Macy's Thanksgiving Parade (2025)

🎈Get excited for Thanksgiving with this updated Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade activity! Students explore this year's parade map to find the number of parade blocks, use the map’s scale to determine the parade distance, and think about the factors that go into planning a major event like this.

Next, students work out how long different marching bands take to finish the route, converting between hours, minutes, and seconds as they go. Finally, they check out pictures of a popular past parade balloon and make a reasonable estimate of its size based on what they see and know. This will lead to fun discussions and help build number sense. 

📝Suitable for Grades 5-7
⏰ Min 30 minutes 

Originally contributed by 5th/6th-grade teacher Bob Olsen, we’ve refreshed it again with this year’s parade details so you can use it right away with your class.