I love Thanksgiving. I love the focus on being thankful. I love the food, especially my piled-high apple pie (recipe follows!). And I love having my house full of family.
iMOM has lots of ways for you and your kids to have Thanksgiving Day fun. We also have wonderful ideas for encouraging thankful hearts and minds. So pull up a chair and feast on 9 of our best Thanksgiving printables, including our fantastic and fun indoor Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt! Our printables are not only adorable, but they’ll also help you teach your children about being thankful so you can have a meaningful Thanksgiving holiday your whole family will love.
Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt for Kids
Our Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt for Kids has indoor clues about the history of Thanksgiving. It’s another way to add to your Thanksgiving Day fun, or it can be a Thanksgiving week activity. Hide the clues around the house before the kids get up. Later, when you need to keep them busy, let the scavenger hunt begin!
Thanksgiving This or That Questions
After you’ve focused on being thankful during your holiday meal, you can switch to a lighter note with our Thanksgiving This or That questions. And here’s a variation on how you can use the printable: Instead of just reading the questions off the sheet, cut the questions into strips in advance and put them in a bowl. Then, take turns reaching for a question and answering it.
20 Fun Thanksgiving Jokes for Kids
Punchlines are a great way to pass the time until you make a little room for dessert or, even better, leftovers. Want to add an extra layer of silliness to joke-time? Tell everyone that instead of laughing at the jokes, they have to gobble-gobble!
You can start using this sweet printable before Thanksgiving. Cut out the leaves that are printed with something to be thankful for and hang them from your chandelier, make a Thanksgiving tree, or use them as garland. They’re pretty and purposeful and are a fun craft kids can do, as long as they’re old enough to use scissors.
Tuck one of these cute printables into your child’s lunch. Or, if you homeschool, tape a different one to your child’s bathroom mirror each morning. You can also hide all of them at once around the house for a Thanksgiving treasure hunt.
These 15 printable Thanksgiving prayers are so pretty in words and presentation. They’ll add touching reverence and meaning to your feast. Print them all and then choose your favorites to read at your dinner or post on your fridge. In the lead-up to Thanksgiving, have your children read aloud a different prayer each evening at dinner. You’ll find prayers by Shakespeare, Martin Luther, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and many others.
These Thanksgiving Story Cards will take you and your family on a wonderful journey through the Thanksgiving story with moving facts you might not have known. Have each person at your table read one card so everyone can learn what the first Thanksgiving was really like. You can also have your children do the prep for this activity—the cutting, folding, and writing that go into getting things ready.
George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation Printable
Even while George Washington had a full plate, he found time to proclaim a holiday of thanksgiving: “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor…”
Once you’ve printed the Thanksgiving Proclamation, roll it into a scroll. Have one of your guests dramatically unroll the scroll and let each of your children who can read share a paragraph. The words of the Proclamation are touching and convey the humility of our first president.
Declaration of Gratefulness Printable
This printable is a wonderful way to give thanks as a family. It also has a historic look, so it pairs nicely with George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation Printable. Fill it out at your Thanksgiving table or in the days leading up to your feast.
And before you start your Thanksgiving prep, here is the promised recipe for my piled-high apple pie.
Ingredients:
2 prepared pie crusts (or feel free to make your own!)
8 large apples (try a mix of Golden Delicious, Gala, Fuji, or Jonathan apples). Since apple size varies, I eyeball the amount until the mound is piled high, about 3 inches above the rim.
1 ¼ cups sugar
5 tablespoons flour
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
Instructions:
If making for immediate use, preheat oven to 425 degrees and position the pie in the lower third of the oven.
Place one pie crust in the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan or dish.
Peel, core, and slice apples ¼ inch thick.
Mix apples and remaining ingredients, except for the butter.
Pour the mixture into the bottom crust.
Dot the apples with butter cut into pieces.
Brush the overhanging edge of the bottom crust with cold water.
Cover the pie with the top crust.
Seal the edges by crimping them.
Cut steam vents in the top crust.
Place pie on a baking sheet to catch juices.
Bake the pie for 30 minutes.
Reduce the heat to 350 degrees.
Bake for 30 to 45 more minutes or until juices bubble through vents.
If the pie crust browns too quickly, cover it with tinfoil.
Let pie cool for 3 hours.
Make Ahead Note:
You can always freeze your pie before baking. No need to thaw the pie. Place directly in the oven. If baking the pie from frozen, bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes, reduce heat to 375 until done. About one hour total.
So, we hope our printables add to your Thanksgiving Day fun and help you and your family focus on all that you are thankful for!
What are you most grateful for today?
