Whether you need to keep kids occupied while you prepare a big meal or you're just looking to give them something fun and holiday-themed to do, Thanksgiving coloring pages for kids are an engaging activity that your littles will love. We have three adorable printables your kids can color, along with some fun suggestions for how to feature their Thanksgiving-themed works of art.
Thanksgiving Turkey Coloring Page
This cute coloring page features a smiling turkey and some festive pumpkins on the side. If you need help printing, check out our Guide for Adobe Printables.
While this can be fun to just color by itself, there are lots of other creative possibilities for using this free coloring page. Consider the following to keep your little ones entertained while you prepare for the holiday.
Play Pin the Feather on the Turkey
Once your kids color this page, you can use it to create a fun Thanksgiving game. Give your kids feathers (these are often available at craft or dollar stores) and have fun with a twist on the traditional Pin the Tail on the Donkey game. Blindfold each child and let them try to place a feather or feathers as close as possible to where it should be located on the turkey. You can use a single color feather for each child. Don't have feathers on hand? Just have kids cut feathers out of construction paper to play the game.
Related: Kids' Thanksgiving Activities for Every Age & Stage
Use It as a Thanksgiving Book Cover
Many kids love to come up with their own creative stories, and there's no end to the ideas when it comes to Thanksgiving. Staple blank sheets of paper to the back of the coloring page and let your kids write or journal as much as they want.
Sneak in Some Thanksgiving Math
You can also use this as a math learning tool for young children, and there are a couple of ways to do it. For very young counters, just ask simple questions, like "How many pumpkins are on the page?" You can also create simple math problems by instructing to kids to alternate colors of the turkey's feathers (such as brown and orange), and then asking problem-solving questions such as, how many orange feathers are there all together? How many brown and orange feathers does the turkey have?
Make It a True Work of Art
Get creative with craft supplies. If you're looking for a way to use up odds and ends of craft supplies, this is the perfect opportunity. Round up remnants of glitter, paints, craft pom-poms, or whatever is left in your child's craft bin as the year closes, and let them get as creative as they want decorating this turkey and its feathers.
Thanksgiving Feast Printable Coloring Page
Kids can color this adorable Thanksgiving dinner coloring sheet, but it has other uses, too.
Give It a Place at the Table
Looking for a way to keep your Thanksgiving tables clean and add a fun and festive touch to Thanksgiving dinner? Just use these cute coloring pages as disposable placemats. Kids can color them in advance (and you can label them if you have planned seating arrangements). If you are having a more formal place setting for adults, use these as placemats for the kids' table and place a basket of crayons in the center of the table to keep them busy while you finish the meal preparation.
Teach Some Nutrition Science
You can also use this as a learning tool to talk about nutrition. The fact that protein and vegetables are the largest portions can be a good starting point for talking about how things like sugars, fats, and carbohydrates shouldn't make up the bulk of what you eat.
Give It 3-D Treatment
This coloring page could be a fun use of 3-D renderings with simple things you already have around the house. For example, give the kids cotton balls to glue to the page as the whipped cream on the pumpkin pie, or let them use puffy paint to recreate the corn kernels.
Free Pilgrim Coloring Page
This free Pilgrim coloring page can be used around Thanksgiving time for fun or educational purposes.
Teach About Thanksgiving
Whether in the classroom for a Thanksgiving party or at home, this coloring page can be a start to talking about the history of Thanksgiving. You can make a simple teaching booklet with this as the cover and have each page involve simple questions or facts about the origin of Thanksgiving.
Make Felt Characters
Many children love to act out scenes with felt cut-outs, and you can use these as patterns to make Pilgrims out of felt. Discuss the history behind Thanksgiving or read a good Thanksgiving story, and then let the children reenact or come up with their own Thanksgiving scenes using felt cut-outs of the Pilgrims.
Make It an Invite
The cute layout of these Pilgrims is ideal as an invitation. Have children color them and then use them as an invitation for Thanksgiving dinner or dessert or for a Thanksgiving party. You can print off a separate sheet and add details such as time on the back or just write them by hand.
A Nice Addition to Thanksgiving
Coloring pages offer a great way to encourage kids' creativity, and they also provide preschoolers and other young children with an easy way to become involved in Thanksgiving. Go ahead and print out these free coloring page activity sheets and give your children a fun way to pass the day until it's time to sit down for your Thanksgiving feast.
