CLICK HERE to get access to our exclusive FREE printables library!

How Does She

Women. Sharing. Ideas.

Making Thanksgiving Special – Kid Friendly Thanksgiving Ideas

by 28 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. This means, we may receive a small commission if you choose to purchase something from a link we post (including links to amazon.com because we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program.) Don’t worry, it won’t cost you anything.
Share
Pin
Tweet
Email

Kid Friendly Thanksgiving Ideas

Making Thanksgiving Special – Kid Friendly Thanksgiving Ideas

—

One Thanksgiving, years ago, my parents challenged my siblings and me to make a list of things we were grateful for.  Whoever had the longest list won a special date-night on the town with just the two of them.  We each received a blank notebook.  I was thankful for spoons, fingernail polish, Q-tips, the colors: black, blue, red, white,….and on, and on, and on.  Admittedly, my list got a little out of control.  I think I worked on it for days. 😉 –I am pretty sure I won that little contest.  Ha. Funny memory.  But the fact is,… I remember it.  I remember writing a bjillion things I was thankful for.  I love that I think about that silly notebook every Thanksgiving season.

My little ones are starting to grow up (way too fast I might add), and I want to make Thanksgiving a meaningful holiday for them.  I often think Thanksgiving gets overlooked because of the rush to market Christmas.  How can we change that?  From extended family gatherings, to the time to reflect on blessings, and of course the food,… I love every last detail.

We had a little pre-school Thanksgiving feast in our home yesterday. While it was simple, it really got me excited about planting a love for Thanksgiving in my child.  I thought I’d share a few kid friendly Thanksgiving ideas, if you tell me all your deepest darkest Thanksgiving secrets.  Deal?

Let’s admit it.  The #1 goal at a Thanksgiving feast is to keep little ones entertained and seated for at least five minutes.

Kid Friendly Thanksgiving Ideas

Crayons are a must.  I made this silly turkey with Garnish’s soup bowl, silly eyes, and construction paper. Do the crayons look like feathers? Gosh I hope so! 😉 That was what I was going for…Kid Friendly Thanksgiving IdeasNext up, we made turkey lollipops. I spotted these cute guys on Parents.com. The kids had so much fun with these!
Kid Friendly Thanksgiving Ideas

A friendly game of Tic-Tac-Turkey kept their active little minds busy.
Kid Friendly Thanksgiving IdeasKid Friendly Thanksgiving IdeasNow for the tough part.  Making them eat.Kid Friendly Thanksgiving IdeasMy sweetest friend Jen made these adorable acorn doughnuts.  Easy steps from Family Fun.Kid Friendly Thanksgiving IdeasThe kids were eating all their veggies thanks to Mr. Turkey Sandwich.  Isn’t he the best?!
Kid Friendly Thanksgiving IdeasAnd just to make sure they eat every last thing on their plate. Isn’t this checklist adorable? It’s yours FREE, thanks to Anna & Blue paperie.

Kid Friendly Thanksgiving Ideas

They sat for 4 minutes.  Heck, I’ll take it! 😉

—

A few details:

-The adorable wood cutlery, soup bowl, and bamboo serving boat, all came from Garnish.  Gosh I love their stuff! {Have you entered out current Garnish Giveaway?!}

-Here are instructions on the turkey lollipops, acorn doughnuts, and Mr. Turkey Sandwich.

-You can download all the Thanksgiving printables used in this post (including a coordinating Tic-Tac-Turkey sheet) for FREE from Anna & Blue paperie.

-I wish I would have used the Turkey Handprint Tablecloth idea! I totally spaced it.

—

What are your kid friendly thanksgiving ideas?  Thanksgiving traditions? Thanksgiving memories?  Heck, I even want to know your favorite Thanksgiving food. Recipes?! DISH IT!

