Thanksgiving is the perfect time to remind our kids how much God has blessed them. Use these fun Thanksgiving activities as an opportunity to cultivate a heart of thanksgiving in your child.
Thanksgiving Activities For Preschoolers
As you get ready for Thanksgiving, here’s a collection of fun hands-on Thanksgiving activities to share with your preschooler.
- Build a Turkey
- Print out the turkey head (pdf file below). Tape it to a stainer ( We got these from the Dollar Tree).
- Preschoolers can add feathers in several ways:
- Practice fine motor skills by trying to get the feathers into the holes.
- Sort and put in one or two colors.
- Counting Game (for more than one person). Each person starts with the same number of feathers. Taking turns they draw a number (or roll a dice) and place that many feathers into the strainer. The first one out of feathers is the winner.
Print out your turkey head.
- Bake a pumpkin pie together.
Libby’s pumpkin pie mix has a great recipe right on the can.
- Start a Thankful Pumpkin
Start a new tradition. At the beginning of November, start a Thankful Pumpkin. Starting at the top, write what each person is thankful for and write things they are thankful for.
- Make butter or whipped cream
Children will love making butter and /or whipped cream for Thanksgiving dinner. Farm Activities for Preschoolers has simple instructions for making them.
- Enjoy a family night of star gazing
Spend the evening as a family looking up at the stars. Talk about how David, as a shepherd, spent time under the stars thinking and singing songs (Psalms) about how thankful he was and how wonderful God was.
- Watch Veggie Tale’s Madame Blueberry
Enjoy a family movie night with this fun Veggie Tale movie about Madame Blueberry, who has everything but still isn’t happy until she learns a valuable lesson about being thankful.
- Visit a Native American Pow-Wow
See if there is a Native American Pow-wow in your area. Check out the Powwow Calendar to find a Powwow in the United States or Canada.
- Take a nature walk in the woods
- explore
- look for animal tracks
- try to walk without anyone hearing your footsteps
- Go Camping
If you don’t want to take an actual trip or can’t go camping this time of year in your area, then camp out in the living room or in the basement. While camping is a lot of fun, it’s also a great time to point out some of the things God has blessed us with that we’d miss if we had to camp out all the time.
- Take a canoe trip
- Help someone.
Let your child help an elderly friend or family member. Or look for something you can do as a family to help those in need in your area. Usually, churches are doing something this time of year. Let your little be as involved as possible.
Thanksgiving Preschool Crafts
- Turkey Hand and Shoeprint
Trace your child’s shoe on brown construction paper. Using brown paint, make handprints around the shoe print to look like feathers. Draw or add wiggle eyes, an orange beak, and a red waddle and legs.
- Turkey Handprint with Feathers
Make a brown paint handprint. Then add feathers, a wiggle eye, an orange beak, and a red waddle.
- Indian Shirt
Dye a t-shirt brown and cut fringe. If the shirt is long, enough girls can wear it as a dress. I have also used a pillowcase for this project. Older preschoolers can and beads. For a headband, cut a strip of brown construction paper or a paper bag. Add a feather or two.
- Foam Turkey Craft
Craft kits like this come with everything you need to make cute decorations for Thanksgiving. You can find them at places like Hobby Lobby or Oriental Trade.
Thanksgiving Preschool Songs on Spotify
Click below to access a collection of my favorite Thanksgiving Preschool Songs on Spotify.
Also, be sure to check out:
- Books about Thanksgiving for Preschoolers
- Farm Activities for Preschoolers
- Fall Activities for Preschoolers
Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours. God Bless!