Kids Thanksgiving Recipes

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to bring kids into the kitchen and make them part of the celebration. While many holiday dishes can be time-consuming or feel like a gourmet production, we've gathered simple, fun Thanksgiving recipes and activities that kids can actually help with. From turkey-themed treats and creative centerpieces to gratitude traditions and clever leftover ideas, these easy projects make it enjoyable for children to participate in preparing for the holiday.

Kids Cooking Activities Teaching Materials

Make teaching easier with our activities and recipes compiled in theme sets and books with an easy to read format

Perfect for teaching!

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What Was for Dinner at the First Thanksgiving?

The first thanksgiving was a celebration of harvest with pioneers and Native American Indians. Traditionally back in 1621 they probably had deer, wild turkeys, fish, duck, goose, wild cranberries, blueberries, cherries, carrots, turnips, onions, cabbages, and corn. Deer was probably the main dish compared to turkey now a days. It was a feast to celebrate freedom, harvest, and friendship and lasted for three days.

Start a Gratitude Tradition this Thanksgiving

A great Thanksgiving idea for kids is to start a gratitude tradition. Did you know that when the pilgrims first came to America they had very little to eat that first winter? They were allotted 5 kernels of corn per day because food was so scarce. A wonderful tradition to start is handing out 5 kernels to each person around the dinner table and each person has to think of 5 things they are grateful for. It is a great reminder that we are all blessed with lots of food and many wonderful things to be grateful for.

Kids Thanksgiving Recipes: Decorating your Table

Baked Cornucopia Centerpiece

• Homemade bread dough (find a recipe here)
• or frozen bread dough
• 1 egg white
• Aluminum foil, pizza pan or heavy duty foil

Roll foil pan or large sheet of heavy foil into a cone shape. Twist the end to form a horn shape. Spray foil with cooking spray and place on cookie sheet. Roll bread dough out into large rectangle. Cut into 10 strips about 1 ½ inch wide. Start at end of cone shape and wrap bread strips around and pinch ends together.

Overlap strips so no foil is showing. Continue laying down strips and wrap around pinching ends together until completely filled. You can add a braided edge with remaining pieces of dough. With pastry brush, brush egg white all over bread. Let rise for 20 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes longer. Allow to cool and remove foil. Use as a decoration with autumn fruits and vegetables of choice.

Harvest Feast Centerpiece

• 3-4 Pillar candles of varying sizes
• harvest vegetables such as green beans, asparagus, carrot sticks, other vegetables

Place a rubber band around each pillar candle. Tuck green beans or other vegetables under the rubber band so that they are lined up all around the candle. Wrap a pretty ribbon or satin ribbon on top of the rubber band so that the rubber band isn't visible. Place on a pretty platter and tuck fresh fall leaves or flowers around bottom of platter. These candles look great around a table with your favorite Thanksgiving recipes.

Kids Thanksgiving Recipe Snack Mix: Class Cornucopia Trail Mix

This activity works well for a cooking group or class. Before the actual cooking day, have each student bring in 1 Cup of something to share in a cornucopia trail mix. Such as raisins, nuts, popcorn, bite size snacks, dried fruit, etc. Sugar cones look like cornucopias. At Thanksgiving the Pilgrims and the Indians shared their food together and had a feast this is a fun way to get kids to act out the same idea.

The kids add all their ingredients to a large bowl, stir it together and fill their cornucopia sugar cones.
Or try this mix for the holiday:

• Pretzels (that symbolize arms folded in thanks and pray)
• Candy corn (see the gratitude tradition further on)
• Circle shaped cereal (circle of unity)
• Dried fruits (represent fruits available at harvest time)
• Seeds or Peanuts (represent planting new crops)
• Goldfish Crackers (fish was available and part of the first thanksgiving dinner)

Pour ingredients in large bowl and stir together. Serve in sugar cone cornucopias or a fun serving bowl.

Mini Cornucopias

Using Bugles snack chips, (they are shaped like mini cornucopias) add a dot of frosting inside. Place 3-4 Runt candies or Trix cereal on top of your frosting. Either of these are shaped like fruit so it makes a fun cornucopia snack.

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How Can Kids Help with the Thanksgiving Meal?

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to bring the whole family into the kitchen-even the youngest helpers. While many holiday dishes involve hot stoves and heavy pans, there are still plenty of safe and meaningful ways for kids to take part in preparing the feast. Older children can help with simple steps in cooking the turkey, while younger ones can jump in with kid-friendly Thanksgiving recipes or small tasks like mixing, pouring, or decorating. With a little planning, everyone can play a role and feel proud to contribute to the celebration. Read more ideas on getting your kids involved here.

How to Cook a Turkey

Cooking a turkey may seem intimidating, but it's much simpler than it appears and a wonderful opportunity to get kids involved in the kitchen. Most store-bought turkeys come with clear instructions, and the basic steps are easy: rinse, season, place in a roasting pan, and let the oven do the rest. If your children are too young to help with a full-sized turkey, try using Cornish hens instead. Their smaller size makes them perfect for little hands to wash, season, and even stuff, helping kids feel included and proud to contribute to the holiday meal.

