Fun and Enriching Activities
Exciting Ideas for Kids During Thanksgiving Break
The Thanksgiving holiday often means kids are out of school for up to a full week. While the break is a nice change of pace, it also means parents suddenly have a lot more time to fill. Keeping energetic kids entertained all day long for multiple days in a row can be challenging!
The good news is there are plenty of fun, enriching activities to keep kids happy and engaged over the Thanksgiving holiday. With a little planning and creativity, you can give them a memorable break full of learning, creativity, and quality family time.
Fun and Enriching Activities
Crafts
Arts and crafts projects are a perfect way to spark creativity and keep little hands busy. Set up a craft station at home with supplies like markers, colored pencils, glue, scissors, construction paper, and more.
Let them create freely or try guided crafts like these:
Handprint Turkey Craft
This adorable handprint turkey is the perfect Thanksgiving craft. Have kids trace their handprint and cut it out. They can decorate it with feathers, eyes, a beak, and wattle to transform it into a turkey. Let them make a flock of turkeys and display them on the fridge or use them as place cards at the Thanksgiving table.
Paper Chain Garlands
Cut strips of colored paper and help kids tape or staple them into loops to create a colorful paper chain garland. These are great for decorating for the holiday. Have a contest to see who can make the longest garland.
Pinecone Turkeys
Head outside to collect pine cones and let kids turn them into miniature turkeys. They can paint or glitter the pinecones, add googly eyes and pipe cleaner legs to make funny little turkey figures to display around the house.
Fork Stamped Napkins
Carve simple designs like lines, circles or swirls into the handles of plastic forks. Dip the fork prongs into fabric paint and let kids stamp patterns onto plain napkins or tea towels for a thanksgiving table accent.
Sticker Scenes
Provide sheets of stickers, colored construction paper, scissors and glue. Let kids create their own sticker scenes depicting the First Thanksgiving feast, a modern Thanksgiving celebration or whatever they can imagine.
Baking & Cooking
The kitchen is a great place for kids to learn, be creative and work together. Try these kid-friendly baking and cooking projects over break:
Bake Pie Together
Let kids help roll out the dough and choose the filling as you bake a pumpkin, apple or pecan pie. They can also help make a lattice crust. Making a pie is a fun hands-on lesson in fractions and following step-by-step instructions.
Decorate Sugar Cookies
Sugar cookies are like edible art canvases. Set out frosting, sprinkles and other toppings and let kids unleash their creativity decorating baked plain cookies. Award prizes for most creative, funniest or most beautiful.
Make Cornbread or Corn Muffins
Cornbread and corn muffins are delicious Thanksgiving side dishes. Kids can help mix the ingredients and see how cornmeal makes the texture different from regular flour. Teach them how early settlers relied on corn as a staple food.
Prep Vegetables for the Meal
Set kids up at their own little chopping stations. Give them kid-safe knives and vegetables to slice, chop, peel or grate to help prepare veggies for your Thanksgiving meal. They’ll gain confidence using knives and learn about how vegetables grow.
Make Cranberry Sauce
Let kids mix and mash fresh cranberries, sugar and orange juice to create homemade cranberry sauce. Talk about how early American colonists may have eaten cranberries they gathered in bogs at the first Thanksgiving feast.
Outdoor Play
Don’t let cold weather coop you up inside all break long. Bundle up and head outside with the kids for active outdoor fun. Try these activities to get them moving and enjoying the fresh air:
Leaf Raking Relay Races
Contest to see who can rake their pile of leaves from one spot to another the fastest. Or divide into teams for relay races passing the rake. Offer prizes for the winning team.
Backyard Football or Soccer
Enjoy America’s favorite football holiday by playing touch football or soccer outside. Set up cones for goals. Kids get active running and passing the ball.
Scavenger Hunt
Create a backyard scavenger hunt by making a list of items kids need to spot and collect, like a red leaf, pine cone, acorn, etc. See who can find all the items first.
Bird Feeders
Spread peanut butter or suet on pinecones, tie with string and hang from tree branches to make edible bird feeders. Watch the birds visit and try to identify different species.
Take a Nature Walk
Go for a family nature walk in the woods or around the neighborhood. Collect fallen leaves, acorns and other natural items. Take along a nature guidebook to identify plants, birds and animal tracks.
Family Fun Nights
After busy days full of activities, unwind with relaxing family nights. Pop some popcorn and try:
Host a Family Movie Marathon
Let each family member choose a favorite family-friendly movie and make an evening of back-to-back movies with comfy blankets and pillows on the sofa.
Play Fun Games
Break out board games and card games the whole family can play together, like Monopoly, Charades or Apples to Apples. Introduce kids to classic games you loved as a kid.
Plan a Talent Show
Let the kids put on a talent show performing skits, dances, songs or chores they’ve mastered for family members. Make programs listing each act and let them display their creativity.
Tell Stories and Share Memories
Take turns telling favorite stories from past Thanksgiving holidays or childhood memories. Reminisce about relatives no longer with us.
Have a Gratitude Circle
Talk about things you are all grateful for as a family. Go around sharing as many as you can think of. Talk about how early Thanksgiving celebrators gave thanks for blessings.
Educational Activities
Keep kids learning over the break with these fun educational activities:
- Visit an apple orchard – Pick apples, go on a hayride, wander through corn mazes. Many orchards have family-friendly fall festivals.
- Bake autumn treats – Make caramel apples, pumpkin bread or decorate sugar cookies with leaf and acorn shaped sprinkles.
- Go on a hike – Enjoy the fall foliage by hitting local nature trails. Bring a scavenger hunt list to spot signs of the season.
- Make leaf art – Collect colorful leaves on a walk then make collages, leaf rubbings, or leaf prints for DIY fall art.
- Read fall books – Curl up with classics like “We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt” or “Clifford’s First Autumn”. Discuss seasonal changes.
- Volunteer at a farm or orchard – Many farms welcome help preparing for fall festivals. Kids can gain work experience while outdoors.
- Decorate pumpkins – Carve faces, make painted designs, or create glitter initial pumpkins for spooky decor.
- Study wildlife – Observe local animals like geese flying south for winter. Consider participating in bird-counting events.
- Photography scavenger hunt -Take disposable or digital cameras to photograph autumn sights like red trees, acorns etc.
- Press colorful leaves – Gather fallen leaves then preserve in wax paper under heavy books or with leaf press kits ordered online.
Let the crisp air, changing colors and harvest sights make fall break fun and full of learning moments!
Discover New Fall Recipes
Look through cookbooks and food websites together. Let kids help select and create tasty fall recipes to add to your holiday menus like roasted veggies, squash soup or pumpkin bread.
Explore Leaves
Collect colorful fall leaves and do leaf rubbings. Use books or online guides to identify different trees. Study their interesting structures and changes in autumn.
Volunteer
Find ways kids can give back over the break by volunteering or donating food to a pantry. Have them make cards to accompany Thanksgiving meal deliveries or to give to folks at a senior center.
Research Turkey Facts
Study fascinating turkey facts together. Learn about their history, reasons for naming turkeys after Turkey, and silly behaviors like fear of the color red and ability to blush!
Stay Flexible & Have Fun
The best activities are those your kids get excited about, so stay flexible! Add structure to days to avoid constant “I’m bored” but also let them take the lead on activities they enjoy most. Mix exciting new adventures with lazy down time. Most of all – make lots of happy memories together!
With a balance of crafts, active play, baking, educational activities and cozy family time, Thanksgiving break can be full of fun for kids and parents alike. So take advantage of this precious extra family time and make magical memories together this Thanksgiving!
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