Thanksgiving Kids Activities with a Difference

One of the things I have never much appreciated about holidays celebrated at school or in youth activities has got to be the insistence on marking the same exact holidays every year, using the same handful of paper crafts and printable activities. With Canadian Thanksgiving literally right around the corner, I want to offer up some kids' activities that have a bit of a different twist to them.

In this article I look at printables, crafts and recipes from three different web sites that could be used with your students or children around the Thanksgiving or harvest season. Each of these sites also has a number of activities for other seasons and holidays, and to address separate themes. I hope you will enjoy them all!

MakingFriends.com

This web site is very popular with Guide and Scout leaders. It offers a variety of free craft patterns, as well as craft kits for those who want to save a little preparation time. Making Friends has paper crafts, beading crafts, tie dye, SWAPs and Scouting activities - including badge in a bag kits! Activities are suitable for kids from preschool on up.

My top two choices for Thanksgiving activities from this site would be:

More Thanksgiving Crafts

This is a roundup of crafts that vary pretty greatly in terms of supplies needed, skill level and so on. Choose a few that your kids will enjoy. I really thought the homemade butter and butter dish was well presented, and it's a fun activity that teaches kids something about the past. The Tree of Thankfulness is a good way to focus kids on the importance of counting our blessings, and it's very easy to do. The mini pie SWAPs are very clever, as is the pioneer bonnet. The Leaves of Thankfulness are quite stunning, but require purchase of the "stained glass" leaf frames (you could create your own from gold wrapping paper or craft foam if you like.) Look around the site for other suitable crafts.

"Friends" Paper Dolls

These paper dolls were a huge hit with my Sparks and Brownies, back when I was a Guider! The doll bodies are made to reflect a full range of backgrounds and abilities. Every child should be able to find a doll that looks like him- or herself.

Print the bodies on stock, or have the kids glue them onto construction paper or poster board for extra stability. Choose from full colour sets and black line sets for colouring. The friends and clothing can also be ordered in pre-cut kits.

Clothes, hair and accessories for these dolls don't have tabs, as they were intended to be glued together in order to reduce frustration levels. but if you have a child who would like to play dress-up, tabs could be added to many of the pieces when they are cut out.

The fall friend, and scarecrow friend are appropriate for Thanksgiving, as well as for other fall themes. You can find both in the seasonal section. There's also a turkey, a Native American, and a Pilgrim friend in the holidays section.

Equipment needed: Printed bodies and clothing; scissors, glue stick, coloured pencils, markers or crayons. If you want to get fancy you can make the bodies out of craft foam, and use bits of yarn and fabric scraps for hair and accessories. Googly eyes and a couple permanent markers will be helpful in making the faces. The dolls can be used to make other crafts as well, such as place setting cards for the table. They're great to keep the kids busy while the grownups are cooking, and make a nice souvenir of a special family meal.

SacredSpiralKids.com

This site has a number of free homeschool and printable PDF books for kids, many original works with a very gentle and positive feel to them. Among the fall offerings is one called Autumn Chants and Coloring Book. Created for NeoPagan children, the book has very simple drawings to colour and poetry that speaks about the harvest season.

Not necessarily intended for fall or Thanksgiving, two other books I really liked were Imagine a World, a book that leads kids to visualize a world that is healthy for plants, animals, and people too. This book is a good one to get kids talking about their dreams for the future, but also about the things they do have to be grateful for and what they can do to help create the world they want to live in.

Because You Are a Girl is another immensely positive book that teaches girls to be proud of who they are. Again not a book specific to Thanksgiving, it speaks of girls being strong, of sharing and healing, and having the power to create, of being intelligent - maybe even excelling in subjects that are usually thought of as a boy's domain. It ends with a powerful message: "Because you are a girl, you are wanted, you are needed, you are loved." A confidence builder, it is also a book that could be used to start discussions about the change in the status of women and girls over time, and gratitude for all those who have laboured to create that change.

While the Autumn Chants book uses some Pagan images and references, the other two books are very neutral, and could be used by anyone regardless of background or faith. They make an interesting change from the usual turkeys and pilgrims, which I find get tired if the same handful of craft themes get used over and over. Dare to be a little different this year, and give your kids something that will give them food for thought instead of a stuffed bird.

FamilyFun.Go.com

This site has a huge collection of recipes, games ideas, printables and craft patterns for Thanksgiving. I particularly liked their page on Kids' Table Fun, which offered main dish and sweets recipes, crafts, and fun games to keep the kids amused. Among the recipes, popcorn squares caught my eye. They are sort of like a cross between popcorn balls and chewy granola bars! - and they're no-bake! My kids love to eat with chopsticks, and they'd do it at every meal if we let them.

The Chopstick Pass-Along game would be great fun for my crew: kids practice passing seasonal items that vary in size: beginning with a walnut, they move on to an acorn, then a cranberry, then a pea. Each child must receive the item from the previous player and pass it along to the next. This is sure to keep even the grownup kids busy for quite some time, and all it requires are the four items, plus a pair of chopsticks for each player. Get a pack or two at the dollar store, and let the kids keep them as a memento (or to practice for next time!)

Pop! Corn is a cute twist on the Christmas crackers found of English tradition. A yellow streamer, a toilet roll, and green tissue paper are used to create the body of the cracker. Place a few trinkets inside along with a pen and an "I am thankful" card, and tie off the ends.

A Fruit Gobbler makes the perfect combination centerpiece and appetizer for the kids' table or for fun-loving grownups. Cheese and fruit skewers are stuck into a melon. A pear is the turkey's head, and a few slices of red pepper make up the feet and snood of the turkey. Attractive and memorable (take a photo before anyone digs in!) this is a nutritious starter that kids are sure to enjoy!