Make sure this “Thanksgiving” is much more than the traditional dinner and family get together with these 15 wonderful, heartwarming Thanksgiving Activities for Kids & Family.
These fun thanksgiving activities will keep your kids happily engaged while allowing you time to plan out the family holiday. We tried really hard to include activities that will keep kids entertained on thanksgiving and yet are easy on you to set-up and organise.
Perfect for kids of all ages, these thoughtful hands-on thanksgiving activity ideas are perfect for grown ups as well and just right for the Thanksgiving spirit. I sincerely hope you enjoy them!
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Fun Thanksgiving Activities for Kids
1. Go On a Nature Walk
Thanksgiving is all about family and eating! While you gobble down a hearty big meal with your family, it is a good idea to digest it by taking a relaxing nature walk.
Take a cue for these nature walk ideas for a mindful, rejuvenating stroll with your family to dial into their lives and daily routine. These walks present a great opportunity to connect with your children the fun way and get them talking.
2. Thanksgiving Jokes
Family that laughs together stays together. Be the life of the thanksgiving party with these funny thanksgiving jokes that will crack everyone up.
Clean and kid-friendly, these jokes will make your thanksgiving memorable.
Related: Also check out our all season, evergreen Funny Jokes for hearty laughs!
3. Write Gratitude Notes
Don’t wait for Thanksgiving dinner to express your gratitude. Instead, write heartfelt gratitude notes with our free printable for the whole family to truly immerse in the spirit of thanksgiving.
Download Free Thanksgiving Notes
And don’t limit yourself to your family! Thank everyone – friends, teachers, neighbours or colleagues to instill gratitude in your kids.
4. Start a Thankfulness Jar
This is a lovely gratitude project for families to start ahead of thanksgiving. Create a thankfulness box to inculcate gratitude in your family.
Anytime you feel grateful, write it down on an index card and put it in a thankfulness jar. Younger kids can draw or take help from seniors to help pen their thoughts.
Open the jar on Thanksgiving dinner to reflect on the countless blessings you and your family have received.
5. Make Pumpkin Slime
This is a fun thanksgiving activity that your young kids will absolutely love! To make pumpkin slime, simply add pumpkin seeds, pumpkin spice and orange colour to this easy slime recipe.
6. Make a Grateful Pumpkin
Here is another gratitude project that is simply fun and perfect for the fall season! Take a big pumpkin and have everyone in the house write on it what they are grateful for using a permanent marker.
Related: Also check out these beautiful and easy Pumpkin Crafts for Kids to keep them creatively busy.
7. Read Together
Reading Thanksgiving books together is one of the most rewarding thanksgiving activities. It allows you to spend quality time with your kids while teaching them the tradition behind thanksgiving.
It does not necessarily have to be about Thanksgiving. Choose what interests your kids and family. If your kids are into silly humour, pick up David Walliams! Or if you are into sports as a family, pick up a sports biography. The idea is to bond through books to immerse in the spirit of Thanksgiving.
8. Try Baking
Thanksgiving dinner tastes special when it has muffins and cookies made by kids. Get your kids involved in the kitchen by baking a simple cake or stuffing the turkey.
9. Turkey On The Table
This is a thoughtful thanksgiving activity for family that everyone will love and can participate in regardless of their age!
Each member gets a turkey feather to write in about what they are thankful for and count their blessings. The feathers are then attached to the turkey, which makes a perfect centerpiece for thanksgiving.
And that’s not all! Turkey on the Table not only teaches gratitude but is also a partner with Feeding America and provides 10 meals to the needy with each Turkey on the Table sold.
10. Pen An Acrostic Poem
Acrostic poems are a wonderful way to explore poetry without getting too hung up on rhyming. This easy style of writing poetry is a great activity to get kids and adults writing and thinking creatively.
Make it into a fun thanksgiving activity for the family with this free printable and let everyone read out aloud his or her acrostic poems post thanksgiving dinner.
11. Thanksgiving Table Cover
We absolutely love this idea from Art Bar. What a creative way to dress up your Thanksgiving table and keep kids happily busy.
12. Make a Family Tree
Dig into your family ancestry with your kids and make a family tree. Thanksgiving is a perfect time to learn about family ties and revisit old forgotten memories.
Related: Also try Thanksgiving Tree Craft Activity for Kids to promote gratitude and mindfulness.
13. Thanksgiving Karaoke
This Thanksgiving, set up a karaoke night with everyone participating. A fun way to get everyone in the happy mood, karaoke nights are super fun and big hit with all age group.
Download a free karaoke app and you are all ready for an evening of music and dance!
14. Make Pumpkin Spice Playdough
Nothing can beat the fun of making this easy Pumpkin Spice playdough. This hands-on sensorial activity for thanksgiving is sure to keep your kids busy for hours.
Follow our easy Playdough receptive and replace the lavender essential oil with Pumpkin spice essential oil to make this wonderful smelling playdough.
15. Thanksgiving Coloring Sheets
Just the perfect Thanksgiving activity for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarten kids, these holiday inspired colouring sheets are a great way to channel their creativity and polish their fine motor skills.
Free Thanksgiving Coloring Sheets
FAQ
1. Write gratitude notes
2. Make pumpkin slime
3. Start Thankfulness jar
4. Try baking
5. Crack Thanksgiving jokes