Thanksgiving crafts, free Thanksgiving lessons for children, Thanksgiving coloring pages

Thanksgiving Crafts, Games, Activities and Coloring Pages for kids

Free Thanksgiving lesson!

God Helps Me Be Thankful

Thanksgiving Indian girl color illustration for preschool classroom and Thanksgiving bulletin board decoration.

Free Thanksgiving craft for preschool children. Learn colors with a baby Thanksgiving turkey. Thanksgiving activity for toddlers.

These brightly colored Thanksgiving pictures can be used for Thanksgiving bulletin board decorations or they can be made into Thanksgiving stickers or a Thanksgiving magnetic play set for kids.

The above samples are printable pictures, which can be made into Thanksgiving pictures to decorate preschool classroom, bulletin board decorations, or Thanksgiving crafts for children. These printable, reproducible pages are found on the Bible Kids Fun Zone membership website. The Thanksgiving Fun Pack is only one of many themes. Join Now!

Thanksgiving Stickers

Thanksgiving bookmarks

Thanksgiving lessons below

Thanksgiving Sunday School Lessons / Thanksgiving Family Devotions

God Helps Me Be Thankful!

Hi! Its me...Ottie Otter. I'm really happy today! Do you know why? Its because I've been sitting here thinking about how good God is - how much he loves me and cares for me. I've been thanking Him for giving me so much...I think this is kind of like the pilgrims felt on that First Thanksgiving Day. This is what happened.

The Pilgrims were a group of people from England. They got upset when the King of England told them they had to belong to the church of England. They didn't want to belong to the church of England. They wanted to worship God the way they wanted, and go to their own church. It was important to them because of their strong faith in God. So they decided to go to America so they could be free to pray and worship how they wanted.

They took off on their long trip to America in 1620 on the Mayflower. They sailed across the Atlantic Ocean for 66 days. That's a long time to be on a boat, but God was with them the whole time. Did you know that a baby was born during their long trip? Well, they finally got to America. They landed on Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts on November 21, 1620. The next day the people rested and worshiped God. They thanked him for helping them get to America safely.

Their first winter in America was a very hard winter. It was freezing cold, and they didn't have a lot to eat. There wasn't time to plant seeds before the snow came. They had to just make do with what they already had.

One day, a friendly little Indian who lived in America, named Squanto, came to see who all these people were who had come to America. He said "Hi!" and asked them about their trip. He listened to their stories of of the hard winter they had. He decided he wanted to help them. He taught them how to live in the wilderness and be safe from wild animals. He taught them how to plant crops. He even gave them Indian corn seeds to start their crops growing. And boy did they grow! They started out small....and kept growing....and growing......and growing.... Pretty soon they had so many crops they were overflowing with joy! God had blessed them over and over, supplying them with the crops they needed...even more than they needed! That's when they decided to throw a big celebration to give thanks to God for helping them and providing for them. They also wanted to share with the Indians because the Indians had helped them plant their crops.

So they gave a big party...with games and races and activities....and lots of delicious food!. They had a big feast with Indian corn and wild turkeys. And, the Indians brought some deer meat to share with the pilgrims. They cooked pumpkin, and prepared yummy desserts with berries and other fruit. Everyone had a great time sharing what they had, and thanking God for being so good! They had so much food it turned into a 3-day celebration!

Now lets pray that God will help us be a good friend on Thanksgiving, and every day. Then we have some fun Thanksgiving crafts to make!

© copyright Virginia Sigle / biblekidsfunzone.com

In the Thanksgiving lesson called "God Helps Me Be Thankful", we heard the story of how the pilgrims came to America so they could be free to worship God and pray the way they wanted to. And, you probably remember the little Indian, named Squanto, who came to help the pilgrims. Let's go back and take a look at all the things that made Squanto such a good friend to the pilgrims.

First of all, he welcomed the new pilgrims. He probably knew how scary it was for them to live in a new place, so he made the first move and went over to welcome them to help them feel better.

