Keeping A Preschooler Busy At The Thanksgiving Table

Thanksgiving is a great time for families to gather, eat, laugh, and catch up on life. But if you’re bringing a preschooler to the celebration, you already know that their definition of “a long dinner” can be much different. While the adults are happily lingering over another helping of turkey and conversation, your little one may be ready to get up and explore.

The good news? You don’t need a suitcase full of toys or a carefully planned schedule to keep a preschooler entertained. With a little creativity and everyday items around someone else’s home, you can create fun preschool games, crafts, and learning opportunities. Whether you’re hosting Thanksgiving or traveling to someone else’s house, try these simple activities to keep little hands busy and growing minds engaged during this special time.

Let Your Preschooler Create Place Mats for Everyone

All you need is some paper and art supplies, and your preschooler can express their creativity and decorate place mats for each Thanksgiving guest. Make suggestions for things like leaves, pumpkins, or turkeys to include, but in the end, allow them to design each one for each guest. Once the artwork is finished, let your preschooler deliver the place mats to the table.

What they’re learning: Strengthens fine motor skills while talking about family members and builds language and social-emotional skills. Writing or recognizing names introduces early literacy.

Turn the Thanksgiving Table Into a Sorting Game

You probably already have everything you need for a simple sorting game sitting on the table. Before or after the meal, invite your child to look closely at the objects around them. Ask them to identify things that are alike and put them into groups. Depending on what’s available and safe for them to handle, they can sort objects by color, shape, size, or type.

This is one of those easy preschool games that can keep a child occupied while the adults are finishing dinner or chatting.

Ask questions such as:

Keep the game playful rather than turning it into a lesson. Your child may come up with their own sorting rules, too, along the way.

What they’re learning: Sorting helps preschoolers recognize patterns, similarities, and differences. These are important early math skills that help prepare your child for future math concepts.

Practice Counting With Everyday Objects

Who needs a worksheet when Thanksgiving provides a table full of counting opportunities? Turn everyday objects into quick preschool games that keep your child engaged while introducing early math concepts.

Try asking your preschooler to:

These no-prep activities work especially well when you’re traveling because you can play them anywhere, from Grandma’s dining room to a family friend’s house.

What they’re learning: Counting everyday objects helps preschoolers connect numbers to quantities while practicing one-to-one counting, number recognition, and basic problem-solving skills.

Take a Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt

If your preschooler has reached their sitting limit, give them a reason to get up and move around. A Thanksgiving scavenger hunt requires virtually no preparation and can work in any room.

Give your child one challenge at a time and allow them ample time to search for the answer. This is one of the easiest preschool games to adapt to an unfamiliar house because you can create new challenges based on what you see around you.

Some challenge ideas include:

What they’re learning: Scavenger hunts encourage observation, listening, vocabulary, color and shape recognition, and counting. Following your directions also gives children practice with attention and comprehension.

Let Your Little Chef Help With Thanksgiving Prep

Preschoolers often want to do exactly what the grown-ups are doing. Instead of repeatedly telling your child to stay out of the kitchen, give them a simple, age-appropriate job, whether washing fruit or vegetables, stirring ingredients in a bowl, or carrying lightweight items to the table. Even a simple task helps make a child feel like they are important in the planning part of the celebration.

What they’re learning: Kitchen activities can build fine motor coordination, listening skills, following directions, independence, and confidence. Taking turns also helps children practice patience and cooperation.

Have Quiet Activities Ready When Needed

Eventually, even the most energetic preschooler may need some downtime. That’s when having one quiet activity available can save the day. If you’re traveling, bring one small, familiar activity that doesn’t require much space or preparation. If you’re visiting family, look for something already available in the house.

Some fun quiet time activities include:

Don’t wait until your child is completely overwhelmed to introduce the quiet activity. A calmer activity can work especially well after dinner, when the excitement of the day starts to wear off.

What they’re learning: Quiet activities give children practice with concentration, independent play, fine motor skills, early literacy, and self-regulation.

Turn Thanksgiving Into a Day of Learning Through Play With Preschool Games

Who says learning has to take a holiday break? Thanksgiving is a fun opportunity to keep your preschooler practicing important preschool concepts without making the day feel like school. Your child’s future depends on the quality of learning they receive, and that learning must continue outside of the classroom too.

At Parkland Children’s Academy, we offer a VPK program that ignites your preschooler’s education in reading, math, language, and social skills.

To learn more about our VPK program or to take a virtual tour, call us at (954) 688-5877 today.