The kids finish eating in about four minutes. You are maybe twenty minutes into a meal you spent two days on. That gap is the whole reason the kids’ table exists, and filling it does not take a Pinterest-perfect setup or a trip to three stores.
Here is what actually goes on ours: one thing that covers the table, a few things to do, snacks they will really eat, and a plan for the stretch after they get down. Most of it you can do with what is already in the house. The rest is cheap and reusable.
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Start with a coloring tablecloth
If you only do one thing, do this one. Instead of a tablecloth, roll out a long sheet of paper that is already a coloring page, put a pile of crayons in the middle, and let them go.
It works because it is not one page per kid. Nobody runs out, nobody fights over whose turn it is, and there is no winner. They can color before dinner, eat on it, and go back to it afterwards while you are still at the table with a coffee.
30 by 72 inches of turkeys, pumpkins, pies and fall leaves. Long enough for four or five kids shoulder to shoulder, and sized to cover a six-foot table while you cook. Unroll it, tape the corners, done. Ages 3 and up, $7.99 with free US shipping.
See the coloring rollNo roll, no problem. A length of butcher paper or the back of a roll of wrapping paper does the same job, and you can draw a few turkeys on it yourself while the potatoes boil. The point is covering the table in something they are allowed to draw on.
Whatever you use, put the crayons in short cups rather than a box. Boxes get knocked over and then you are under the table.
Decorations that are cute and actually practical
The kids’ table does not need a centerpiece. It needs room. Anything tall gets knocked over, anything delicate gets handled, and anything in the middle is in the way of the coloring.
What earns its place:
- Paper plates and cups you can throw away. You are not doing a second round of dishes.
- Place cards they make themselves. Write the names on the paper roll in bubble letters and let them decorate their own spot. Free, and it keeps them busy for ten minutes before anyone sits down.
- Short crayon cups. Double as decoration, do not tip.
- Small unbreakable pumpkins rolled down the middle, if you want something seasonal. They also become a game later.
- Spill-resistant cups with lids. The single highest-value thing on this list.
The best Thanksgiving kids’ table activities
These are the ones that have worked in our house, roughly in the order we hand them out. Most of them are free printables – print them the night before and they are done.
Thanksgiving scavenger hunt
The one that gets them off their chairs. Hand it out when they start wiggling and send them around the house. Works for a big age range because the little ones can follow a big kid. Free.
Get the free printable
Color by number
Quieter than a scavenger hunt and good for the stretch right before food lands. Preschoolers need a bit of help with the numbers; big kids will finish one in ten minutes. Free.
Get the free printable
Blow up the turkey
Silly, loud, and it buys you a good fifteen minutes. Best saved for after dinner when everyone has given up on sitting still anyway. Free.
Get the free printable
20 coloring pages
For when you want a stack of backups by the table. Print a few of each and leave them in a pile – someone always wants their own page rather than the shared roll. Free.
Get the free printables
Pin the peg on the turkey
A proper game for the gap between dinner and dessert. Tape it to a door, hand out the clothespins, done. Fifty cents.
See the printable
15+ activities in one pack
If you would rather not print six separate things, this is the whole lot in one download – mazes, word games, drawing prompts and gratitude pages. Two dollars.
See the packGratitude, without the eye-rolling. Cut leaf shapes out of brown paper bags, have everyone write one thing on a leaf, and tape them to a branch in a jar. It takes five minutes, and the little ones say the funniest things. We keep ours – it is one of the few Thanksgiving crafts that ends up in a box in the attic rather than the trash.
The busy basket: small things that keep them at the table
Same idea as a boo basket, smaller. One basket in the middle of the kids’ table with a handful of quiet, self-contained things in it. Nothing with a hundred pieces, nothing that needs an adult, nothing that makes noise.
What goes in ours:
- A mini puzzle or brain teaser for whichever cousin is too old for coloring and too young to join the adult conversation.
- A travel magnetic game – tic-tac-toe, checkers, something with pieces that stay put when the table gets bumped.
- A deck of cards. Goes further than anything else in the basket.
- Play dough in small pots, but on a tray and away from the food. Learn from my mistakes.
- Two or three fidgets or squishies, for the kid who needs something in their hands to sit still.
Check small parts if you have a toddler at the table, and put the basket out after they have eaten something. Put it out first and nobody touches a plate.
Food they will actually eat
You are not cooking a separate meal. You are making the same meal easier to approach.
- Small portions of the real thing. A spoonful each rather than a loaded plate. They can always ask for more, and a full plate reads as a dare.
- One safe thing they definitely like, next to everything else. Rolls usually do it.
- A snack plate out early, while the meal is still forty minutes away – cheese, crackers, fruit, a few olives. A starving four-year-old is not a reasonable person.
- Divided plates if you have a kid who does not want things touching. Not a fuss, just a plate.
- Drinks with lids, refilled before they ask.
What works at each age
Mixed-age tables are the normal kind. This is roughly what each group can handle on their own, so you can set the table once and not referee it.
Chunky crayons on the roll, a snack they can hold, and low expectations about sitting down. Skip anything with small parts. Honestly the win here is ten minutes at the table, not an hour – have somewhere for them to go when they are done.
