Fun Thanksgiving Activities For Kids

I remember being a little girl running around my grandparents’ home with all my cousins. Their house had a basement with a pool table so we would spend most of our day down stairs attempting to play pool, but none of us were very good at it. If the weather was nice we would head out before dinner to play wiffle ball in the backyard and then after dinner we would somehow find ourselves walking the neighborhood loop. I made some of the best memories with my cousins on any holiday spent at my grandparents. We are all so close in age so no one was left out and we all got into trouble together.

I can’t wait for our little boy to be able to make the same memories with his cousins as I got to. I’m lucky that my cousins all have children who are close in age to our son, so it makes getting together just that much sweeter. Our afternoons are no longer filled with ball in the backyard, but are now filled with watching our kids play together and wobble around the living room. If you have a toddler-aged child then you know just how hard it can be to entertain them for long periods of time. Especially if dinner is taking a little longer than usual or you’re waiting for someone to get off work.

I’ve put together a great list of easy and inexpensive activities you can do with your little ones this Thanksgiving. These work great for kids of all ages and they don’t cause too big of a mess, which is a huge plus when you have a busy house full of people.

Let’s get into it, here are my favorite

Thanksgiving activities for kids:

Leaf Art

Collect leaves from outside and glue on pieces of construction paper into various shapes

Paper Bag Puppets

Take brown paper bags, glue on eyes, feathers and pieces of paper to make a turkey face. On each bag have kids write down what they are grateful for this year (you may have to do the writing for them). Here’s a great tutorial for you.

Scavenger Hunt

Put together a list of clues that lead to hidden objects around the house or outside in the backyard. You can make this as easy or as difficult depending on the age of the kids. If they’re a bit older, trying using codes that need to be solved before they’re able to figure out their next location. The end prize could be some dollar store treats, a new game, or whatever you have on hand.

Thanksgiving Bingo

Put together a game of bingo using this template from The Crafting Chicks. You can create (or find for free!) so many themed bingo games online. They are so much to play and you can even put a bigger kid in charge of pulling numbers and handing out prizes to winners.

Turkey Feathers

This game looks super fun to play! You can find the tutorial from The Idea Room and it looks pretty simple to setup. All you need is a turkey cutout with numbers 1-6 listed on it, some clothes pins and a dice. Each kid takes turns rolling the dice and they place a clothes pin on the turkey for the number they rolled. If you roll the dice and already have that number with a pin then you’re turn is over. Once you have all the numbers covered, you win!

What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving activities for kids from when you were little?