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Keep the Kids Busy on Thanksgiving

Does your child long to help you in the kitchen? Is he or she always trying to frost the cookies, stuff the turkey, or guard the pumpkin pie? Even though we can really use the help, sometimes the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day is not the best place for a child. In fact, on this day it can be a very dangerous place for children. Here are some fabulously fun activities that will help you keep children occupied and away from the kitchen on Thanksgiving.

One of the cutest and easiest craft ideas for kids to make for Thanksgiving is a "Hand Made Turkey." It is really very simple. The materials you will need are construction paper and crayons. If the children are very young, they might need a bit of help with the first part of the project, which is tracing one of their hands with a crayon. Once the hand is traced, let them start decorating their own turkeys! The thumb is the face/head and all of the fingers are the turkey feathers. Encourage the kids to make their turkeys as ornate as possible and let them name their turkeys. When all of the kids are finished, hang the turkeys on the wall for everyone to admire.

Another fun craft that will help keep kids out of your hair (and your kitchen) is to have the kids make their very own Thanksgiving place mats. Lay out construction paper, glue, scissors for children, feathers, beads, crayons/markers, yarn, etc. so that the kids can create whatever they want. Some fun ideas for the place mats are a picture of the Indians and Pilgrims first Thanksgiving feast or of a beautiful Indian headdress. You can also buy large beads and yarn and tell the children to make their own necklaces just like the beautiful jewelry that the Indians wore.

If your children refuse to leave you alone and are really begging to help with the food let them decorate cookies. After the dough is rolled out (depending on their ages), let the kids cut out sugar cookies in the shapes of leaves, turkeys, acorns, apples, etc. They can sprinkle different colored sugars all over the cookies too. After the cookies are done baking let them help frost the cookies as well.

Some fun games for kids to play on Thanksgiving are:

Thanksgiving Bingo: Make up Bingo cards before the guests arrive. Draw a grid and then fill in things related to Thanksgiving, mixing them up for each card. You might include:

• Is going shopping tomorrow (The day after Thanksgiving is traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year).
• Is wearing red tonight.
• Doesn't like sweet potatoes.
• Loves pumpkin pie.
• Knows what s/he's getting for the holidays already.
• Has at least one thing to be thankful for.
• Ate too much at the last party.
• Is wearing a new outfit tonight.
• Watches football games on Thanksgiving.
• Made Thanksgiving dinner at least once.
• Eats more that 4 pieces of turkey on Thanksgiving.

And so on. Make small cards to match the items on the grid. Gather the guests and hand out the cards along with a handful of candy. Pick a card from the pile and read the statement. If anyone can answer "yes" to the statement, they get to put a candy in the square. The 1st person to connect 5 in a row wins!

Holiday Hunt: Divide guests into teams, and give them a list of Thanksgiving related items to locate, either around the house or around the neighborhood. The team with the most items found wins.

Turkey in the Lineup: Get a picture of a turkey but keep it hidden from the guests until game time. Give everyone pencil and paper and have them write down every detail they remember about the turkey's appearance. After 3 minutes, call time. Show the picture of the turkey and see how many details they got right. The one with the most wins the prize.

Pin the Tail on Timmy Turkey: Give each child a turkey tail to decorate. Then blindfold each child, and have him/her try to stick the tail on Timmy the Turkey. The child who comes closest to putting the tail in the right place wins a prize. Prizes may also be awarded for the "most creative", "most colorful" etc. tails.

Keep the kids happy, entertained, and away from the turkey (at least until it's cooked)!
The Party Girl