The sweet spot. Coloring, stickers, color by number with a bit of help, and the scavenger hunt if an older kid takes them round. They will tell you about every single thing they drew.
Can run the scavenger hunt themselves and will take charge of the little ones if you ask them to. Give them the pin-the-peg game to be in charge of after dinner – being the one holding the clothespins is the whole appeal.
Too old for coloring, too young for the adult table, and they know it. Cards, a mini puzzle, or a real job: pouring drinks, running the game, taking photos. A job works better than an activity at this age.
The timeline that makes this easy
Nearly every Thanksgiving that went badly for me went badly because I tried to set up the kids’ table while the food needed me. The fix is doing it when nothing is on the stove.
Print everything. Set the table – roll out the paper, tape the corners, fill the crayon cups, put the basket together. It takes fifteen minutes and it is the difference between a calm morning and a stupid one. Also: find the tape now.
Put the snack plate together and leave it covered in the fridge. Decide where the messy stuff happens if you are doing a craft, and put a tablecloth or a mat down there.
Snack plate out, drinks poured, scavenger hunt by the door. Kids arrive to a table that already has something happening on it, which means you get to say hello to the adults.
This is the bit everyone forgets. Have one thing ready for the stretch between dinner and dessert, or they will find their own entertainment and you will not like it.
My best tips for hosting Thanksgiving with kids
- Set the kids’ table the night before. Said it above, saying it again, it is the one that matters.
- Keep the messy craft away from the dining table. A separate station on the floor or the coffee table. Glue and gravy do not mix.
- Give the oldest kid a job. Not babysitting – running the game, or being in charge of the scavenger hunt. It changes how they behave at the whole meal.
- Do not expect them to sit for the whole thing. They will not. Plan for them getting down and have somewhere for them to go.
- Put out a cleanup basket. One basket, everything goes in it, deal with it tomorrow.
- Let the paper be the mess. If the table is already covered in something you are going to throw away, almost nothing that happens on it is a problem.
What I would skip
Glitter, obviously. Permanent markers near a tablecloth. Anything that needs a hot glue gun while you are also cooking. Crafts with a lot of tiny pieces if there is a toddler at the table. And any activity that needs an adult sitting there the whole time – that is not an activity, that is you not eating dinner.
Before and after dinner
The table is only half of it. The stretch after they get down is when Thanksgiving goes sideways, so it helps to have two or three of these in your back pocket.
- The scavenger hunt, saved for after rather than before.
- Turkey bowling. Paper cups and any ball. Loud, and a hallway is exactly the right size for it.
- Beanbag toss into a laundry basket. Nobody has ever needed this explained to them.
- Thanksgiving charades, good because the adults can play from their chairs without getting up.
- A movie corner with cushions and a blanket, for the ones who are done being social.
- A walk. Deeply unfashionable and works every time.
Shop the kids’ table
Everything above in one place, if you would rather just order it and be done. The Amazon links all go to my Thanksgiving kids’ table list, which has about fifty things on it.
- Giant Thanksgiving Coloring Paper Roll – $7.99
- Washable crayons, jumbo for the little ones
- A rotating crayon caddy or short cups
- Thanksgiving plates and coloring placemats
- Pumpkin place card holders for their names
See my full Thanksgiving kids’ table list on Amazon
Fifty things in one place – games, crafts, books, plates and the bits that keep them at the table.
Questions I get asked
How do you keep kids entertained at Thanksgiving dinner?
Give them something to do that lives on the table itself, so it is there before they get restless rather than after. A coloring roll or a stack of printables works better than one toy each, because nobody runs out and nobody has to share. Then have one thing saved for after the plates are cleared.
What should you put on a Thanksgiving kids’ table?
Something to color on, crayons in cups rather than boxes, paper plates, cups with lids, and a small basket of quiet things. Skip tall centerpieces and anything breakable – the table needs room more than it needs decoration.
What are easy Thanksgiving table activities for toddlers?
Chunky crayons on a paper roll, stickers, and a snack they can hold. Nothing with small parts. Expect ten good minutes rather than an hour, and have somewhere for them to go when they are finished.
How do you set up a Thanksgiving kids’ table on a budget?
Butcher paper or the back of wrapping paper for the table, crayons you already own, free printables for the activities, and leaf shapes cut from paper grocery bags for the gratitude bit. The whole setup can cost nothing if you want it to.
What activities work for kids of different ages?
Coloring covers everyone from about three up. For older kids, swap the activity for a job – running the scavenger hunt, pouring drinks, being in charge of the game after dinner. A nine-year-old would rather be useful than be given a coloring page.
How do you entertain kids while you are cooking Thanksgiving dinner?
Set the kids’ table the night before so it is ready to go, put a snack plate out early, and start the coloring before anyone is hungry. The scavenger hunt is the one to use when you need twenty minutes without anyone in the kitchen.
More Thanksgiving with kids
If the kids’ table goes well this year, the same setup works at Christmas – roll, crayons, basket, one game saved for after the plates are cleared. It is the only hosting trick I use twice.