after checkout
2. In your email
3. Login on the site here: https://lifeovercsstore.com/account