31 Thanksgiving Activities For Kids
I got you covered when it comes to Thanksgiving activities for kids!
The holidays are so much fun to plan fun learning and play activities for your kids! These activities get your kids excited about the upcoming holiday.
When learning activities involve holidays, the kids are more engaged in the learning! Which we all know is important. Getting them to be involved in the learning activities is half the battle.
Let’s dive into The BEST 30 Thanksgiving Activities For Kids!
Activity #1: Thanksgiving Countdown Chain
Understanding the meaning of Thanksgiving is the most important part of the holiday!
Creating this Thanksgiving countdown chain is a great lesson to teach kids what it means to be grateful for what we have in our lives.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
2. Set-up: Cut pieces of construction paper into strips. Create 30 strips for the entire month!
3. Activity: Discuss with your little one what it means to be thankful for something. You should give examples and talk about why those are important things to be thankful for. Then, have them brainstorm some ideas on their own. If they are old enough to write, have them write their answers on the pieces of paper. You can also do this part if you have a younger child doing this activity!
*A parent should do the stapling part to this activity.*
Hang this up in your house somewhere and take off a piece of the chain every day to countdown to Thanksgiving. Talk about what was written on the paper for each day.
Don’t want to create the chain? I have a FREEBIE worksheet for you!
FREE Thankful Turkey Download
Activity #2: Stuff the Turkey
Stuff the Turkey is a great fine motor activity! My son especially loves fine motor play activities, so I was really excited to show him this set-up.
How cute is this idea for Thanksgiving? It kept him busy for such a long time too! He wanted to do it again and again.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
2. Set-up: Print off the turkey face from the download and tape it to a red solo cup. Dump your poms out into a bin and add in some fine motor tools like tweezers or scoops.
3. Activity: Have the kids use tweezers to pick up the pom-poms and place them inside the water bottle to “stuff the turkey.” They can also use their fingers if they are too little to use the tweezers!
RELATED: Fun Fine Motor Activities
Activity #3: Paper Plate Turkey Craft
This is the cutest little turkey around! My kids love doing sponge painting on the paper plates!
Doing paper plate crafts are my favorite because I always have them on hand, and they are simple to do, which is important to me because I’m not the best at crafting.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
2. Set-up: Make a turkey face using your construction/cardstock paper and googly eyes. Then, glue it onto the paper plate. Lastly, cut sponges into stripes, so it’s easy for the kids to pick up and use to paint!
3. Activity: Dip the sponges into the paint and make prints along the entire paper plate. You can use one color and several different colors!
Activity #4: Dancing Corn Experiment
Kids always love a good science experiment! This one is especially great because it keeps going for at least 15 minutes!
Then, if you want to keep it going, you can always add more baking soda to make it continue! These are the experiments the kids love the most because they can watch it for as long as they want.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- dried corn kernels
- baking soda
- white vinegar
- clear glass jar
- art tray
2. Set-up: Make sure to place the jar into a sensory container to contain the mess! 1 cup of corn kernels into the jar. Then, fill the jar up 2/3 of the way with white vinegar. (about 2 cups).
Activity: Add in 1/4 cup of baking soda to the mix! There will be lots of fizziness here, and it may overflow out of the jar! You can watch the corn start to rise when the fizzing slows down. Then, the corn starts to move up and down!
RELATED: Hands-On STEM Toys for Kids
Activity #5: Shake Your Tailfeathers!
This may be the best Thanksgiving game there is out there! I’m not kidding…
You will be laughing so hard when you do this activity with your family! It’s a good time for everyone involved :).
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- kleenex box
- craft feathers
- pantyhose
2. Set-up: Empty the tissue box and place the craft feathers inside. If several people are playing, try to add the same amount of feathers inside each box! Tape a pair of pantyhose to the back of the tissue box. Then, tie it around the player’s waist so it won’t fall off.
3. Activity: On the GO signal, all players’ will start jumping to get the feathers to come out! The goal is to be the first to get all of the feathers out of their tissue box first! You can’t pull them out yourself; you must just jump or shake to get them to come out.
