Thanksgiving and the thankful season is full of activities children and families can do to celebrate, learn and express themselves. Here are a few favorites for kids:
Tonya created these adorable Turkey Cookies that you can make with your kids. The icing and candies will also work for cupcakes.
Barb of a Life in Balance works with her kids to help them create and display a list of things they are thankful for during the Thanksgiving season. Alternatively, an acts of service tree shares how families share their appreciation by helping others.
Handprint and Footprint Turkeys are an easy thankful activity that kids can do while getting ready for the holiday.
Thankful Turkeys featured at Julieverse can also make great napkin rings for your table. Our kids help the guests create these during the appetizer time of Thanksgiving Day.
We love this simple math activity from No Time for Flash Cards using candy corn and simple corn crafts. It would also be easy to do with popcorn kernels–and great for hand-eye coordination. No Time for Flash Cards shares 20 more Thanksgiving crafts here.
Turkey Suncatchers are an easy way to teach color blends and scientific mixtures at A Life in Balance.
Colleen’s kids bring the outside inside by learning about nature and creating placemats for the table at Classy Mommy. She also shares 9 other simple kids crafts for Thanksgiving.
On Amazon, you can buy felted stickers that guide kids to create their own turkey: Make-A-Turkey Stickers – Kids’ Stationery & Stickers.
Going somewhere for the big meal this year? Here’s a quick list of items you’ll want to bring with you to your Thanksgiving Dinner to keep your family at peace. (You’ll be thankful!)
And if you’re starting to feel some stress, here are 29 ways to not drive yourself crazy this holiday season.
Crafting with kids: Thankful Turkeys
This was a hit each year in the classroom when we did it with our kindergarten buddies. This year I made them with my 1st grader and pre-Kindergartner. This activity is exactly at their level, and I was so proud of Middle when he wrote his Thankful feathers on his own.
I’m fairly certain you’ll have everything you need in your home, so there is no need to rush out to the store for this activity. You can even do it on Thanksgiving!
You’ll need, per turkey:
- toilet paper roll
- construction paper: 1 brown, 1 yellow, other colors
- glue
- black marker
Create a tracer of a feather; trace and cut feathers out of many colors of construction paper (plan for 4 or 5 per turkey). Also, fold brown construction paper in half (length-wise) and cut. You’ll need 1 half-sheet brown paper per turkey. Finally, cut out small, yellow squares, about 1/2 -1 inch.
- Place glue on the construction paper and roll the paper around the toilet paper roll.
- Have the child draw eyes. Fold the small square yellow paper into a triangle shape and glue one side onto the roll as a beak.
- Ask a child to think about the things he is most thankful for and write them on each feather. Glue bottoms of feather onto roll to form turkey.
