Defining Core Values and Entertaining Children on Thanksgiving

It's hard to believe another year is almost over and the holiday's season is among us once again. Thanksgiving Day is fast approaching and that means entertaining guests. However, we may find that a bit difficult with young children around. They usually have a hard time staying out-of-the-way and out of trouble. Sometimes, adults forget that children also need to be entertained and that can be a challenge in itself. Plan ahead this year and with a little preparation you can come up with a number of activities to keep them occupied for hours.

Here are some fun activities you can do with young children that will help them be more involved and get them into the holiday spirit. By giving your children fun activities to do, they will have fun and you will be free to do what is necessary to prepare for the holiday meal. Here are a few activities you can set them up with.

Arts and Crafts: Children love to do things with their hands.

When you go grocery shopping to get all the items you will need for dinner, consider purchasing a Thanksgiving coloring book and crayons. If you already have crayons, another option is to go online for free arts and crafts printouts. You can do a Google search or go to Allkidsnetwork.com. The Allkidsnetwork have a full arsenal of kid friendly printouts along with some really cool arts and crafts ideas. You will find the latest themed crafts and worksheets like turkeys, pilgrims, scarecrows, and pumpkins for them to color and make.

Children love to help and want to contribute because they want to interact with what we are doing. When we allow them to be involved with what we are doing it helps to build a stronger family bonding. A great way for them to contribute is let them make the centerpiece. Children will have fun making centerpieces for the table. They will feel privileged and will have a great time doing it too. You can use construction paper, acorns or rocks to make the designs. Show them pictures of what centerpieces look like and let them get creative. Once again, there are some great ideas to be found online.

Children can help decorate the house, decorations around the house make it more festive. Have your children make some decorations. They can string up the pictures of the turkeys, pilgrims, scarecrows, and pumpkins from their earlier crafts and put them on the windows, front door, or on the fridge. Another idea is to put them on the Christmas tree like garlands (for people who have their trees up). You can also have your children make personalized place mats for each person by using construction paper, crayons, markers, stickers, etc.

You can further teach your children some core family values by showing them how to set the table properly. This will help you and they will enjoy being a part of the work that goes into planning and preparing the meal. Show them how to set the table and let them put the place mats they created where they would like each person to sit.

Lastly, defining your family core values will have to include the all-important Thanksgiving meal prayer. You can allow your children to lead the dinner prayer.
Most often, it is the adults who lead the prayer. Why not let your children say the prayer? Pick a child to say the entire prayer or have each one can say a little something. Children are very sincere in what they say. You may be surprised at what they will say, but you will also know that it comes from the heart.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time for us to reflect on God's goodness. There is no better way to spend your holiday than with family and friends. Young children may have problems finding things to do and keeping out of trouble and that is why we need to plan ahead. By finding things for them to do, you will keep them happy and everyone else will be thankful.



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