Next, he started a friendly conversation and listened to all their stories. He listened because he cared about them. After he learned of their troubles, and the hard winter they had, he felt bad for them. He wanted to help them, so he acted on those feelings. He decided to help them. He did all kinds of helpful things. He taught them how to stay far away from the wild animals, so they wouldn't get hurt. He taught them how to plant corn and other crops, so they could have lots of food for the next winter. He was generous and gave them some of his own seeds to plant. He wanted them to do better the next winter. He wanted them to have lots of crops to feed their families, so he he was kind to them. So, guess what happened: When it was time to harvest the crops, there was so many the pilgrims didn't know what to do! They had more than enough!...thanks to God, and thanks to friends like Squanto. So the pilgrims decided they wanted to be kind also! They shared their new crops with the Indians To show their appreciation, they gave a big party and invited Squanto and all of his friends! This big party was called the First Thanksgiving. They wanted to have a big celebration and give thanks to God because He had given them so many crops. And, they wanted to share all they had with their new Indian friends too.

So we see that Squanto was friendly in many ways: He listened to the pilgrims; he welcomed the new people; he shared his knowledge; and he gave generously of the things that he had. He was a big help to the pilgrims. It made Squanto happy to be kind and help them; and the pilgrims were happy to get help. They were happy to have Squanto as their friend too. And, God is happy when we are friendly and kind to others. He wants us all to be friendly.

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So you see, you can be a good friend too. God will help you be a good friend if you ask him to. Good friends listen well to others' stories. Good friends care a lot about other people. Good friends help others, and are kind to others. Good friends thank others for helping them. Good friends are generous and share what they have with others. Another way to be a good friend is to welcome the new people...just like Squanto did! And, good friends also celebrate together, just like the Indians and pilgrims did at their First Thanksgiving party! Now lets pray that God will help us be a good friend on Thanksgiving, and every day. Then we have some fun Thanksgiving crafts to make!

© copyright Virginia Sigle / biblekidsfunzone.com

Thanksgiving Prayer:

Dear God,

Thank you for good friends.

Please help me to be a good friend too.

Help me be kind and share.

Help me to listen really well.

And help me be willing to help others.

Thank you now for helping me be a good friend.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

Thanksgiving Lesson

I hoped you liked the Thanksgiving lesson about how Squanto and the Indians were kind to the pilgrims, and were a good friends to them.

As you do the Thanksgiving crafts and color pages, think about how you can share with your friends, and how you can be kind to them.

Thanksgiving Sunday School Lesson / Thanksgiving Family Devotion

I'm Thankful for You!

Hi! My name is Bouncy Bear. I came over to Bible Kids Fun Zone to tell you about how thankful I am to God for good friends - good friends just like you!

One sunny autumn day, Bouncy Bear was raking leaves all by himself outside. He was just thinking about how beautiful all the leaves looked: Bright red, neon orange, sunny yellow, gorgeous green and warm brown. Then he sighed. Ah-h-h-h. He was also thinking about how hard it was to rake leaves all by himself. It was a BIG job because he had such a BIG yard and LOTS of trees in the BIG yard. He didn't have any brothers and sisters to help him either. Even though it was hard work, Bouncy kept raking. He worked until he was about half-way done, then he was just all worn out. He just couldn't rake any more. He thought about how fun it would be to rake the leaves into one great big pile to jump in them if.....well...if only he had a friend to do it with. Raking leaves and jumping in them was not much fun doing it all by yourself. But, instead of feeling sorry for himself, Bouncy decided to pray. He prayed, "Dear, God: Please give me some friends to play with. Thank you for hearing my prayer. I know that you love me, and that you will answer my prayer. Amen."

So, Bouncy decided to go for a walk since it was such a nice day. First, he passed Cuddle-Puppy's house. Cuddle-Puppy lived next door to Bouncy. He didn't know his Cuddle-Puppy very well since he was new in the neighborhood, and had just moved there a few weeks ago. But he decided to say "hi" anyways. "Hi Cuddle-Puppy!", Bouncy yelled as he waved. Bouncy saw that Cuddle Puppy was raking leaves too. Cuddle-Puppy waved back, "Hi, Bouncy...Hey, wait a minute. I wanted to ask you something....Are you busy today?

"Not really... " answered Bouncy, "I was raking leaves, but then I got tired, so I decided to take a walk. I can see you're raking leaves too."

"Yeah, I can see why you got tired. It is hard work." Cuddle-Puppy agreed. "I just started, and I'm ALREADY tired."

