12 {Fun} November Activities to Celebrate Thanksgiving

Over the next week, we are going to be exploring ways to celebrate Thanksgiving with a number of fun Thanksgiving activities.  We thought it would be fun to kick it off today with a dozen November activities to get you started.  Watch Kids Activities Blog countdown to Thanksgiving for even MORE Thanksgiving activities. We love November and filling our days with fall activities for kids!

Celebrate Thanksgiving

Celebrate Thanksgiving together this November with one of these terrific autumn ideas to engage your kids. These Thanksgiving activities will not only keep your child busy, but get them exciting for Thanksgiving as well, since it is often an overlooked holiday.

Thanksgiving Activities

Crafting With Nature

Do you have a child who might be part squirrel? My sons love collecting nuts and acorns. We don’t have Chestnuts in our area, but I bet we can adapt the instructions on How to make a chestnut snake, to make an acorn snake. This would be a fun tradition for November each year! Craft with natural elements. You can also make an acorn person, with some googly eyes and other scraps of bits.

Fall Sensory Tub

Seeds.  I love how seeds represent new life.  In fall things are dying, but seeds are also dropping to the ground and germinating for the next year!   We love to get a big bag of birdseed each fall use them to: feed the critters by our window, make seed collages, and even in sensory tubs for preschoolers. If you like sensory tubs, we have a suggested collection of fall items that are great for a fall activity for kids.

Playing In Leaves

Growing up, I lived in the northeast, on a acre or so with LOTS of trees. I remember blisters on my hands from raking bins and binfuls, and I remember great contests to see who could create the biggest pile! I wish we had more trees so our children could enjoy playing in the leaves! …and for those of you who are like me, with a single tree and a scattering of leaves, you can create a leaf craft with some of your favorites.  Here are just a couple ideas of ways you can craft with leaves.

Leaf Hedgehog

Make a Leaf Hedgehog. Use leaves as the body. It is super cute and easy to do and falls into the woodland critter theme.

Make Leaf People

Craft a fall leafy personality. Collect as many different types of leaves as you can and form them into a “person”.

Nature Stew

Enjoy a “Nature Stew”.   Mix leaves, twigs, seeds, herbs, and some glitter to create a soupy batch of fun!

Gourd Monster

Make a Gourd Monster. These little faces are adorable, grab a collection of small gourds, add some googly eyes and pompoms or feathers for hair, draw a mouth and you have a fun DIY Thanksgiving decoration. Leave the supplies for the kids to create their own “Gourd-man” next to each seat at the “kids table” and while the kids are waiting for the meal to be served they can be seated and crafting!

Soap Carving Arrowheads

As the fall temps dip, we have the tendency to get more colds. Encourage your kids to wash their hands with this fun November Craft – make arrow heads, like the pilgrims did, only make them out of a bar of soap. Your kids can learn about history and keep the germs at bay. My favorite November tradition is to re-enact the sailing of the Mayflower from England to Plymouth, Massachusetts.   We are going to use this paper boat tutorial to create our “Mayflower” and ship her across the bathtub.

How do you celebrate Thanksgiving?

Do you have a fun family tradition that you do together each November??   We would love to hear about it in the comments.