Thanksgiving is more than just enjoying turkey and pumpkin pie. It’s a time to gather with loved ones, reflect on what we’re grateful for, and make meaningful memories together.
Sharing the traditions and fun of Thanksgiving with your children can build family bonds while introducing them to the history, values, and meaning of the holiday. Read on to learn how to make the most of Thanksgiving with fun activities your kids will love.
Tell the Thanksgiving Story
Help kids understand the meaning of Thanksgiving by telling the historical origins of this beloved holiday.
Bring the story to life by reading picture books together, such as Thanksgiving: The Harvest Feast of 1621 by Kate Waters or The First Thanksgiving by Rhonda Gowler Greene. Talk about concepts such as the harvest, the Pilgrims, Native Americans, friendship, and gratitude.
Watch a child-friendly video about the Thanksgiving story and retell it visually. Encourage children to retell what they learned in their own words. Craft projects such as making paper bag pilgrim hats reinforce this experience.
Attend church services
Many families attend religious services on Thanksgiving morning to express gratitude and ask for blessings. Involving children teaches them the role of faith, prayer, and community in the holiday season.
Let children know they can pray silently for the people and things they are thankful for. Offer children’s programs to help kids engage in themed crafts and lessons. Include traditional hymns such as “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” to make children feel part of the celebration.
Volunteer Together
Thanksgiving is a time to help those in need. Look for local volunteer opportunities for families, such as serving at a mobile kitchen or donating blankets to a homeless shelter.
Explain how those less fortunate especially need cheering and help during the holidays. Show kids firsthand how giving back can be spirit-filled. Have them make encouragement cards and include them in donations.
Kids can help cook
Cook Thanksgiving dinner together and make memories in the kitchen while teaching kids cooking skills. Have children help with age-appropriate tasks:
- Ages 2 to 3: Washing fruits and vegetables, mixing ingredients, placing napkins
- 4 to 5 years: peeling potatoes, rolling dough, decorating place cards
- 6 to 7 years: Measuring ingredients, setting the table, shaping cranberry sauce cobbler
- Ages 8 to 12: Prepare side dishes, bake pies, clean up
Practice safe knife and cooking techniques. Involving children in preparation builds patience, teamwork, and pride at mealtime.
Play Thanksgiving Games
After a hearty meal, enjoy holiday fun and games together. Classic options include:
- Throwing bean bags or stuffed turkeys at a target
- Attach beak or tail to turkey
- Turkey bowling or ground ball with frozen turkey and pine cones
- Crossword puzzles or picture books with Thanksgiving words
- Turkey Feather Relay Pass feathers back and forth
- Bean bag balancing relay race with spoons or heads
Games can promote family bonding, laughter and holiday cheer. Children can invent their own for endless entertainment.
Watch holiday parades and soccer games
Watch large balloon-filled Thanksgiving Day parades on TV, such as the Macy’s parade in New York City. Kids are sure to be mesmerized by the giant character balloons, floats, marching bands and performers.
Many also enjoy watching or playing touch football games, a Thanksgiving tradition. Explain the rules for children unfamiliar with the sport. Come together at halftime for catching, kicking practice and silly mixers.
Make Thanksgiving Artwork
Craft projects allow kids to think creatively about Thanksgiving themes.
- Make handprint turkeys with colorful feathers
- Kraft paper plates or pine cone turkeys
- Finger painting fall trees and harvesting food
- Decorate Thanksgiving cards for loved ones
- Collage “I am thankful for…” Collage “I’m thankful for…” with pictures cut out of magazines
Displaying artwork builds self-esteem and serves as a daily reminder to be thankful.
Write thank you notes
Have kids write thank-you notes in their best handwriting and send them to relatives, teachers, community helpers, and anyone they appreciate. Expressing gratitude builds thoughtfulness.
Decorate using colored paper, stickers and drawings. Show kids how to write warm, specific messages about why they are grateful for this person and how they have impacted their lives. Mailing them extends connection and joy.
Keep a gratitude journal
A few days before Thanksgiving, start a gratitude journal with your children. Each night before bed, have them share something they feel grateful for that day’s events and record them in their journal.
Examples can be simple pleasures like playing with friends, learning something new, a hug from mom, or seeing a beautiful rainbow on a walk.When you review the entries together on Thanksgiving, kids realize how much they have to be thankful When you review the entries together on Thanksgiving, kids realize how much they have to be thankful for which is easy to overlook in daily life.
Decorate a Gratitude Tree
Have family members write or draw things they are grateful for on strips of kraft paper. Glue the strips to branches collected in a vase or fastened to the base of a small tree to create a “thankful tree”.
Display it as a warm reminder of how much there is to appreciate in life. Let children add new notes whenever they think of new ideas for gratitude.
Play the “I’m Grateful” Game
Share around what everyone is thankful for, starting each answer with “I’m thankful for ……”, e.g. “I’m thankful for rainbows …… “Take turns sharing as many answers as possible.
Choosing categories like food can get silly. Or throw a bean bag back and forth and whoever catches it shouts out something they are grateful for. These games remind kids how many reasons we have to express gratitude.
The most meaningful Thanksgiving traditions center on expressing gratitude. Engage kids in fun activities that convey the importance of community, charitable acts, faith and family. Celebrating together creates memories that children will inherit and pass on to future generations.