I love the old song that goes, “We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessings…” What a great time of the year to teach children’s church! Thankfulness and appreciation for the blessings of God is an important part of the life of a Christian. During “turkey” month, share these seven Thanksgiving activities with your kids. You will teach them an attitude of gratitude.
The Ten Lepers Play: My kids are little actors and they love acting out skits that I narrate. This skit requires lots of cloth bandages (like strips of old sheets) and some robes. Have ten children dress up as lepers and pick one child to play Jesus. Tell the story of the ten lepers from Luke 17. Kids will see that they should thank God for the blessings he gives us.
The Thanksgiving Tree: Tape a paper cutout tree to a wall. Every week, provide kids with construction paper leaves. They should write down something they are thankful for every week. Tape the leaves to the tree and by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, you will have a full tree.
Paint a Pumpkin: For this activity, you need one pumpkin for each child. (Small, inexpensive ones will do.) Ask kids to paint a word or picture on the pumpkin that demonstrates something they are thankful for.
Thanksgiving Praise Parade: This activity burns some energy! Give kids small instruments and lead them in a Thanksgiving praise parade. Sing songs like, “Thank You, Lord,” while you march around the facility, like the Israelites around Jericho.
Candle Lighting Service: For this service, you need a votive candle for each child. Light your candle and explain to the kids that you’ve lit the candle to show God how thankful you are. Tell them what you are thankful for and ask them to think about what they are thankful for. Let them light the candles and sing hymns about being thankful.
Thanksgiving Jumbles: You need two dry erase boards and two sets of magnetic letters that spell THANKSGIVING. Divide the kids into two teams. Give them two minutes to create as many words as they can with the letters. One team member should write down the words. All the team members should have a chance to create a new word.
6 Thanksgiving Activities for Children's Church
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Ten bowling pins and ten lepers
The kids play bowling game on the carpet, with toy bowling set.
We cheer and celebrate whenever a child makes a “strike”.
After reading the story of the ten lepers in Luke 17(I say, ten men with sore skin disease to remove the label), I set up the bowling pins and ask them to imagine each one of them representing a leper. I ask how they feel whenever they make a strike (Happy, excited, etc.).
I also ask how they feel when their ball only knocks down one or few pins (sad, disappointed etc.). I don’t say how disappointed Jesus was, but that Jesus used the opportunity to teach us to be thankful, like that one leper that returned.