10 Thanksgiving Family Activities and Games
Thanksgiving has always been a special holiday – a day focused on spending time with loved ones and being thankful, without the commercialism that dominates many other popular holidays. It’s a time when we disconnect from our busy lives, reconnect with family and share a delicious meal together. It’s a wonderful time to plan meals and cook, read about the holiday, create crafts, and, most importantly, it’s a great day to express gratitude for everything for which we are thankful. It’s important to plan ahead and be prepared with fun family activities in which all your guests will enjoy participating. Whether you’re trying to keep bored kids occupied while preparing the meal or you just want a fun way to give thanks, these 10 Thanksgiving family activities and games will keep guests of all ages entertained!
Thanksgiving Weaved Placemats
Make personalised weaved placemats using coloured paper. Guests of all ages will enjoy this creative craft and early learners will practise fine motor skills at the same time! If you laminate these placemats, they can be used for years to come. The materials required are simple – coloured paper (brown, red, yellow, orange), a ruler, a pencil, scissors, glue, and printed Thanksgiving themed name labels.
The Gratitude Game
The Thanksgiving season always reminds us of the importance of gratitude in our own lives and in our children’s. Gratitude allows kids to have more self control, generosity, self worth and happiness. There are so many fun ways to encourage younger children to appreciate all that they have. Play the Gratitude Game! Place coloured sticks in a bag. Ask your child to choose one stick and according to the colour, they can express their own concept of gratitude in simple terms. Make sure that you take a turn as well, modelling gratitude is the best way to teach it!
Mini Pumpkin Hunt
This is a Thanksgiving version of the traditional Easter egg hunt. Mini pumpkins are perfect for this family activity. Hide them around your home or backyard and work together either in teams or individuals to see how many pumpkins you can find. Kids can decorate a bag before going to hunt. If you want to make it competitive, have a race to see who can find a certain number of pumpkins the fastest. No matter how you play the mini pumpkin hunt, it’s sure to be a fun family time together
Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt
This Thanksgiving, work together with your family on this fun scavenger hunt, it will get you exploring both inside and outside looking for leaves, acorns and other fall items. This activity is quick and easy to organize – simple print our free Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt activity sheet, gather with family and search for all the items on the list. Depending on how many people are in your family, you can work together in one big group or split into small teams. Have fun and enjoy exploring your environment together!
Baby Photo Guessing Game
This is a great game if you have extended family visiting for Thanksgiving. Ask everyone to bring a baby photo of themselves, write their name on the back and place them into a large envelope when they arrive. Once all the photos are gathered, hang them up and play the baby photo guessing game. It can be done either verbally or written. You can hold each photo up ask each family member to guess who it is. Or label each photo with a number and ask each family member to write down their guesses for each photo. Reveal the answers and see who has the most right answers!
Make a Gratitude Tree
A gratitude tree is a great way to display the things you’re grateful for while creating a beautiful decoration. This activity can be done before Thanksgiving dinner or it can be an activity that everyone at your Thanksgiving table can participate in. Create a tree trunk with brown coloured paper including a few different tree branches. Stick onto a wall near the dining table. Give each dinner guest a paper leaf and ask them to write something they’re thankful for on each leaf. This is a great activity to do at Thanksgiving but also throughout the year to remind children all the things they have to be thankful for.
Thanksgiving Gratitude Placemat
This activity is a great way to keep family members of all ages busy while waiting for their Thanksgiving meal. Cut plain paper to the size of placemats and write the title “I’m thankful for…”. Encourage your guests to think about all the things they are grateful for and either write them or draw them onto their placemats. Drawing is a great option to include younger members of the family. During the meal, go around the table and ask each guests to share a few of the words they have written.
Easy Apple Pie Recipe
Cooking together is a fun family activity. For early learners, it is a great way to encourage concentration and fine motor skills. This easy apple pie recipe is perfect for Thanksgiving. You will need: granulated sugar, thinly sliced apples (6 – 8), salted butter, cinnamon, short crust pastry. Download our free recipe PDF for detailed instructions of how to make this easy, tasty apple pie with your children.
Thanksgiving Fingerprint Turkey
Adults as well as kids love getting their hands dirty. Thanksgiving is a great time to break out the paints and get creative while the turkey is cooking. Finger painting is a fun family activity – and the results will be in all shapes and sizes. Early learners can enjoy sensory fun, learn about colours and shapes and improve fine motor skills and coordination. The finger painted turkeys can be used as table place cards, Thanksgiving decorations or greeting cards.
Thanksgiving Guess the Candy Corn Game
Not everyone likes to eat candy corn, but they are a great sweet to use for this guessing game. You may want to have a separate larger jar for the adults and a smaller jar for the kids. Make sure to count carefully and record the number of candy corn somewhere safe when preparing the jars. Each guest is shown the jar of candy corn and encouraged to submit a guess as to how many candy corn are in the jar. Clarify that you are playing closest to the actual number. When all the guests have submitted their guesses, see who is closest to the actual number and give them a small prize – perhaps a jar of candy corn?
Easy and Fun Thanksgiving Activities will Bring Family Together
Enjoy spending time with your loved ones this Thanksgiving season, but it can be stressful hosting a large gathering. These 10 Thanksgiving family activities that will keep your guests busy and having fun throughout the day! Treasure the time together and remember the importance of gratitude, when our kids learn about gratitude, they becomes more sensitive towards the feelings of others and develop empathy.