Kid Friendly Thanksgiving Ideas

About Shelley

Shelley is one of the three founding editors of How Does She. She’s a spunky wife & mother of five, an interior design guru, and a party throwing queen. She loves cooking for crowds, eating good food, and dressing up like a girly girl.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comments

  1. colleen says

    Would you please link up the turkey tac toe? I have older children so while the other things are cute, for a 10 year old… not so much! But they would LOVE that tic tac toe board! PLEEEEAAAASSE! 🙂

    Reply

  6. Anna says

    I went to the store with my 6 year old and right after seeing the Christmas tree up in the store his first words were “Why are they doing Christmas already? It’s not even Thanksgiving!” I loved that he sees the need for Thanksgiving. (Of course, I explained that the stores wanted to get ready early for the next holiday…)

    Our family (as much as we want to some days) waits until Friday to do Christmas.

    Anyway, no real strong Thanksgiving traditions here. We just go to my mom’s and eat dinner. Veg out for awhile. Go to my inlaws house later and hang out and eat leftovers. Then the day after Thanksgiving, we go to my mom’s house and make candy.

    Love the printables and I am going to try it for this year. The 6 year old LOVES Thanksgiving dinner and will eat it no problem. The other two (4 and 2) need a little help with the attention thing. 🙂

    Reply

  8. Celeste says

    Thank you Shelley! I sometimes wonder if my comments are noticed, but I totally asked for some kid friendly things and you delivered! Thank you soo soo much! You guys really are the best! I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving season! 🙂

    Reply

  10. Michelle says

    Thanks for the great ideas. My kids (twins) are 5 1/2 and I want them to focus this year on what they are thankful for.

    We are lucky to be able to provide for our kids and they really want for not much. Therefore, I want them to know that there are others who are less fortunate. This year we are going to go grocery shopping this weekend and each of my kids will help purchase a meal that we will then donate to the local food back to help another family who isn’t so fortunate to be able to go to the grocery store and get whatever they want. I am so proud that my kids are really into this idea and have been planning what their donated meal will be….they are even including multiple vegetables!

    On another note, I do love the tic-tac-turkey game and will do print that out. I am thankful for your great ideas!
    .-= Michelle´s last blog ..the fifth season… =-.

    Reply

  11. nickelle says

    Shel…. Totally LoVe IT!
    2 out of my 4 kids are old enough to do the Thankful Notebook thing!! YAY!
    I thought of a New tradition for us this year! Since I have a fake Christams tree & a new business to run {christmas is so busy!}
    I thought, why not put it up early & decorate it with things we are Thankful for! The kids made Turkey hands (Classic!) & also Turkeys out of empty toilet paper rolls & paper leaves from scribbling with a crayon across a real one. {remember doing that as a kid?!}
    We are putting wooden blocks on it with pics. the kids drew (mod podging them on) & word blocks as well….we are almost done! It’s been a BLAST! :o)

    Thanks for sharing yours….

    Reply

  18. Sheri O. says

    Wow! These are all great ideas – mine will love the Turkey Tac Toe!! And I bet all the adults at dinner will too!

    Reply

  20. jessica says

    Love all the cute ideas and your girlfriend acorns are adorable. She did a great job cuter than the original. I think I’ll try those and yes I’m going to use the chocolate donut holes as she did. was everything else original? Happy Holidays!

    Reply

  23. Jen says

    I’m loving these kid friendly ideas! Working in a family business that focuses primarily on Christmas during the Holiday season, I’ve been wanting to add a little emphasis to Thanksgiving as well. And this has sparked some ideas for me to incorporate in our Thanksgiving post! Thanks so much for the suggestions.

    http://www.blog.wirehomedecor.com

    Reply

  24. Shannan says

    I made the acorns with my son and they were a HUGE hit at our Thanksgiving dinner! Everyone loved them and they were delish too!! I substituted peanuts for the toffee because I didn’t think my kids would eat that. They were great!

    I also used the printable checklist. It really got my son to pay attention to what he was eating and he tried everything on his plate! It was wonderful!! Now I need to come up with one for every dinner!

    Reply
Share
Pin
Tweet
Email