This will have EVERYONE laughing and having a great time! Perfect for a family party or get together during the holiday season.
RELATED: Entertaining Indoor Activities For Toddlers
Activity #6: Pie Face
Who doesn’t love pie during Thanksgiving? It is actually my favorite part of the entire Thanksgiving meal!
In this game, you actually don’t eat any pie, though. It is whipped cream, which is close enough to me.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- paper plates
- whipped cream
- candy corn
2. Set-up: In the pie pans, add some candy corn. This can be a race; in that case, make sure you add the same amount of candy corns on the plates.
3. Activity: On the GO signal, all players will be using their mouths to dig through the whipped cream to get the candy corn. The object of the game is to get all the pieces of candy corn first! Once a player gets a piece of candy corn, they will put it on a different plate to eat later. They shouldn’t eat it once they get it, because they are racing the other players to be the first one to finish!
No one should use their hands. This makes the game fun!
Activity # 7: Donut Turkeys
Looking for a fun snacktivity to try with your little ones?
This turkey donut idea is super cute and simple. Your kids will LOVE putting this together. Then, they most likely will try to get a donut or two out of the deal.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- Small glazed donuts
- toothpicks
- colored beads
- frosting
- candy eyes.
2. Set-up: Set up all of the materials you need in a tray. I love these plastic vegetable trays to help for the organization!
3. Activity: Stick several toothpicks at the back of the donut. Your little ones will put the colored beads on the toothpicks. You can have them sort by color or just let them play and do multi-colored beads. Use a little frosting on the back of the candy eyes to stick to the donut and place it on the front!
Activity #8: Glove Turkeys
Your kids will love making these glove turkeys, and they will love eating them!
This is a great activity to do at a class party, family get together, or at home just for a fun, Thanksgiving-themed activity.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- clear gloves
- white popcorn
- family pack of M&M’s
- googly eyes
- cardstock paper
- bowls
2. Set-up: Have the kids sort the M&M’s by color in bowls!
3. Activity: Create the turkey by first stuffing the M&M’s inside the finger spots. Use one color per finger to make them look like feathers! Then, stuff the popcorn inside along with red M&M’s for the snood. Tie the bottom of the glove, so the food doesn’t fall out. Then, stick the googly on and tape the beak on to complete the turkey!
Activity #9: Thanksgiving Bingo
BINGO is a classic game that always is a winner! They will love seeing the Thanksgiving objects on their cards!
This can also be a great lesson on vocabulary. Playing BINGO can show your little ones different objects that they may have never seen before.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- My Thanksgiving BINGO cards
- candy corn, pumpkin mini erasers, or fall beads
- bowl
2. Set-up: Print off how many cards you need! In the set, I provide 10 different cards with the same objects just in different spots :). Cut out the playing cards
3. Activity: Have one player pull the cards out of a bowl. They will say what’s on the card and show the card to all the players (this helps toddlers and preschoolers). They will place their game piece on the picture that is called. The object is to get 5 in a row horizontally, vertically or diagonally!
Once this happens, they will say BINGO! You can play until the entire card is filled or start back over.
Activity #10: Pumpkin Spice Sensory Bin
Are you ready for the best sensory bin ever? I’m not kidding when I say this, either.
Pumpkin.Spice.Sensory.Bin.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- Pumpkin cake mix
- Starbucks/Dunkin cups
- measuring cups
- spoons
- IKEA sensory bin
- mini red cups
- whipped cream
- cinnamon
2. Set-up: Follow the directions to make the cake and let it cool once made. Break it up and scoop into your sensory bin. Add in the coffee cups. In the mini red cups, put some whipped cream and sprinkle a little cinnamon on top.
3. Activity: Have your kids make a PSL! This is the best edible sensory bin I have ever done. It smelled and tasted amazing. They can use the measuring cups and spoons to scoop the cake mix and whipped cream.
RELATED: Best Sensory Bins for Kids
Activity #11: Muddy Pumpkin Patch
So in real life, a muddy pumpkin patch would be something that no one would really want to go through.
