November activity ideas, week by week

November gives you Veterans Day, World Kindness Day, Thanksgiving, and the first long, dark evenings after the clocks fall back. Here is a plan for each week of November: one coloring page with its Story Starter, plus two or three low-cost ideas, each with a seated version.

Keep Veterans Day quiet and the rest of the month warm. Most of the ideas below happen around a table, which is where November wants to be anyway.

The month at a glance

• National American Indian Heritage Month, also called Native American Heritage Month: all of November
• Daylight saving time ends: the first Sunday in November, at 2 a.m.
• NAAP Memory Care Week: starts Monday, November 9, a week to thank the people who work in memory care
• Veterans Day: Wednesday, November 11
• World Kindness Day: Friday, November 13
• World Television Day: November 21
• Thanksgiving: Thursday, November 26

The holiday dates above are always this year's, so the list can go on the bulletin board and stay there.

Week by week

Week 1: The clocks fall back

The clocks go back an hour on the first Sunday, and suddenly it's dark before supper. Make the late afternoon the warm part of the day.

Color By the fire, from Thanksgiving Table: a fireplace with cushions, bunting, and a cup of cocoa. Print it in Regular and Bold. Bold has thicker lines and fewer tiny details, easier to see and easier to finish. Hand out a page or two, and read the Story Starter once, aloud: "What's your favorite spot to get warm on a cold day?" Then go back to your own page and wait. A wood stove, a radiator, a kitchen with the oven on: any answer works.

Also this week:

• Cocoa at four. When the dark comes early, roll out a cocoa cart at four o'clock and let people come up for a cup. Check diet lists with the kitchen first. Seated version: push the cart from chair to chair, and from room to room.
• A reading hour. For American Indian Heritage Month, borrow a book of stories or poems by a Native American author from the public library and read a few pages aloud by a lamp. Seated version: the reader moves to a small table and reads to whoever is there.

Week 2: A quiet Veterans Day, and a page to give away

Veterans Day and World Kindness Day both fall this week. Let the first be quiet and the second be kind.

Color the Stars-and-stripes butterfly, from the Fourth of July pack. Keep the table quiet and the pages simple. Its Story Starter is "Were you ever in a parade, or did you watch from the curb?" Some people marched. Some held a flag on the curb. Let anyone who served say as much or as little as they like, and don't ask for more.

Also this week:

• A minute of quiet. Before lunch on Veterans Day, stop for one minute of quiet. Anyone who served can be named aloud, if they'd like to be. Stand if you like. Seated version: stay in your chair. Sitting is just as respectful.
• Thank-you cards. Set out plain cards and pens. Anyone who wants to can write a note to a veteran they know, or to the veterans in your own building, and carry it to the front desk. Seated version: a staff member takes dictation and delivers the cards.
• A page to give away. For World Kindness Day, color one page for someone else: a nurse, an aide, a neighbor down the hall. Walk it over and hand it to them. Seated version: sign it, and a staff member delivers it with a note.

Week 3: Jars, a TV night, and centerpieces

The run-up to Thanksgiving is for getting ready. World Television Day falls on the 21st.

Color the Mason jar bouquet, from Thanksgiving Table: a jar of flowers with a little sparkle. Its Story Starter is "What went into jars at your house: jam, pickles, or flowers?" Pantry shelves, canning days, a cellar full of peaches: follow whatever comes.

Also this week:

• Jar centerpieces. Layer dried beans, lentils, and rice in clean jars to make centerpieces for the Thanksgiving tables. Set up a jar station at the counter where people come and fill one. Seated version: do it at the table, passing the scoops and the jars from hand to hand.
• A TV night. For World Television Day, show an old variety show or a western in the big room, with popcorn. Seated version: set up the same show on a tablet for anyone who'd rather watch from their own chair.

Week 4: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is this week. Plan the coloring hour for a day or two before the feast, so the pages can go on the wall in time.

Color the Scarecrow and pumpkins, the cover drawing of Thanksgiving Table: a scarecrow by a fence with pumpkins and sunflowers. Its Story Starter is "What's the one dish that had to be on the Thanksgiving table?" Hum "Over the River and Through the Wood" together while everyone colors. For twenty more questions, see Questions for the Thanksgiving table.

Also this week:

• Thankful leaves. Cut leaves from orange and gold paper. Everyone writes or dictates one thing they're glad of, then walks up and hangs the leaf on a branch in a vase. Seated version: a staff member hangs the leaves and reads a few aloud.
• Place cards. Fold small cards, draw a leaf on each, and write a name on every one for the Thanksgiving tables. Walk them to the dining room together and set them out. Seated version: make the cards at the table, and a staff member sets them at each place.
• Pie at three. Serve small slices of pumpkin and apple pie, and let the table vote on the winner. Seated version: carry the tray around and serve each person at their chair.

Ten questions for the month

Read one at a time, to the whole table, and wait. None of them has a wrong answer, and each one asks about a story or a preference, never about whether someone remembers.

1. Where was the warmest spot in the house you grew up in?
2. What did you do on long winter evenings when you were young?
3. Who would you like to thank this Veterans Day?
4. What's the kindest thing a neighbor ever did for you?
5. What did your family keep in jars in the pantry?
6. What show did your family gather around to watch?
7. Who carved the turkey in your house?
8. Pumpkin, apple, or pecan: which pie is the right pie?
9. Where did you sit, the grown-ups' table or the kids' table?
10. What's one thing you're glad of today?

New in the library this month

New pages arrive on the 1st of each month, in time for next month's calendar, and that morning's email lists what's new. Already in the library for November:

• Thanksgiving Table, with a horn of plenty, a scarecrow, and cocoa by the fire: Wheelbarrow of flowers, Basket of blooms, Potted succulent, Mason jar bouquet, Horn of plenty, Scarecrow and pumpkins, Hedgehog on the stump, Squirrel and acorns, By the fire, and Cup of cocoa.
• For Veterans Day, from the Fourth of July pack: Stars and stripes hat and Stars-and-stripes butterfly.

Every drawing comes in Regular and Bold, with a Story Starter on the page. See the Thanksgiving page for a coloring hour the week of the feast, or the whole Thanksgiving Table pack.

If you'd like to try it first, the First Pack is six drawings with a Story Starter on each, free, with your organization's name on the cover.