31 best Thanksgiving turkey activities for kids
As the holiday is fast approaching, parents and teachers are looking for the best Thanksgiving turkey activities for kids. So we’ve put together a full list to include the best Thanksgiving activities and turkey crafts for your young kids. There’s tons of great ideas here and so much fun to be had for you and your kids together.
Thanksgiving Activities
Thanksgiving is a fun time of year to spend with your family, and a time when your little ones will be home with you looking for something to do. Give one or more of these fun turkey activities a try this Thanksgiving! Gobble Gobble!
1. Turkey Play Dough Bin
If you’re been around our blog, you know we love play dough here. It’s a great medium for children to explore messy play and open-ended play (both great for development!). Check out our complete guide to all things play dough here before putting together this turkey play dough bin that looks like fantastic fun.
2. Feed the Turkey
This turkey activity is just one of the great fine motor activities from Busy Toddler that’s perfect for Thanksgiving. Make it into a fun Thanksgiving game for your children to do together.
3. Pom Pom Turkey Push
Check out this fun Thanksgiving themed activity that works on fine motor skills. This is such a creative idea, and you can easily tailor it to your child’s skill level by making the holes bigger or smaller. Your children will love this one!
4. Thanksgiving Dinner Sensory Bin
There’s so many fun things you can do with sensory bins-like make a Thanksgiving feast with one! Let your child get in on the cooking and food action this holiday season with this fun sensory bin. You can even add a few little turkeys in if you want.
5. Turkey Bowling
Here’s one of the best Thanksgiving games that we’ve found for toddlers and preschoolers. They will love playing this simple but festive game because they understand bowling, can physically do it, and have a blast while knocking down the turkeys. And you can play with the whole family!
6. Tracing Turkey Worksheets
Here’s a fun activity for Thanksgiving time that will help your child with their fine motor skills and writing. One of the best things we’ve found to keep children busy while you need to cook is coloring or tracing printables.
7. Read Taylor the Thankful Turkey
If you’re looking for Thanksgiving themed books for young children, this is a super cute turkey themed book. And it’s even about being thankful this Thanksgiving. You can get a copy here.
8. Read Facts About the Turkey
If you’re looking for non-fiction turkey books, check out this one with pictures and turkey facts. Help your child learn all about these interesting creatures this Thanksgiving.
9. Thanksgiving Bingo
Bingo is one of the fun activities that kids of all ages love and can do together. Then use anything fun as the bingo markers like game pieces, pom poms, cotton balls, or those paint dotters. Check out these awesome Thanksgiving themed bingo cards to play on!
10. Turkey Sensory Bag
Help your baby or toddler build fine motor skills this Thanksgiving with a fun turkey sensory bag. This is a fun way to include sensory play for younger kids without the mess.
11. Happy Thanksgiving Coloring Page
Have so much fun on turkey day with these free printables. Coloring pages are a great activity for kids to do on their own (like when you have to make Thanksgiving dinner). These are Thanksgiving themed and sure to keep your child entertained.
12. Turkey Feather Activity
Set up this fun fine motor activity for your child to put feathers on the turkey! All you need is a small cardboard box, googly eyes, feathers, and something to cut holes in the box. You may need to help at first, but have your child put the feathers in and take them out.
13. Tissue Paper Number Activity
Help your child practice their numbers and fine motor skills with this fun tissue paper turkey themed activity. This one may be better for older kids who are working on their numbers and counting.
14. Turkey Balancing Activity
Add in a fun gross motor activity to go along with all the fine motor activities on the list. Read more about how to help your toddler or preschooler with balance here.
15. Turkey Process Art Activity
For little ones, we love art projects that are all about the process instead of the end result. These really help young children learn and have fun at the same time like with this turkey activity. For even more ideas on how to paint without a brush, check here.
Thanksgiving Crafts
To go along with all the fun Thanksgiving activities, create some of these cute and fun turkey crafts with your children. There’s so many creative ways to make turkeys, and no shortage of ideas out there. We rounded up some of the best crafts to try this year!