But, in the play world, this is a fantastic sensory activity for kids! My kids loved pretending they were at the pumpkin patch picking on their favorite pumpkins!
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- brownie mix
- candy corn pumpkins
- spoons
- bowls
- sensory bin
2. Set-up: Dump the brownie mix into a sensory bin and add a bunch of candy pumpkins in rows.
3. Activity: Let the kids use spoons and bowls to play with the pumpkins and the brownie mix. Have them pretend like they are at the pumpkin patch picking out their pumpkins! To make this super muddy, add in water to the brownie mix. The kids will love this addition to the activity!
I do suggest doing this activity outdoors. It can get messy, and their little hands get quite dirty! But it’s fun and festive for the holiday!
Activity #12: Thanksgiving Toilet Paper Roll Crafts
I’ve been really into crafting with toilet paper rolls lately! It’s so nice because you always have them on hand.
The kids love putting these characters together too! After making them, they can use them for pretend play, which is always so much fun.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- toilet paper rolls
- googly eyes
- paper plate
- construction paper
- Sharpie
- glue
- hot glue
- shredded paper
- hot glue gun
2. Set-up: Decide on which characters you want to create! We made a Pilgrim, a scarecrow, and a turkey! These are simple to create, which is important to me because I am not super crafty.
3. Activity:
a. Pilgrim– glue googly eyes and make a smiley face on the TP roll. Cut a piece of black construction paper to fit on the bottom part of the roll. Make a white bib with a white piece of paper (as you see above) and draw black buttons. Make a hat but creating a circle on black construction paper and glue on top. Cut another piece of black construction paper and make it into a circle and tape or glue together. You can add on a little white piece of paper and yellow buckle as well! Glue that part of the hat onto the circle.
b. Scarecrow– glue on googly eyes and create a smiley face with a sharpie. Create whatever color shirt you want and cut the piece of construction paper to fit at the bottom of the roll. Add on a different patch color if you want! Stuff shredded paper in the roll and straighten it a bit, so it looks like hair. Place a hat on top!
c. Turkey– glue on googly eyes and create the rest of the turkey face with construction paper. Cut a small paper plate in half. Cut little squares of different colored construction paper and glue them to the plate. Hot glue the plate to the toilet paper roll!
Activity #13: Paper Bag Turkeys
It’s always fantastic to find an activity that you can do right away because you have all the materials already at home!
We always have paper bags on hands for school lunches! So, this was an easy one to throw together.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
2. Set-up: On construction paper, create eyes, a beak, and a snood. Layout the feathers for your little ones to pick from!
3. Activity: Before you begin the craft, talk to your child about what they are thankful for. They will write some things they are thankful for on the front of their turkeys. If they are too young for this, you can do this step for them.
Let your little one create their own turkey by adding on the face of the turkey you created. Then, have them add on the turkey feathers by gluing them on the back. After the feathers dry, they can use it as a puppet! They can stick their hand insider the bag and make the head move!
These are the cutest little keepsake to hold onto. We have my kids’ turkeys in their little boxes we have for each of them, and they love looking back at them to see what they wrote.
Activity #14: Fall Themed Sensory Bin
I love all things FALL. I’ll admit, I’m totally basic when it comes to this season, and I’m not ashamed of it.
Fall festivals are one of my favorite events to attend. My absolute favorite part is the corn pits.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- sensory bin
- corn
- toy tractor
- toy farm animals
- egg carton
- small straw hats and straw bale
- fake leaves
2. Set-up: Dump a bunch of corn into the sensory bin. Add in all your fall items into the bin for your kids to play with!
3. Activity: Let the kids have a blast pretending like they are at a fall festival diving face-first into that corn pit! Corn is an excellent sensory filler, and the kids just love pouring and scooping it! Add in the farm animals and talk about what animals would live on a farm!
RELATED: 50 Fall Activities For Kids
Activity #15: Shaving Cream Leaf Prints
In no way, shape or form is this the most beautiful art project my kids have ever created.
