Thanksgiving at the Kids’ Table

Thanksgiving+at+the+Kids+Table

Alyssa Martin, Writer

As each holiday rolls around, every family places their young ones at their own dinner table in hopes of having “adult time,” and that the kids will tire themselves out. Though the kids’ table is often a dreaded location for children, there are many fun things kids can do to keep themselves busy and burn some energy.

It is no secret that most children are not the biggest fans of vegetables. However, there are many fun ways to present vegetables to children to trick them into eating their veggies. For example, this Thanksgiving, children can make their own vegetable turkey.

First, put a small amount of ranch dressing on the bottom of a plate. Next, cut a single carrot in the shape of a triangle. The triangular carrot will be the beak, and two blueberries will act as the eyes. Afterwards, you can simply put layers of fruits and vegetables fanning around the ranch dressing. Now you have a pretty and delicious snack that kids will be dying to get their hands on!

Aside from food, there are many activities to keep your children entertained. Coloring pages are always fun, but they can become boring for young ones after a while. Nevertheless, there are many ways to spice up the arts and crafts this year at the kids’ table. For example, one fun craft is to have little pumpkins put out on the table. Good news, parents–the pumpkins aren’t going to be carved! Kids can put stickers on these pumpkins, or draw on them using markers.

Another all-time classic is hand turkeys! One way to do a hand turkey is to trace one’s hand and color it in with a pen. For the older kids, paint can be used to make their masterpiece. One can paint their palm brown and their fingers different colors. Next, you would place your hand on a piece of paper, leaving the impression of a turkey on the sheet. A cute idea for these turkeys is for your child to write what he or she is thankful for on each finger, or “feather.”

Another option for children is to have them draw on a blank piece of paper. The possibilities are endless with this activity! They can draw a memory from Thanksgiving, their favorite food, or write what they are thankful for. It will become an adorable decoration and a cute memory when you look back at it in the future!

For Thanksgiving, you should also considering bringing a turkey to life at the kids’ table. One way to do this is by making a pine cone turkey. Children can go outside to gather pine cones, or they can buy pine cones from Michael’s. Other things the kids would need is glue, googly eyes, and colored feathers or leaves to make their turkey creations. The feathers or leaves can be glued in the crevices of the pine cones. The googly eyes will be glued to the opposite side of the pine cone of the leaves.

Despite the kids table being an often dreaded place, with these ideas, it will be the place to be this holiday season!