24 Of The Best Family Thanksgiving Activities To Enjoy This Year

Get everyone into the holiday spirit with these fun Thanksgiving activities for kids. Includes crafts, decorations, gratitude activities and loads of free printables.

Thanksgiving is coming, so that means one thing. It’s time for fun and festive Thanksgiving Activities! WOO!

When my boys were small I loved to celebrate holidays with some Thanksgiving activities. Some years we kept it really simple and just went for a walk to gather leaves and berries for the table. Sometimes I got a little more ambitious and prepared some crafts.

I found that it didn’t really matter what we did together. All of these activities created memories that stick. And that’s what it’s all about right?

To save you some time I’ve made the ultimate list of fun ideas that includes activities for every age.

21 Of the Best thanksgiving Activities to Enjoy This Year

Gratitude Activities

1. The whole family can work to create a colorful garland of thanks.

2. I love this tree of thanks and it doubles as a great decoration.

3. For something a little different try this thankful jar from Buggy and Buddy

Turkey Crafts

Gobble gobble. What would Thanksgiving be without turkey?

4. This handprint turkey is so cute

5. Bring out the paper bags and a few craft supplies and make a paper bag turkey.

6. These Turkey treat bags are adorable.

7. Show your kids how to draw a turkey with these simple instructions.

8. I’d love to try this super creative pinecone turkey craft

Pumpkin Activities

Pumpkins are everywhere at this time of year. Try a few pumpkin activities

9. Science and art combine in these Pumpkin fizzy art project.

10. This simple Pumpkin craft helps kids practice their scissor skills

11. Create pumpkins with fist prints. This one is really easy.

Thanksgiving Decorations

Kids love to lend a helping hand when it comes to decorating the house. Here are a few ideas

12. Try your hand at our adorable clay pot turkey craft. It is easy and makes such a cute decoration.

13. Check out this impressive and yet surprisingly easy pumpkin decoration. It is made from an upcycled book. Older kids might enjoy making these.

14. Let your little ones help set the table and make festive napkin rings with beads and wire.

15. And here are some more made from cardboard tubes and simple craft supplies

16. How cute are these turkey leaf lanterns from Rhythms of Play?

17. I really liked this nature collage thanksgiving banner. So creative!

18. Have your kids and guests create a Thanksgiving tablecloth memento.

19. Older kids will love making this clay pot pumpkin pie.

Free printables

Free printables make things super easy. Just print them out and you are ready to go.

20. This cute Thanksgiving bookmark couldn’t be easier. Print, cut out, color and fold.

21. Kids will love this Printable Thanksgiving I Spy. You can search and find the items together or hand out the sheets to keep the kids amused while you make preparations.

22. Remember Cootie Catchers? This Thanksgiving Cootie Catcher will help your kids practice gratefulness!

23. There is also one with Thanksgiving jokes.

24. To round things out. Here’s a free Thanksgiving Bingo game from Pre-K Pages

Exclusive Bonus (Free)

As a bonus I’ve created some blank gratitude lists for you to download, and use. To Grab your free printable here.

Download and print out the sheet.
Cut in half.
Ask every family member to create a list of things they are thankful for and then sign it. (Be prepared to act as scribe for younger children still developing writing skills.)
You could paste the lists into a journal if you want to keep an ongoing record.

Here’s a sneak peak of the gratitude lists.

Of course, you don’t have to save these Thanksgiving activities for families until the big day. Why not enjoy them in the weeks leading up to the big turkey dinner!

Now it’s your turn

This post is part of my Thanksgiving Activities collection. You can find all my Holiday & Seasonal Activities here, or head to the Kids Activities resource hub where you’ll find hundreds of fun ideas all in one place.