Gratitude-Focused Thanksgiving Crafts and Activities to Do with Your Kids

It’s hard to imagine fall (or Thanksgiving, for that matter) without pumpkins. This kid-friendly craft is a great way to celebrate a season of thankfulness with your family.

To get started, head to your local grocery store or pumpkin patch and have your kids pick out their favorite pumpkins.

Instead of cutting the pumpkin open, you’ll be decorating the outside (hello, less mess!). Each night in November, gather around the kitchen table and ask your kids what they are thankful for. Using a permanent marker (Tip: black shows up the best!), write down their answer daily, winding their thankful notes around the pumpkin in the days leading up to Thanksgiving (have big kids write on the pumpkins themselves). What better craft than one that doubles as adorable holiday décor? You’ll love hearing what your kids are grateful for and you’ll also get to spend precious moments with them each night: A true win-win.

Pro tip: Want to make these memories last longer? Use an artificial pumpkin to write on and you won’t have to worry about it spoiling!

Speaking of handy crafts that double as easy décor, this gratitude tree is all cuteness and zero fuss.

For your tree base, you can start with a craft kit (like this one from Amazon), or grab a few branches from outside and stand them up in a vase.

Next, taking turns with stencils and scissors, cut out a variety of leaves in whatever colors you prefer (you can go natural or technicolor—let your kids pick!). Keep in mind the leaves should be big enough to write a few words on.

Psst—need a stencil? We’ve picked our favorite leaf shapes for your gratitude tree for you to print and make your own.

Finally, have your kids write what they are most grateful for, e.g., “my family,” “our dog,” etc. Using a hole punch and string, thred a loop through your leaves and hang them onto the branches. Best of all? When it’s time to take down your Thanksgiving decorations, the leaves make for great scrapbook memories!

The fun doesn’t stop there! Construction paper can also be used to make a gratitude chain. This fun paper chain doubles as a countdown to Thanksgiving, or it can be hung in the house as a creative seasonal decoration.

To begin, use whatever construction paper you prefer and cut out strips that are long enough to be folded into circles. Your kids can help cut out these strips and then write down what they appreciate most on each strip. When they’ve written all they can think of, secure each loop with a staple or piece of clear tape to assemble the chain. If you want to use it as a countdown to Thanksgiving, break open one chain each day leading up to the holiday and talk about what’s written on it with your kids.

Working up an appetite with these entertaining crafts? We thought so. Time to fire up the oven and make some Thankful Cookies! Start with a pack of Pillsbury™ Ready to Bake!™ Sugar Cookies and bake as directed on the package.

Once the cookies are completely cool, you and your kids can decorate them with royal icing. Want a refresher? We breakdown the easiest way to decorate cookies with royal icing here. Fun tip: While our cookies are iced with plain white icing, you can add a dash or two of gel food colorings to mix and match your favorite colors. Store-bought packaged cookie icing also works in case you need to save time.

After the icing has set, your kids can write what they are thankful for with edible candy decorating pens (we love these pens from Wilton). They’re almost too cute to eat! Enjoy these crafty cookies with a cold glass of milk and spend time talking about what matters most to each of you.