While you are probably looking forward to spending time with your friends and family over the Thanksgiving holiday, I suspect your kids have an entirely different take on Thanksgiving. They may be glad to spend time with their family and friends, their focus is probably on the upcoming break from school. Thanksgiving break is almost like a pre-cursor to the extended Christmas break, and kids are ready for it.
The question is, “Are you ready for the kids to be home?” Will you let them hang out in front of the television all day complaining about boredom? Of course you won’t! With a little prep work ahead of time, you can have plenty of entertainment options ready and waiting for the kids to enjoy.
Baking Day – What kid doesn’t love making a mess in the kitchen and creating a few special treats? You can combine some of your holiday meal preparation and entertaining the kids by enlisting them in your baking projects. You can make sweet cookies, tasty breads, or even a fresh pie. The kids will be proud of their creations, and you’ll get some much-needed help.
Board Game Tournament – Whether your family likes traditional board games like Monopoly or card games like Uno, they’re certain to enjoy a tournament based on their favorite game. Play several games until a winner can be declared. You may even name the winner King (or Queen) of the Day, and let him wear a crown for the rest of the day.
Holiday Movie – Although I am not a big fan of making the television the center of our day, I do enjoy a good movie now and then. Kick off the holiday season with the kids by settling down to watch one of your favorite movies. Young kids might like The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (either version). Older kids might prefer something like a classic like Miracle on 34th Street. A Christmas Story is, of course, a favorite for all ages.
Wreath Project – Get the kids involved in your holiday decorating by having each of them create a holiday wreath with construction paper. Allow them to color the wreath and make any sort of embellishment they like. Then, let each youngster hang his wreath on a door in the house. They’ll love to show off their creation when your Thanksgiving guests arrive.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Board games are the best at Thanksgiving. I remember playing them when I was younger with all my cousins, while all the “older folks” would chat.
It seems that in our family we are always running and we never have time to really sit down and play games, so the Thanksgiving weekend really has a lot of “family” time and easier to pull out those board games.
Plus I have been finding a ton of games on sale lately (posted on my blog if you want to peak), so our game closet is starting to get a nice selection.
Thanks for your information!
We are having Thanksgiving dinner early this year (overseas) and it will be great fun for the little kids. This has lead my wife to prepare little construction paper turkey craft for them, where they draw outlines of their feet and hands on construction paper and voila… a turkey! I think it may even give us some insurance of a few minutes of peace and quiet. =)
Jerry
One thing that I was almost shocked to find out is that my young son actually enjoys cleaning. He really does. I don’t know if this would translate into older children, but it might be worth a shot. If you can make it fun, they may buy into it.
We turn it inot a contest, with the winner getting some candy of some sort. Of course, my son always wins!