In my family, we all gather and celebrate Thanksgiving by playing some fun games and doing creative activities together. Thanksgiving is one of the best parts of the year. It helps to bring family👨👨👧👧 together and spend some quality time together.
They eat a lavish dinner, sing and dance together, and enjoy their time together. People also conduct several activities to make their day interesting and exciting.
My family and I also get together to play some enjoyable games to add excitement to our day. Only eating together and gossiping sometimes make this important day boring. To make it more interesting, you can conduct Thanksgiving games, movies, and crafts that can make your day more fruitful.
activities for your kids on Thanksgiving
If you want to make your and your kid’s Thanksgiving🍗 day more entertaining and fruitful, you have come to the right spot!
I would advise you to organize engaging and entertaining events that will fill their festival with joy and love❤️. They have to feel taken care of and loved. The only thing they expect from you is to spend some time together with them.
I’ve put together a list of Thanksgiving Day activities in this blog post that will help you celebrate this holiday enthusiastically with your family👨👨👧👧.
Decorate pumpkins.
Painting and decorating pumpkins🎃 together will help your kids show their creativity, make your house look beautiful, and give it a festive look. Your kids👦 will enjoy this activity as art and craft is a favorite pastime for them.
You should collect some brushes🖌️, paint, colors, and craft sheets for this decoration. I recommend this simple activity for kids and elders in your house to make their festival fun-filled.
Pro tip:
I made my kids and parents participate in this activity as this helped them to spend time together and get innovative for this Thanksgiving🥧. With the brightly colored pumpkins hanging, my house🏠 looked adorable and festive.
Singing songs together.
You can sing songs🎤 together with your family: this will help elevate their mood. You will enjoy hearing Grandpa and Grandma sing their hearts out. Children👦 love to sing and dance, and doing this with your family will help make their bond stronger and closer.
Get some mics and speakers🎙️ ready for this entertaining activity. I recommend this activity as your kids will enjoy singing together with their elders.
Find the pumpkins.
You can hide pumpkins around your house🏠 and backyard. You can paint and decorate these pumpkins🎃 to make them look more attractive.
You can add small, meaningful notes and symbols to them. Make your kids and family members hunt for these precious pumpkins, and whoever captures the most number of pumpkins will be given a reward.
This activity will help them get more active and entertained this Thanksgiving🍗.
Pro tip:
I made my family👨👨👧👧 and kids do this activity last Thanksgiving. They were overjoyed and delighted as their day got better with this. Trust me when I say that this activity will make your day amusing.
At the table, express gratitude.
Many people thank God🙏 before eating the Thanksgiving dinner. This is the ritual for every year. Gratitude is very important, as God should know that you are grateful for the thing he gave to you.
Make this day different by making your family👨👨👧👧 express gratitude personally by saying a few words. This will help you know what your loved ones are thinking, and you will get to know their feelings.
Let your little ones👦 also say something, as it will help you to know more about their mind and emotions. I guarantee this activity will help you learn a lot of new things going on in the minds of your family and children.
Thanksgiving Bingo.
You can conduct a Thanksgiving Bingo🍂 in your family. Make bingo with things related to Thanksgiving, like pumpkins🎃, turkey, pie, party poppers🎉, etc., instead of numbers.
Let your kids create this bingo. Provide bingo paper to everyone in your family👨👨👧👧 and start the game. You can keep some rewards for the winners, and this will increase the excitement and their will to win the game.
This game will help the elders and kids to interact more and decrease their generation gap. You can also invite your neighbors to join the fun, as more members will increase the fun and happiness.
Pro Tip:
I made my kids👦 and elders play this game together. The occasion became more interesting and fun-filled with their cheers and laughter😁. This game brings out everyone’s competitive spirit, and they enjoyed it a lot.
Paint the tablecloth.
Instead of buying a new tablecloth for this Thanksgiving🥧, you can let your children paint and decorate a new one. Provide them with tablecloth sheets, paintbrushes🖌️, poster colors🎨, stencils, and craft sheets.
Let them draw whatever they want related to Thanksgiving, like pumpkins, pies, and many other things. This will make them enjoy the day and get you a personalized Thanksgiving tablecloth.
As per me, this activity will help your kids bring out their inventive and artful side. They will get to create beautiful things with paint👩🎨.
Donut turkeys
Creating donuts 🍩 turkeys will serve as a very enthusiastic and enjoyable activity for your kids. Children love donuts, and creating new things with donuts🍩 will be interesting.
Get your kid’s small glazed donuts, frosting, candies, ice-cream sticks, and colored pieces of bread. Let them set up these things according to their choice.
You can help them in this activity by pasting sticks behind the donut. These donut turkeys will turn out very cute and beautiful.
According to me, this activity will help your kids👦 learn new things and polish their minds.
Thanksgiving Crafts with Toilet Paper Rolls
Toilet paper rolls🧻 can be used to create many fun things. This Thanksgiving🍗 you can have your kids make the best use of these toilet paper rolls by creating characters, toys, and dolls. Kids can use them for pretend play, which they enjoy a lot.