But, they sure loved it, and it was a blast. Process art is more about just trying something new and not caring what the outcome actually looks like.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- shaving cream
- paintbrushes
- fake or real feathers
- white cardstock paper
- tape
- food coloring
- bowl and spoon
- art tray
2. Set-up: To cream the different colored shaving cream, in a bowl, squirt some shaving cream and add in a few drops of food coloring. Mix with a spoon and scoop it out and place it in a sensory bin. Do this process for each of the colors you want to use!
3. Activity: Have the kids use paintbrushes to paint the leaves and put them on the paper. You may need to press down the leaves to get it to create the best-looking leaf prints! Afterward, my kids just painted with the shaving cream! They enjoyed this activity so much.
Activity #16: Thanksgiving Hat Game
So this was a little minute addition to the article. I randomly this amazing turkey hat game, and I just knew it had to be included in this article.
Why? Well, because I’m a sucker for a fun game! My family loves to do these types of activities as well at get-togethers.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- Turkey hat game
2. Set-up: Blow the hat and the rings up.
3. Activity: The set comes with two hats. You can play this with just one person wearing the hat, and everyone tries their luck to get the rings on the turkey’s feathers. You could also play where two people play at a time, and they both have on the hats and play against each other to see who can get more rings on the feathers. Lastly, you could play this as a relay game to see what team can get more rings on faster!
SO many possibilities and SO much fun!
Activity #17: Turkey Color Matching
Whenever I mention that snacks are involved in an activity, the kids come running. Literally, running.
I love this turkey color match activity because kids work on color recognition, matching, sorting, and counting skills. It always makes me happy to have an activity that hits so many skills.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
2. Set-up: Create a turkey and feathers using the cardstock/construction paper. Add on the google eyes as well! Let your little ones help by gluing on the feathers to the back of the turkey.
3. Activity: Have your children sort the Fruit Loops in bowls by color. Then, glue the Fruit Loops on the correct colored paper of the feathers that you created! This is a fun color matching activity! You can also extend the learning by asking your little ones to count how many of each color there are.
RELATED: How to Teach Your Toddler Colors
Activity #18: Pumpkin Seed Puzzles
Foam objects have quickly become one of my favorite supplies to do learning activities with!
They can be used in a variety of different ways! These tactile puzzles are one fantastic way to play and learn with them.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- foam pumpkins
- pumpkin seeds
- scissors
- hot glue gun
- hot glue
2. Set-up: Cut a foam pumpkin in half (you can use straight, curvy, box, or wavy lines). On one half, write a number, and on the other half, hot glue that amount of pumpkin seeds so it would match.
3. Activity: Mix up the group of puzzle pieces that you have created. Have your little ones match up the correct number and amount of pumpkin seeds together!
RELATED: SIMPLE Number Recognition Activities
Activity #19: Pumpkin Pie Counting
Did someone say pumpkin pie!? Guess what; this pumpkin pie is also FREE!
There’s nothing much better than that, right? It would only be better if it were a real piece of pumpkin pie.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
2. Set-up: Print off the worksheets and gather the materials you want to use!
3. Activity: Place the counting mat into a reusable folder. You can grab all three materials (Play-Doh, pom-poms, and cotton balls), or you can just grab one. Have your child look at the number at the top of the page and have them place that amount of materials on the pumpkin pie picture!
RELATED: Teaching Resources
Activity #20: Thanksgiving Activity Book
Want some learning activities that you can use over and over that are festive for the holiday?
You need to check out my excellent busy book to create using the digital download that I made for you!
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- My Thanksgiving Activity Book download
- a 1″ binder
- sheet protectors
- scissors
- velcro circles
- ziplock bags
- laminator (unless you want to get it laminated)
- laminating sheets.
2. Set-up: This does take some set-up but believe me, it’s well worth it! Laminate only the sheets that need it (these are the pieces). The other main sheets can go in sheet protectors inside the binder. Cut out the pieces once laminated. If it’s an activity that would need velcro circles, you can add those on there and on the binder so they will stick together.
3. Activity: Your little one can complete the activities over and over again! This is a great way to practice new skills as well as work on recognition!
