Preschool Thanksgiving Activities for Children's Churches
Sunday schools and churches with preschools often plan special projects and activities just for the Thanksgiving holiday. Tying in biblical verses with this particular holiday can be especially effective when it comes to teaching children important lessons, such as how to be appreciative of those around you and learning to thank God for the life you've been given. There are several preschool Thanksgiving activities that churches can do inexpensively. Does this Spark an idea?
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Thankful Posters
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This activity is ideal for teaching children the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Provide each preschooler with a blank sheet of paper--poster-sized paper works best, but you can use regular-sized sheets of paper if that is all you have available. Give the children markers, crayons, paints or colored pencils to draw and decorate their posters.
Instruct them to draw pictures, or write words if they are able, that illustrate why they are thankful. For example, they may want to draw pictures of their pets, siblings, favorite toy or their friends. After the children are done making their poster, have them present their project to everyone and explain why they're thankful.
Coloring Pages
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Many free Thanksgiving-themed coloring pages are available online from sites such as DLTK's Holiday Activities for Kids (see the resources section below). To get them, just visit the website of your choice, download the pictures and print them out. For this coloring page project, print out at least one coloring page for each child. At the bottom of the pages, write down a bible verse that relates to Thanksgiving.
When the preschoolers arrive at church, give them each a coloring sheet, introduce the verse to them and explain how it relates to Thanksgiving while they decorate and color the pictures. Provide the children with markers, colored pencils and crayons to complete this activity.
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Turkey Hands
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For this traditional Thanksgiving preschool activity, you will need blank sheets of paper, crayons or markers and pencils. Have the children trace their hand in the center of the paper with a pencil. Then have them decorate the tracing, making it look like a turkey. As the children are decorating it, ask them to think about their favorite Bible verse that relates to thanksgiving.
If you are teaching a particular verse or biblical lesson to correlate with the Thanksgiving holiday, ask them to think about how they can use that lesson throughout the year and not just at Thanksgiving. The children can take turns presenting their project and explaining the Bible verse to the group in their own words. With preschoolers, repetition is key to memory, and no one child will give the same explanation as another.
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