Get your kids toilet paper rolls, paint brushes🖌️, scissors, colors, paper plates, glue, and craft sheets. Let them create whatever they desire.
I also conducted this activity at my house last Thanksgiving. This helped them spend their time on these interesting and fun-filled activities instead of on the phone or TV📺.
Pro Tip:
Be careful while giving your kids scissors✂️ or cutters. These sharp objects should be given to them under your supervision as they may hurt themselves.
Thanksgiving Charades
You can gather your family👨👨👧👧, kids, and your neighbors together and can conduct Thanksgiving charades. You can give them movies🎥, songs, or characters to guess.
Kids will enjoy this game a lot as it suits their interests and age. You can write the names of movies, songs, or characters on paper chits and put them in a bowl. Divide everyone into two teams and pass this bowl to them.
Whatever name comes in their chit, they have to guess and tell, and if they succeed in it, their team will earn a point. Whichever team gains more points, they will win the game. You can have some hampers🎁 as a reward for the winning team; this will increase their enthusiasm and excitement.
I conduct these games in my family👨👨👧👧 on holiday; this helps in spending some quality time together and makes your holiday special. Kids also feel more connected with their elders.
Turkey Hunt
Turkey🦃 is an important part of Thanksgiving. But you can also have fun with it instead of eating it. You can conduct a Turkey hunt.
Hide turkeys in different parts of your house🏠 and let your children and elders find them. Whoever finds more of it first will get rewards. You can provide them with some clues and hints.
I organize this game in my house every year, and everyone in my family👨👨👧👧 enjoys it. Their day just becomes more interesting and exciting.
Turkey bowling
Instead of simple bowling🎳, do turkey bowling this Thanksgiving. Let your kids decorate bowling pins in the form of turkeys🦃. Provide them with a bowling set, tape, colored sheets, scissors✂️, pens, craft feathers, and stickers.
When they complete making bowling pins, gather all your family and kids and make them play this game. I suggest you organize this game as kids find happiness☺️ in these small games. This will turn out to be a cute and fun game.
Potato sack race
Gather everyone from your family👨👨👧👧 and neighborhood and organize a potato sack race. Get a few potato sacks💰 and set up the track in your backyard. This game will help your elders and kids stay active and energetic on a lazy and inactive holiday.
Cheer everyone with full energy; this will boost their confidence and will to win. You can have small prizes🏆 for the winners. In my opinion, this is one of the best activities you can conduct on Thanksgiving.
Create a tree of thanks
While decorating your house for Thanksgiving🍗, you can create a tree of thanks, in which you, your kids, and elders in your family👨👨👧👧 will write what they are thankful for this year and what they want for the next one.
They can represent their gratitude in small notes and hang them on the tree. This unique activity will help you all know more about each other. Let your kids👦 write their thanks, which will help them to understand the meaning of Thanksgiving.
As per my, this is a very sweet activity that can help your kids express their inner feelings.
Pie-Baking Contest
Gather all the kids from your neighborhood and organize a pie-baking🥧 contest. Provide a pie to all the kids and let them decorate it according to their wishes. Provide them with frosting🧁, skittles, glitter, and sprinkles.
You can have your family vote for the best pie made, and the one who receives the most votes will be the winner and receive a prize🏆. Kids will enjoy this fun-filled activity, and it will provide you with desserts, too.
Pro-Tip:
I conducted this activity in my house last Thanksgiving🍗. Though it was a mess, the kids enjoyed this activity and even ate most of the pie themselves.
Create a family tree
It might be old-fashioned, but let your kids make a family tree🌳 including their grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, and siblings.
This will also mark the presence of those not able to come. They will enjoy this activity and get to know more about their family👨👨👧👧. I recommend you do this at your home as this will help your kids spend more time with the family.
Volunteer with Kids
This Thanksgiving🍗 instead of spending it at your home like every year, you can do something different, like volunteering at some charity event with your kids👦.
This will help your kids gain new experience and learn many things. You and your kids will be able to create a good Thanksgiving for those underprivileged children who spend it alone.
My family👨👨👧👧 and kids volunteered for an NGO a few years back on Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful experience as we were able to bring smiles to many small faces.
Write Thank you cards
You can let your kids write thank you cards🗂️ for their loved ones. This will create a close bond between your kids and elders. You can provide them with colored sheets, glitter pens, crayons🖍️, glue, and staplers.
They can also write these cards for their teachers and friends. My kids do this activity every year. This helps them to understand the importance of their family👨👨👧👧, teachers, and friends. They learn to love and value them.
Turkey Treats
Simple treats🍬 are delicious, but having turkey treats on Thanksgiving is something special. Let your kids👦 make these special turkey treats this time, which will add to their excitement for this holiday.
Provide them with treats, pouches, and turkey eyes. Let them put treats in a pouch and decorate that pouch in a turkey🦃 shape. You can let your kids distribute these Thanksgiving treats in your neighborhood and school. You may usually stop them from eating treats, but make an exception on this day.
Pro tip:
I make my kids make these treats every year on Thanksgiving🍗 and distribute them among neighbors and friends. This activity helps them make their day more interesting and fruitful.
