Thanksgiving Pin Poke Printables for Fine Motor Practice

Pin poking is just what it sounds like: kids push a pin through each dot around a picture. This Thanksgiving pin poke set has 14 pictures, from a turkey and a pumpkin to a pie and a place setting.

Each picture comes as a full page in color and in black and white, plus smaller versions four to a page.

What Pin Poking Works On

Holding a small pin and pushing it straight down takes a lot of finger strength. Kids grip the handle with their fingertips, the same fingers they will use to hold a pencil, and press until the pin pops through the paper.

Every dot is also a tiny target. Kids have to aim, poke, lift and move to the next dot, over and over, which builds the hand and eye control they need for writing and cutting.

Child poking a push pin through the dots of an acorn on a cork board

Child poking the dots around a lattice pie

Setting It Up Safely

Put a cork board or foam mat under the page so the pin can go all the way through.
Use a push pin with a large handle. It is easier for small hands to grip and keeps fingers away from the point.
Stay close, and keep the pins at the table.
Count the pins out at the start and back in at the end.

Start With the Small Pictures

The four-to-a-page sheets have smaller pictures with fewer dots, so kids can finish one quickly and feel successful. Simple outlines like the acorn, pumpkin and leaf are a good place to start.

The lattice pie and the place setting have extra lines inside the picture, which means a lot more dots. Save those for kids who are ready for a longer job.

Child pin poking a page of four black and white Thanksgiving pictures

Finishing the Page

Each page ends with “I created an ___” so kids can write the name of the picture they poked. When every dot is done, hold the page up to a window. The light shines through the holes and the picture glows.

On the black-and-white pages, kids can color the picture in when they finish poking.

Child pin poking a large orange pumpkin on a cork board

Child pin poking a colorful turkey with I created an at the bottom

Ways to Use Them in November

A fine motor center with a cork board and one pin.
A quiet table activity before or after Thanksgiving break.
Window art. Tape the finished pages to a window so the light shows the poked outlines.

What’s in the Set

14 pictures: turkey, roasted turkey, acorn, corn, cornucopia, feather, leaf, maple leaf, pear, pie, lattice pie, place setting, pumpkin and squash
Full-page pictures in color and in black and white
Four-to-a-page sheets in color and in black and white