Thanksgiving activities for 4 year olds
Easy Thanksgiving activities for 4 year olds: no-reading games, simple crafts, kitchen helper jobs and free printable coloring pages, with ideas to grow into up to age 8.
By Sloane Glitchford, Founder. Updated Nov 10, 2026. Links on this page are plain links, not affiliate links.
Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, 2026. These activities are picked for 4-year-olds: short, simple, and none of them need reading. Each section ends with a way to stretch the same idea for kids up to age 8, so siblings can join in.
Simple Thanksgiving crafts
- Hand turkeys. Trace their hand on paper. The thumb is the head and the fingers are feathers, one color each. Older kids: they trace their own hand and add a background.
- Paper plate turkey. Color a paper plate brown for the body and glue on paper strips for feathers. Older kids: they cut the strips themselves with kid scissors.
- Leaf rubbings. Put a leaf under thin paper and rub over it with the side of a crayon. Older kids: they collect and match different leaf shapes.
Coloring pages and a maze
Our free Thanksgiving coloring pages are a 4-page PDF from our own book. It has 2 Turkey coloring pages, each with a one-line story caption: "Gobble, gobble! I am Turkey. Today is Thanksgiving, hooray!" and "Turkey stirs the soup. Squirrel takes a taste. \"Mmm, yum!\"" Read the caption out loud before they start. The activity page is a maze, "Help Turkey Get to the Pie!" Trace the path with a finger together first, then let them try it with a crayon. Older kids: they can read the captions and do the maze on their own. If you want a Thanksgiving coloring book for kids after the sample, Turkey's Silly Thanksgiving Feast is a screen-free gift for kids 4-8: a 64-page paperback with 21 story coloring pages, 8 activities and an answer key. Our own product. Illustrations were created with AI image tools. Sloane Glitchford is a pen name.
No-supply games
- Color I-spy. "I spy something orange." Older kids: spy by first letter instead of color.
- Count the table. How many forks? How many rolls? Older kids: add or subtract ("If two people come late, how many chairs?").
- Turkey, turkey, freeze. Waddle and gobble like a turkey to music, and freeze when it stops.
- Simon says with Thanksgiving moves: flap your wings, stir the pot, roll the pie dough.
Kitchen helper jobs (nothing hot)
Many 4-year-olds like having a real job. Keep it away from the stove and knives, with a grown-up close by: washing vegetables in a bowl of water, tearing bread for stuffing, putting rolls in a basket, or setting out napkins. Older kids: they can set the whole table or fold napkins.
A thankful activity
Ask each child to draw one thing they're thankful for, and a grown-up writes the word underneath. Share them at dinner. Older kids: they write a list of 5 things and read one out.
Tips for a 4-year-old's Thanksgiving
- Keep each activity short and have the next one ready.
- Mix quiet turns with active ones, and end on a quiet one before the meal.
- Keep their play spot out of the kitchen.
For the meal itself, see our Thanksgiving kids' table activities by age. For the whole day, see how to keep kids busy on Thanksgiving Day.
Free sample pages and the full book (our own product)
All four of our holiday books: holiday coloring books for kids.
Links on this page are plain links, not affiliate links.
Sloane Glitchford, Founder
Quick answers
What Thanksgiving activities are good for 4 year olds?
Short activities that need no reading work well: hand turkeys, paper plate turkeys, leaf rubbings, coloring pages with a maze, color I-spy, counting games and simple kitchen jobs that involve nothing hot.
How can a 4 year old help on Thanksgiving?
With a grown-up close by and away from the stove and knives, they can wash vegetables, tear bread for stuffing, put rolls in a basket or set out napkins.
Is there a free Thanksgiving printable for 4 year olds?
Yes. Our free Turkey sample is a 4-page PDF from our own book for ages 4-8, Turkey's Silly Thanksgiving Feast: an intro page, 2 coloring pages and a maze. It is free for personal and classroom use.