But by then Bouncy had rested up for a little while, and now he felt like he had more energy. "I can help you, Cuddle-Puppy," Bouncy said.

"Really? OK! That would be great", Cuddle Puppy said with a big smile on his face.

So, Cuddle-Puppy got Bouncy a little rake just his size, and they worked side by side for a while...and soon they finished raking the whole yard! "Wow! That was fast with both of us," said Cuddle-Puppy, " We're all done. Maybe we can finish raking your yard tomorrow, Bouncy".

"Ok", .Bouncy said, "That will be nice. My mom will like that a lot.... Hey...I just remembered, my mom just made some chocolate-chip cookies! So they raced over to Bouncy's house and had a snack of cookies and milk.

"Thanks a lot!" Cuddle-Puppy said as he took his last bite. "I gotta go now, but I'll come over tomorrow to help you rake leaves. And, thanks for helping me today.

"You're welcome, Cuddle-Puppy...It was fun helping you -- much more fun than raking leaves all by myself. See you tomorrow"

The next day, Cuddle-Puppy grabbed his rake and went over to Bouncy's house to help him rake his yard. "Hi! I'm here to help you rake leaves", said Cuddle-Puppy.

"Cool...I'll go get my jacket". They worked real hard Soon they were finished raking the leaves in Bouncy's yard too! It only took a little while with both of them working together. Then they got the idea to rake the leaves into a big pile, and jump right into the middle of them. Whee-e-e-e! What fun they were having now! Soon they were all worn out. So they sat in the middle of the big pile of leaves to rest. Cuddle Puppy was happy that he had a new friend, so he decided to tell Bouncy, "Hey Bouncy...I just wanted to say thank you for being such a good friend. I'm really glad we're friends".

"Thanks for saying so, said Bouncy. "I'm really glad we're friends too. I like you a lot....Hey...I just thought of something. You know what? You didn't even know it, but you are an answer to my prayer...I just prayed yesterday for some new friends to play with. And, I now I see that God answered my prayer by helping us become friends".

"Wow! God really cares about us, huh?" said Cuddle-Puppy. Bouncy replied, "Yeah, just like the Bible verse says....Ecclesiastes 4:9 says:" (Read verse). Then he added, "Its true...everything is more fun when you do it with a friend". Cuddle-Puppy agreed. "Yep, it is", he said, as they gave each other a big hug.

And, so the two became very good friends after that day. The next week, Bouncy invited Cuddle-Puppy to come over for Thanksgiving dinner, so Bouncy showed up at Cuddle-Puppy's house. They shared a wonderful turkey dinner together with lots of good food. They talked and laughed. They shared stories and had lots of fun eating together along with their families. And they also both said a really nice Thanksgiving prayer. And, can anyone guess what they were very, very thankful for on Thanksgiving Day? That's right. They were thankful for each other...that the Lord had given them both a good friend. THE END

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Circle Talk Time: I hope you liked the lesson. Let's talk about for a few minutes. How many of you think that playing is more fun when you have a friend to play with? There are lots of wonderful things about having friends. Its great when you can be there to help each other with your work too. Playing with a friend is much more fun than playing by yourself. And, if you get hurt, you can be there to help each other . And, you have someone who will listen to you when you need someone to talk to. Friends are very special to us, aren't they? Let's all give thanks to God for all the friends he has given us. Sometimes its easy to forget how special they are to us, but God deserves our thanks and praise. He is the one who gives us friends. Let's also remember to also thank out friends for being our friend also. And, if you don't really have too many friends, just ask God to give you some, and He will answer your prayer. He cares about you very much and He wants you to have friends.

© copyright Virginia Sigle / biblekidsfunzone.com

Thanksgiving Sunday School Lesson / Thanksgiving Family Devotions

I Show my Friends that I'm Thankful for Them!

Hi! My name is Cuddle-Puppy. I came over to Bible Kids Fun Zone to share with you about how you can show your friends that you are thankful for them.

Cuddle-Puppy was running around like crazy. It was almost Thanksgiving, and his friend Bouncy Bear was going to come over for...well.... sort of a second Thanksgiving dinner, after he had dinner with his family. He was rushing around because he was looking for his craft supplies. He wanted to make Bouncy something.

