Four Christian Thanksgiving Activities for Toddlers

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Ever since I can remember, I have loved Thanksgiving! Perhaps some of my childish delight was due to the fact that my birthday occasionally happens to fall on the actual holiday. However, even as I have grown older (and a little less birthday obsessed) I find the season surrounding Thanksgiving to be magical!

Now that I am a mom, I couldn’t wait to find ways to share this wonderful season  with my kids, especially as my oldest is now entering the curiosity, question-filled stages of toddler hood.

Below are some ways that we can use this season to teach the sweet (and sometimes terror-like) toddlers in our home how to develop a grateful heart to glorify God even at a young age.

Here are some quick, fun Christian Thanksgiving activities for toddlers at your home! 🙂

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Four Christian Thanksgiving Activities For Toddlers

Here are four Christian Thanksgiving activities for toddlers! Let’s begin teaching our kiddos to cultivate a heart of gratitude to God this Thanksgiving season.

A Count Your Blessings Jar

My daughter loves pulling paper out of Kleenex boxes and shoving it back in. She delights at putting her word flash cards back in their box only to open the box and take them right back out. And she loves to dump our laundry baskets and resort them to her likening before placing them back in the basket.

With this in mind, I figured she will love a jar where we put flashcard-like card stock paper for her to manipulate in and out time after time. If you are the artistic type (might be jealous of you just a bit!) then take the time to write in block letters on the cards words like WARM BED or FAVORITE PINK SIPPY CUP. Then with your art skills, draw pictures of those items.

And if you are like me and can’t draw a basic stick figure, head to your beloved printer and print out pictures to paste to your card stock. (And count your blessings for printers! 🙂 )

Next, find a plastic jar or an empty Kleenex box, shoe box, or cereal box to store your Blessings cards. Place the cards inside.

Now, enjoy spending precious moments of your day looking over all the things you and your toddler have to be grateful for with your toddler!

A Thankful Turkey

Okay, I know this sounds cliche but what is Thanksgiving without a Turkey made out of a hand print? It is a basic, fall-back project you can easily work on with a toddler.

Trace your child’s hand onto a piece of paper. Draw a turkey face on the thumb and you have a turkey hand print.

Once the hand print turkey is traced and cut out, talk with your toddler about what they are thankful to God for. Perhaps their answers won’t be what you think of but that is part of the fun! Write their answers on the turkey feathers and place on their wall so they can remember to be thankful!

If they struggle to think of something to be thankful for, feel free to walk around your home and give them ideas. For example, you can show them their Bible and say that owning a Bible of their own is special. Why? Well, many kids in the world don’t have their own Bible to own so God has blessed them by letting them own a Bible!

You can do this with serious things (such as the Bible), silly things (such as candy for dessert after supper), or even intangible things (how much mommy loves them!)

Psst..looking for a great Bible for your toddler? Here is the one my daughter has! She loves the pictures and it is easy to read short portions to her as her attention span allows!

Thanksgiving Prayer Moments

Teaching our children to pray is a cornerstone to softening their hearts to hear the voice of God. Often, it is easy to teach our kids how to ask God for things, mainly because they will often see us praying and asking God for things. While that is definitely a part of our prayer conversations with God, we need to model thanking God in prayer to our children as well.

Take a few minutes each day in the month or week leading up to Thanksgiving and set a special time aside each day to pray with your child about what they are thankful for!

If they are comfortable and have the verbal ability to do so, let them pray out loud. If they are not quite comfortable or verbally ready to pray out loud themselves, take the lead and pray with them.

Keep your words simple. There is no need to try to impress your kids (or God!) with huge words. Simply state things you are thankful for. You might be surprised how quickly the younger members of your family will pick up on this thankful attitude to God!

Color A Bible Verse Picture Together

Okay, I have to make a confession here. I might like coloring pictures more than my toddler does! Seriously, could someone just ask me to sit quietly for 10-20 minutes a day and pick colors to scribble on a page!?

There is something wonderful about joining your child in the practice of coloring a picture. Do a quick Google search for free printable Bible verse coloring pages and print off a few for you and your child. Read the verse on the page, color the picture, and most important, let your child know that you are thankful that God lets you be their mommy!

Your Turn

What are some ways that you are teaching your children to nurture a thankful heart this Thanksgiving season?

Feel free to leave a comment and share Thanksgiving activities for toddlers that have been a bit for your family!

Thanks for stopping by!

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