16. Footprint Turkey
Make these cute turkeys with your child’s footprint and photo. This is a craft you’ll actually want to keep and can keep making every year to watch your child grow.
17. Sponge Painting Turkey
If you’re looking for a foolproof craft for even the littlest of little hands, here it is! Have them sponge paint a paper plate, and then help them make a little turkey out of it.
18. Thankfulness Turkey Craft
Get into the spirit of Thanksgiving season with this thankfulness craft. Have your child name a few things they are thankful for and, then, write each item on one of the turkey feathers (or write it themselves if they can).
19. Handprint and Footprint Turkey
Use both little hands and little feet in this adorable Thanksgiving craft. This is the perfect way to make a cute craft and get some messy play in.
20. Coffee Filter Turkey
Break out the extra coffee filters for this fun Thanksgiving Day craft for all ages. This little paper and clothes pin turkey is so fun to make. And don’t forget the googly eyes!
21. Cotton Ball Turkey Painting
Cotton ball painting is always a great way to get kids having a fun time with crafts. And the end result is super cute! Check out all our tips and the benefits of cotton ball painting here.
22. Make a Turkey Bin
Here’s a super fun way to ‘make’ turkeys while using your imagination. This sensory bin encourages children to explore different ways to create turkeys in a fun type of messy play that’s a super fun fine motor turkey craft.
23. Turkey Headbands
How cute are these turkey headbands that children can wear after making? All you need for this fun craft is different colored construction paper and some glue.
24. Turkey Handprint Painting
This is one of the easy turkey crafts that turns out looking great! Children always love the crafts where they can get their hands dirty. Try it out this Thanksgiving holiday season and let them finger paint on another piece of paper at the same time for even more fun.
25. Turkey Leaf Craft
Check out this fun way to use leaves and paper plates to make turkeys. Have your children gather the leaves themselves in the time if year is right. You can also use the plastic decorative leaves if all the leaves are gone outside, or you don’t have access to real leaves.
26. Turkey Name Craft
Help you little kids learn their letters and their name with this fun turkey craft. It’s pretty straightforward to make, and paper turkeys are also fun to play with after making them. You can write the letters if they’re still too little, but, if they are learning to write, have them write out the letters.
27. Tissue Paper Turkey
Make a fun tissue paper turkey that acts as a stained glass craft when you hang it in a window. Children will love creating it and seeing it hung up in the sunlight.
28. Cupcake Holder Turkeys
These little turkeys are the cutest! For younger children, they’ll need some assistance putting them together, but then they’ll love playing with them. Try out this fun turkey craft with your kids this Thanksgiving for a great time.
29. Toilet Paper Roll Turkey
Save your empty toilet paper rolls to make these super cute turkeys. Use the toilet paper roll as the head of the turkey, and construction paper as the feathers.
30. Pinecone Turkey
Here’s one of the best ways for a child to use tools they can find outside themselves. Have them go out and look for their favorite pinecones to make these super cute turkeys. We also love crafts like this that are fun for playing with and not just for decoration.
31. Turkey Tracks Art
Grab some pipe cleaners and paint for this simple but fun turkey tracks art project. This is foolproof project that young children really can’t mess up. Making the turkey tracks is the important part of the project, not making it look a certain way.
No matter how or where you’re celebrating Thanksgiving this year, spend some quality time with your children doing these fun activities and making a few cute turkey crafts. They’ll have a blast with anything you pick and enjoy getting to do it with you! And then display all their hard work by decorating the Thanksgiving table with their turkey crafts!
Check out more great fall sensory bin ideas
We’ve put together a full list of awesome fall sensory bins here. These will all work great around this time of year to go along with turkey activities.
Or try another fun fall craft!
Here’s a fun food themed fall craft-painting with apples! This is a great fine motor activity along with a fall craft for young children. Find the full instructions here.