I just bought this laminator for my house! I love having my own laminator because I can laminate all the activity sheets that I want to do repeatedly. It saves so much on ink and paper.
Activity #21: Pumpkin Pie Fractions
Not going to lie, in school, math was not my strongest subject. I feel like if I had done activities that were fun and hands-on, I would have understood math a lot more.
That’s why I want to use engaging activities like this pumpkin pie fractions activity to teach my kids how to do math!
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- My Pumpkin Pie Fractions Activity Printables
- Play-Doh cutter and roller
- Play-Doh
- reusable folders
2. Set-up: Print off my worksheets and grab the materials you need.
3. Activity: Have your little one use the mat repeatedly to do the different fractions by grabbing the reusable folder. They can roll out the Play-Doh on the circle by using a roller. They will use the cards and the slicer to slice the pie in the amount they see.
Have them count out the pieces for each card to make sure they have the right amount. Discuss the concept of fractions with each card they do!
RELATED: Kindergarten Activities For Kids
Activity #22: Corn Writing Tray
I love creating writing trays for my kids because it’s a fun way to work on handwriting!
If you ever have tried writing activities with your kids, sometimes it may not be the skill they are most excited to practice. Handwriting can be tricky for kids to master; it’s a skill that takes a while.
Adding in some fun activities like a writing tray can engage kids in the writing process, and they don’t have to be so worried about making the letter touch specific lines.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- My Alphabet Turkey Tracibles
- writing tray
- corn
- paintbrush
2. Set-up: Print off the letters or numbers you want to work on with your little ones! Dump some corn into the tray.
3. Activity: Your little one should practice building each letter or number you printed. Place the card upright on the tray so they can see what it should look like. They will use the paintbrush to create that shape in the corn. Give positive and corrective feedback when needed.
RELATED: FUN Handwriting Activities for Preschoolers
Activity #23: I SPY Counting Sheet
When is I spy, not a hit? We play it in the car, we have I Spy books, and now we are doing I Spy worksheets!
This is actually the first I Spy worksheet that I have ever created. It will definitely not be the last that I make either. The kids were so excited to find all of the objects. It didn’t even feel like they were learning.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- Thanksgiving I SPY
- Pencil
2. Set-up: Print off the worksheet! Simple as that!
3. Activity: Look through the worksheet to see how many of each Thanksgiving-themed objects there are! Record the number for each object at the bottom on the line. If your little one can’t write yet, you can do that part for them! Talk about which object was on there the most, least, or if there were any that were the same amount!
Activity #24: Alphabet Turkey Match
Looking for a festive way to practice the alphabet this Thanksgiving season?
This one is perfect for school centers, or homeschool is you are teaching your kids at home!
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- Letter Match Turkey
- Sharpie
- dot stickers
- do-a-dot markers
2. Set-up: Print off the worksheet. If you are using bottle caps, place a dot sticker on top of the bottle cap, and write each lower case letter. If you are just using dot stickers, write all the lower case letters on them!
3. Activity: Your child will look at the worksheet and match up the lower case letter caps or stickers on the turkey! They can place the bottle caps/stickers right on top of the letter. You can also use do-a-dot markers to do this activity instead! I even have a do-a-dot marker activity afterward for fun to color in the turkey!
RELATED: Alphabet Activities For Preschoolers
Activity #25: Turkey Feather Patterns
Pattern work is so much fun for kids. My son, that is 3 absolutely loves figuring out the patterns.
I like it too because pattern work can even be something that you work on in elementary school, so this activity has a wide range of ages that this activity can be done with!
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- Turkey Number Cards
- pipe cleaners
2. Set-up: Print off the different pattern cards and cut the pipe cleaners into 4 small sections.
3. Activity: Set the pipe cleaners out and have your little one complete each pattern by adding in the correct color pipe cleaners. The pipe cleaners will act as the turkey’s feathers! This is a hands-on way to practice pattern learning. You only need 2 things to do this activity, which is nice to have a low prep activity!
