Thanksgiving Activities for a Children's Ministry
Teach the children in your church's children's ministry about Thanksgiving by engaging in creative activities designed to teach valuable lessons while maintaining their beliefs. Children in your ministry can enjoy creating crafts or playing games, which will reinforce the meaning behind Thanksgiving while allowing them to be thankful for the blessings in their own lives. Does this Spark an idea?
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Count Your Blessings Game
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Hold the children's interest during the weeks leading up to the holiday by playing Thanksgiving-themed games. Games such as "Count Your Blessings" can teach children how to be grateful and focus on their blessings. Give each child a piece of paper and have them list their blessings. Set a timer and when the time has expired go around the room asking each child to list his blessings.If someone else has the same blessing, have the children cross that duplicate off of the list. The winner is the child who has the most unique items listed on their sheet.
Gratitude Grab-Bag
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Younger children may enjoy simpler games such as "Gratitude Grab-bag." Fill a bag with cards that have either the word Thanksgiving or a picture of an item..Have the children form a circle and take turns reaching into the bag for a card. If they choose a bag with the word Thanksgiving, the child tells the group what he or she is thankful for. If the child pulls out a photo of an item, they must state how the group should give thanks for that item. Keep the photos simple such as items of food, teachers, pets and parents.
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Thanksgiving Craft
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In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, have the children bring in photos of their families or take photos at church. Develop or print out the pictures so they'll be ready to be used in a children's ministry Thanksgiving Wall. Have each child cut a house out of construction paper. Cut a window into the center of the house. Place the picture of the family behind the house so they appear to be looking out of the center window. Instruct the children to write the names of their family members on the house and also list the items for which they are grateful. Decorate the houses with markers, glitter, stickers and Bible verses.
Food Drive
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Supervise the children as they hold a food drive to benefit the hungry. Decorate boxes to set in the church hall or other common area. Ask the children and other worshipers to donate non-perishable food items that are in keeping with a Thanksgiving theme such as boxes of potatoes, cans of corn and jars of turkey gravy. Designate a time for the children to transport the boxes to a nearby food pantry or make arrangements for the boxes to be picked up.
Thanksgiving Banner
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Create a Thanksgiving banner that can be hung in your church or area of worship. Have the children make flags out of felt or construction paper. Create one flag for each letter in Happy Thanksgiving. Have the children print the letters onto the flags, color them in and decorate each flag with ribbons, twigs, small pine cones, acorns and other small objects you can find around the home or yard. Punch holes in the flags and attach the twine so the flags can be hung on a dowel.
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References
- Photo Credit happy thanksgiving image by timur1970 from Fotolia.com
