Thanksgiving is such a beautiful and meaningful way to kick off the holiday season, isn’t it? No doubt most of us are planning menus or deciding what side dish to bring to Friendsgiving or a family Thanksgiving meal. But our minds and hearts are also turning toward the many ways we’ve been blessed.
Here are some meaningful Thanksgiving traditions from a couple of our Miami Mom Collective contributors:
Thankful Turkey
Here is an easy craft to do with your kids of nearly any age this Thanksgiving season so they can acknowledge and appreciate the bounty and blessings around them.
You need 4 things:
Construction paper of different colors, scissors, glue & a pen. That’s it!
- Cut out your turkey’s body by either free-handing or drawing a silhouette and then cutting it out.
- Cut as many feathers as you would like in all different colors. The feathers are simple oval shapes; make them big enough to write something on them.
- After cutting out the feathers, use your scraps to create a beak, feet, and wattle! Don’t forget some eyes.
- Have your kids think of one thing they’re thankful for each day and write it on a feather. Add more feathers to your thankful turkey as the days leading up to thanksgiving go by. You can also save this activity for Thanksgiving if you have lots of family or friends coming by and do it all in one day!
- Simple! It’s so fun to see the things our children are thankful for, from family to toys, to pets–their responses don’t disappoint. (Even chocolate 😉)
Check out this reel to see how it came together! What are you thankful for?
Thanksgiving Food Drive
What better time to teach generosity and gratefulness than at Thanksgiving? There are so many opportunities at this time of year to help those in need. One of our favorite family Thanksgiving traditions is to donate to a local food drive or serve food to the hungry. Teaching children to be kind and generous begins at a young age. Even children as young as 2 and 3 years old can help to pick out canned goods at the grocery store or pass a piece of bread to someone in line for food.
One thing our family has done is purchase turkeys and hams and then donate them to our local rescue mission. This organization takes these donations and feeds hundreds of homeless people–not just at Thanksgiving, but even into the new year. We have so much fun together going into the local grocery store and purchasing the turkeys and then taking them to our local church that has a drop-off location.
Whether it is buying food for those in need or serving them a hot meal, it truly is the best way to give back for all the blessings our family has been afforded and celebrate the true meaning of the holiday!
