Easy Thanksgiving Activities to Keep Your Kids Entertained While You Cook

Julie Miller

Your family probably already has a few traditions of your own for Thanksgiving. Maybe you have a special routine for saying what you’re thankful for, or maybe everyone looks forward to grandma’s signature pie all year long. Thanksgiving is also a great time to start some new traditions, particularly if you’re looking for fun activities that kids will love to take part in. 1. Succulent Place Cards This is such a fun and easy activity for kiddos during the holidays! While the house is a big hub of craziness and activity, you can send the kids outside for this quick and easy Thanksgiving or Christmas craft. Littles and bigs will love making place cards for everyone around the holiday table. Then all of the guests can have a sweet little succulent planter to take home after the delicious dinner. Head HERE for full step-by-step photo instructions to show you how to make them.

Step-by-Step photo instructions to make succulent place cards for your holiday table

2. Get the Kids Involved with Foraged Bouquets for the Table The hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving can get overwhelming for kids. Everyone is excited, the house smells amazing, family and friends are ringing the bell...chaos is sure to follow. One thing our boys love to do is head outside in the fresh air to get some energy out. Send an older kid or an adult with the kids to pick a bouquet of "foraged" leaves, flowers and sticks (or several small bouquets). Then they can put them in mason jars or vases on the Thanksgiving table. Fun, festive & it gets the wiggles out!

3. A Thankful Book Instead of simply saying what you’re thankful for around the dinner table, how about having each person write it down? Then save the notes in a scrapbook or binder. It's fun to set out a blank book or paper with pencils, crayons, stickers and markers for everyone to write down their thankful list while dinner is cooking. It keeps the kids busy, and you can look back on it together every Thanksgiving. Erin over at Home Literacy Blueprint made the cutest thankful books with her kiddos!

Idea and adorable photo from Home Literacy Blueprint

4. Pin the Feather on the Turkey If you have a lot of young kids in your family (or teenagers who like to be goofy like mine), pin the feather on the turkey is a great game to keep them entertained and get them in the Thanksgiving spirit. This is just like pin the tail on the donkey, except you’re using a paper turkey and feathers of different colors. For added fun, have each kid create and decorate their own feather out of card stock, stickers, pens, pencils...whatever you have lying around. They can write what they are thankful for & it makes the turkey so adorable when they're finished! Make sure you take a picture as a memento!