Watching Thanksgiving movie
You can watch a Thanksgiving movie🎥 together with your kids and all your family👨👨👧👧. This will help your family spend some quality time together, and your kids can learn new things.
You can watch this movie at night after dinner. Kids👦 also want their parents and elders to spend time with them.
This is the best activity which the whole family will enjoy. In my family, it’s like a tradition to watch Thanksgiving movies together every year. We watch different movies🎦 or sometimes repeat the old ones. But it’s fun when everyone is around.
A Photobooth
If possible, you can set up a photo booth 📸 in your house. You can keep all the props related to fall and Thanksgiving. Kids👦 will have an amazing time clicking photos with all these props. This will be something new and exciting. Even elders will enjoy taking pictures with different props.
You can let someone handle the Photobooth and the camera. Now, with the help of technology, everything is possible. According to me, you should explore new things for this holiday as everyone wants to make their occasion entertaining.
Thankful jars
You can try thankful jars🫙 this Thanksgiving. Let your kids make these jars with the help of colors, paint🎨, and stickers.
At night, before having the meal, let your kids, elders, and guests write down one thing they are grateful for in a small chit of paper📃 and put it in the jar after folding it. Then, you can pass that jar, and everyone will take out any chit and read it aloud.
This will help you understand each other more, and your kids will also enjoy this activity.
Thanksgiving Trivia
Gather your kids and other kids from the neighborhood and let them participate in a Thanksgiving🍗 trivia. This trivia will be related to Thanksgiving-related facts. Whoever gives more answers will be rewarded.
Children👦 can also get help from their elders. You can create this trivia by searching the internet. Kids will get to learn more about Thanksgiving and fall🍂. This activity will be informative and fascinating.
Pro Tip:
I organized this game last year. It turned out very productive and fruitful for kids👦 as they not only got to enjoy but also gained some knowledge. You must also try this this year.
Coloring Table
Coloring is the favorite hobby of children👦. You can let your children color the table. Cover your table with sheets or cloth.
Provide your kids with paint colors, paint brushes🖌️, craft sheets, scissors, markers, and crayons.
Let them start drawing on the table. You can also provide them with ideas related to Thanksgiving for drawing. This activity can be messy, but it will provide your kids with joy and happiness☺️. I recommend you to conduct this activity with your kids.
Sponge painted turkeys
As you know, kids love painting🎨. You can let your kids make handmade turkeys and paint them with a sponge🧽.
You can provide them with sponges, paint colors, craft sheets, and glue. This is an easy and fun activity that your kids will enjoy. You can hang these turkeys in your house🏠 which will add a festive look to it.
Pro Tip
I made my children👦 make these sponge-painted turkeys🦃 and hang them in their rooms. They felt happy and proud about it. These small activities bring happiness to their faces.
Turkey tail napkin rings
Having a customized napkin stand is a very nice idea. This Thanksgiving🥧, you can make your kids make new napkin stands in the form of turkeys, which will relate to Thanksgiving🍗.
You can provide them with craft sheets, colors, napkins, and crayons.
You can also help them in cutting out turkey🦃 shapes. This will be a very fun and exciting activity. I also made both of my kids do this fun-filled activity. They created very cute napkin rings, and we’re proud of their creation.
Pumpkin napkin
Instead of placing napkins simply on the table, you can make your kids👦 fold these napkins in pumpkin shape. This will make them more attractive.
You can help them with this. I always make my kids fold napkins in different shapes every year. This helps them pass their time and enjoy the holiday.
Turkey Crowns
Kids👦 love to make crowds of cartoon characters and Marvel heroes. On Thanksgiving, you can make your kids make turkey🦃-shaped crowns.
Provide them with colored sheets, scissors, glue, and crayons. I recommend you organize this activity for your kids, as it will make their day more memorable.
Pumpkin tic-tac-toe
Kids love to play tic-tac-toe with chalk or pens✒️. This Thanksgiving, they play tic-tac-toe, which is made of small pumpkins.
This will add fun and excitement to their holiday. You can have some prizes🏆 for the winners, which will increase the excitement. You can conduct this game on a table. If your table is small, you can organize it on the floor, too.
The main element of this game is to have fun on Thanksgiving. Once, I made my kids👦 play this game. They were so enthusiastic and excited that their happiness☺️ was shown on their faces.
Conclusion
These are some activities that will make your kids Thanksgiving🍗 special and entertaining. I’m sure these will be helpful to you and provide you with some ideas for this Thanksgiving.
Don’t let your kids👦 spend this holiday in their rooms on their phones. You should organize these entertaining activities that will bring your kids and families👨👨👧👧 together.
I hope you enjoyed reading the above Thanksgiving activities list that can be done with your kids.
If you would want me to answer any questions you may have, or if you have any suggestions for more activities, please leave a comment below. I would be happy to hear from you❤️!
I’m a former teacher (and mother of Two Childs) with a background in child development. Here to help you with play-based learning activities for kids. ( Check my Next startup Cledemy.Com)