RELATED: Kindergarten Activities For Kids
Activity #26: Thanksgiving Dinner Activity
Food is such a BIG part of Thanksgiving! I wanted to find a way to talk to my kids about what kinds of food they will see at Thanksgiving dinner!
We have never done an activity like this, so they were excited to talk about the different foods and which food groups they belong to.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
2. Set-up: Print off the worksheets!
3. Activity: There are three activities included in this pack.
Activity #27: Pumpkin Learning Packet
When you add pumpkins onto a worksheet, it instantly becomes “cool” for kids to do.
When I create my worksheets, I try to make them as appealing as I can for kids to do! I LOVE creating these fun resources for your kids. I try to make them as interactive and jam-packed with learning as I can.
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
This learning pack includes the lifecycle of a pumpkin activity, parts of a pumpkin activity, color by number, alphabet upper and lower case matching, pumpkin shape count, and alphabet writing activity.
2. Set-up: Print off the pages and get your materials ready!
3. Activity: Choose one or two worksheets to do with the kids each day. Unless they are having SO much fun and want to keep doing them. Depending on the activity you choose for the day, that’ll depend on what supplies you need.
RELATED: Teaching Resources
Activity #28: Leaf Cutting Activity
Scissor skills are critical to develop at a young age! It’s one of those skills kids are recommended to know how to do before Kindergarten.
This simple leaf-cutting activity is a fun way to practice cutting skills!
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- My FREE Leaf Templates
- kids scissors
- a Sharpie
- cardstock paper
2. Set-up: You can print off my leaf template to create leaves on cardstock paper, or you can just freehand it! Draw some dotted lines on each leaf. You can create straight, curvy, zig-zag, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, pretty much, however you want!
3. Activity: Your little ones will use scissors to cut on the dotted lines you created. Make sure to explain how to hold the scissors correctly by placing their thumb in one hole and the index finger in the other one.
Activity #29: Corn Name Activity
Before your little one hits kindergarten, they are expected to know the letters in their name and how to write it.
This fun fine motor activity using popcorn kernels is a fun way to practice those skills!
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
2. Set-up: On the paper, write the letters of your little one’s name. Then, trace the letters with glue!
3. Activity: Have your child place popcorn kernels on the glue to create the letters of their name. They should identify the letter while they are placing on the kernels. The goal is to try to cover up all the glue!
When they are done with the activity, have them say all the letters of their name in a row to help that information sink in!
Activity #30: Candy Corn Shapes
Want a fun way and easy to work on shape recognition? Grab these FREE candy corn shape mats!
You may have noticed now there is a lot of food in my activities for this article. This isn’t typically something that happens but since it’s Thanksgiving, food, and treats are some of the most important things about the holiday, am I right?!
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
- Candy Corn Shape Mats
- candy corn
2. Set-up: Print off the worksheets and grab your candy corn.
3. Activity: Your child should place pieces of candy corn along the entire shape. Review what each shape is and how many sides it has. Extend the learning by talking about how many pieces of candy corn it took to create the shape. Is there is a difference in how many it took to make the circle vs. the pentagon?
RELATED: Shape Activities For Preschoolers
Activity #31: Play-Doh Corn Counting
Play-doh activities always seem to be a hit with my kids; how about you?
These counting corns are a fun way to practice counting; it’s a sensory activity for kids, and you can work on number recognition skills!
How to do this activity:
1. Materials you need:
2. Set-up: On a cardboard piece, draw several green corn shucks and write a number that you want to work on below it. Place some yellow Play-doh inside each piece of corn.
3. Activity: Have your child place the correct amount of popcorn kernels inside each of the pieces of corn. They should look at the number you drew below each corn piece to see how many to place!
We worked on skip counting with my oldest daughter with this activity! You can practice numbers 1-10, 11-20, counting by 2’s, 5’s, or 10’s!
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Thanksgiving is a time to talk about what we are thankful for, eat, play fun games, and of course, learn!
My 31 Thanksgiving Activities for Kids are a way for you to do all of those things!
Do you have a favorite activity that you love to do during the Thanksgiving season? Our community would love to hear about it! Please let us in the comments about what special traditions you have!
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Learning!
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