Thanksgiving is one of the most anticipated meals of the year. All that yummy food takes time to make, and eat. Sometimes our littlest guests can’t quite make it through the whole meal, but we’ve created a way to entertain them through each course that comes their way. Make the meal their most anticipated ever too, by presenting them with their very own Thanksgiving Busy Book. These fun prompts, coloring pages, and games will be sure to keep them occupied straight through dessert…and then some!
In just a few easy steps – and the magic of Pinterest – you are are able to put together a fun, personalized busy book for kids to enjoy on Thanksgiving Day. Each book takes less than ten minutes to make, and the options for creativity are endless.
How to create a Thanksgiving Busy Book
Creating a Thanksgiving Busy Book for your kids is super easy! We’ve done all the research and work for you – but don’t let that stop your own creativity! We want each child feel special and entertained while they are enjoying their holiday meal. Because let’s be honest – the more our children enjoy themselves, the better chances are that we are able snag a second helping of grandma’s famous pumpkin pie.
Creating individual, personalized busy books for each child seems like a task, but really with just a few clicks of a button we were done! We compiled some of our favorite Thanksgiving themed artwork the kids have been making , and with one quick snap, it became the cover of their very own busy book. (Put all that school crafting to good use before you throw it in the trash!)
We uploaded this onto an album in Snapfish, and used their 8×8 softcover photo album as our template for binding and printing. Note: you can do this at any printer or simply print out the pages yourself and staple them together. Make it easy on yourself!
Make it busy!
Next, we compiled the games, activities, and prompts for the inside. We opened each book with this fun “Today I’m Thankful For…” worksheet because while the ultimate goal of the Thanksgiving Busy Book is to keep our kids entertained during the meal, it can also serve as a keepsake. Besides nothing is cuter than reading those little interviews from kids later in time.
We have young children, and know that each one is different in interests as well as level of ability. Luckily, the Internet is a vast resource and we can Pinterest like the pros we are. There are a ton of amazingly talented people out there who have come up with some great Thanksgiving themed materials. The hardest part was narrowing it down to only 20 pages of entertainment.
Freedom of Expression, Meet Penny, and Raising our Kids are just a few of the fun websites we stumbled upon that offered free Thanksgiving coloring pages available to download. Teachers, parents, and creative bloggers have created fun lessons to share for free as well. We love this fun set from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Cryptograms, word searches, easy prompts, and fun Thanksgiving I Spy Games all grace the pages of our Thanksgiving Busy Books with a few blank pages to allow room for the child’s own creativity. With two clicks of a button, each page is seamlessly placed into our book and we are done!
Once your busy book is compiled, sit back and watch the kids table at Thanksgiving be even more entertaining than it usually is — in a totally good way! (And maybe grab yourself a third helping of that pie!)
Download the fun
We’ve done the research, and now we’re sharing! Here some of our favorite Thanksgiving activities for kids of all ages to fill the pages of your Thanksgiving Busy Book. Download, insert, print and enjoy!
5 things you are thankful for
ABC’s of Thanksgiving
Pumpkin Maze
Thanksgiving food word search
Thanksgiving word search
Tic Tac Toe boards
Turkey connect the dot
Thanksgiving turkey color by number
Turkey color by letter
Turkey cryptogram
Do you have any special activities you place at the kid’s table during Thanksgiving? Share with us!
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