Just then his mom walked in the room. "Cuddle-Puppy, what are you doing rushing around like that?"

"I want to show Bouncy Bear how thankful I am for him. I want to make him a card about being friends. Thanksgiving is just a couple days away, so I've got to hurry!" "Oh, that's really nice!", his mom replied, "Why did you decide to that?"

"Well, after I heard the Bible verse about treating others as I want to be treated, I got an idea. I wanted to do something to let Bouncy know how much I love him and like having him as my friend. I wanted to do something really special. So, I'm going to make him a gift for thanksgiving, and a card too!

"What a great idea! Maybe I can help you", mom offered, " What do you need to make the gift and the card? I just got some new craft supplies yesterday."

"Cool!, that would be great!, Cuddle-Puppy said, "What did you get? I want to make him some bookmarks about friends and a really nice card too. Do you have anything that I could use for that?"

"Yes, I think I do. Let's go see." replied mom enthusiastically.

So the two of them went off together and found all the supplies they needed. "Boy, I'm really thankful for all these things you got for me to make stuff with, mom. Thanks a lot for thinking of me!"

"You're welcome Cuddle-Puppy", mom replied.

So, Cuddle-Puppy worked hard for a long time. When he was finally finished he showed mom what he made for Bouncy. "Wow! I think Bouncy is really going to like what you made him!" mom said. So then Cuddle-Puppy wrapped the gift real carefully.

When Thanksgiving day came a couple days later, Bouncy Bear arrived at the door. With a big smile they greeted each other and hugged. Cuddle-Puppy couldn't wait any longer. He had to give Bouncy his gift and card right now. "Bouncy, I have something for you!" Cuddle Puppy said with a big smile on his face.

"Oh...well, look, I have something for you too!" Bouncy replied. Cuddle-Puppy laughed and said, "People don't usually give each other gifts on Thanksgiving...that's usually for Christmas, but I just think you're extra-special, so I made you something." Bouncy laughed too. "I made you something too, Cuddle-Puppy!", Bouncy explained.

Bouncy opened his gift first. Wow! It was the most thoughtful gift he ever got. It was a set of four bookmarks that told him how much Cuddle-Puppy appreciated his friendship! "Aw-w-w-w, these are really great, Bouncy! That was so kind of you to spend all that time to make me something special....Thank you so much!", Cuddle-Puppy told his friend. Then Cuddle-Puppy opened his gift from Bouncy. It was a set of stickers that he could use in a photo album about friends! And, with the stickers were some photos of the two of them. Bouncy had taken the pictures last week, then had the film developed. "Wow!, Bouncy, what a great idea! Thank you so much...now we can save the memories of our friendship. Maybe we can make it together! We can add to it all the time! What a cool gift! Thanks for taking the pictures and making me the stickers! You're the best friend anybody could ever have!" Cuddle-Puppy said.

So, the two of them enjoyed each other's company the rest of the day. They had a wonderful dinner, helped dad do the dishes afterwards. Then, while they were having a dessert of cocoa and cookies, they started making their friendship album together! They had a great time,since they both felt loved and appreciated by each other. And, when they said their prayers that night, they said a special Thank you for their special friend and the great day they each had. THE END

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QUESTION & ANSWER TIME:

I hoped you like the lesson. Can anyone think of some other ways we can show our friends that we are thankful for them? Think about the Bible verse and ask the Lord to help you think about how you would want to be treated. (Let the kids think for a few minutes, then have them raise their hands and answer one at a time. After hearing their ideas, offer these suggestions in addition:

Bake them a birthday cake on their birthday, be a good listener, tell them the things you appreciate about them (sense of humor, kindness, etc.), give them a card that expresses your feelings, help them when they need help with something, plan a fun activity for the two of you to do together, introduce them to your other friends, invite them to special activities, invite them to church, be happy when they are happy; sad when they are sad, etc.

© copyright Virginia Sigle / biblekidsfunzone.com

Dear God,

Thank you for loving me.

Thank you for giving me special friends that mean so much to me.

Please help me to show them how much I love them and appreciate them.

Please help me treat them how I want to be treated!

In Jesus Name, Amen.