Thanksgiving Side Dish Ideas

Creamed Corn
Stuffing-homemade in the crockpot
Green Bean Casserole
Sweet Potato Dish
Cranberry Sauce
Salads
Mashed Potatoes
Homemade Bread
Homemade Macaroni & Cheese
More side dish recipes

Kids Thanksgiving Recipes for Making Pies

Kids can easily help with making pie dough or rolling out the dough. Here is a recipe for pie crust. If they can't do the cooking they can definitely get in on the prep work. And this is part of the thanksgiving meal that can be done ahead of time.
Apple Pie Recipe
Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Make Mini Pies

For a fun kids Thanksgiving recipe, use pie dough and cut out 5 circles with a 4 inch wide bowl and reserve scraps for strips. Press 5 circles into muffin tins. Press up sides. Fill with your favorite pie filling and top with strips. Bake at 425 degrees for 18 minutes. You can try this with any type of pie and kids can make their own and enjoy the benefits of their labor.
Check out our pie recipes here.

Thanksgiving Relish Tray

Put your kids in charge of the relish tray. If they are too young to cut vegetables for the tray have an adult cut and place in a bowl. Then put the kids in charge of designing and creating the platter. Let their creativity soar by having them design a turkey out of the vegetables. They can use red, green, and yellow peppers as feathers and other vegetables for the head and bodies. This is a great project for the younger chefs although the older chefs would enjoy it also.
 

Or prepare a fruit platter


Have the kids help with the entertainment and fun. Try these Printable Thanksgiving Recipes and Games

Turkey Fun Recipes

Turkey Hand Print Cookies

• Sugar Cookie dough
• White frosting
• Candy corn for beaks and feet
• Red hots for eye

Roll sugar cookie dough out on a floured surface. Place a kids' clean hand on the dough and with toothpick trace around hand. Remove their hand then cut out with a sharp knife. Place on a greased cookie sheet or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Continue with all dough. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Let cool. Have kids decorate with white frosting, a candy corn beak, 2 candy corn feet and a red hot for an eye.

Striped Turkey Cookies

You will need:

• Oreo cookies
• Frosting
• Striped chocolate cookie
• Malt milk balls or Hershey kisses
• Candy corn

Directions
Use an Oreo cookie for the base of your cookie. With a dab of frosting, place a striped chocolate cookie on the end, with the striped part showing out. You may have to cut a sliver off the end to make it flat. Add a dab of frosting to front and add a malted milk ball for a head. Add a candy corn tip for his beak.

Turkey Bread

Use homemade bread dough or you can buy frozen bread dough to make this turkey. Shape dough into a turkey body and add feathers, feet and a neck and head. Lay on a greased cookie sheet and press dough together to form turkey. Bake until golden brown at 350 degrees.

Allow to cool for a few minutes while you prep the color. Melt butter and add a few drops of food coloring for the feathers. With a pastry brush, brush color on the feathers.

Fruit Loop Apple Turkey

Each child can have their own apple to work with. Have the adult or kid chef place 5 toothpicks into the apple. Have a bowl of fruit loop cereal (or other circle 0 shaped cereal) available. Kids can fill up the toothpicks until the turkey feathers are all full. Place a mini marshmallow on the top to keep the fruit loops from falling off. For a turkey head use a toothpick and insert raisins almost to the end then place a green olive at the end. These turkeys are lots of fun for kids to put together.

Turkey Fun Toast Snack

Cut out a turkey from a piece of bread with a turkey shaped cookie cutter. Have kids add candy corns for feathers and a raisin for an eye with peanut butter or cream cheese as their glue. Pieces of fruit leather also work well for feathers.

Turkey Pancakes

Using something as easy as pancakes of different sizes and fruit slices you can create a fun breakfast, brunch or addition to the Thanksgiving table.

Turkey Popcorn Balls

Directions: Make your favorite recipe for popcorn balls and shape the mixture into round balls. Add a dried apple or chocolate for the turkey’s head. Then cut fruit roll-ups into small strips and stick them into the back of the popcorn ball to make colorful feathers. Let everything cool and enjoy your cute turkey treats!

Turkey Fun Toast Snack

Cut out a turkey from a piece of bread with a turkey shaped cookie cutter. Have kids add candy corns for feathers and a raisin for an eye with peanut butter or cream cheese as their glue. Pieces of fruit leather also work well for feathers.

Cookie Turkeys

A fun variation of the turkey cookie using sugar cookies, peanut butter cups (body), malted milk balls (head), white mints( eyes), frosting and candy corn. A fun way for kids to create their own cooking craft project while you are waiting for the turkey to cook.

Nutter Butter Turkeys

Kids Fun Thanksgiving Recipes

Pilgrim Hats

• Chocolate striped cookie
• Marshmallows
• Chocolate chips

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for 20 seconds intervals until melted. To make pilgrim hat treats, place a chocolate stripe cookie on serving platters with the chocolate side facing up. Dip marshmallows into melted chocolate chips. You can stick a toothpick or fork into marshmallow then dip. Place dipped marshmallow on top of chocolate cookie. You can draw a yellow buckle with yellow icing if desired.

Here is one of our readers step by step directions on making these fun cookies.

Mini Indian Corn Cakes

• White or yellow cake mix and ingredients needed, according to package directions
• Vanilla frosting
• Reese's pieces candies or other candies that come in orange, yellow or brown colors

Prepare cake mix according to directions. Bake in small mini loaf pans. Allow to cool. Take out of pan and frost with vanilla frosting covering all sides except the bottom. Layer candies all over the top and sides of cake to look like Indian corn kernels.

Turkey Cupcake Ideas for Kids

Learn how to make these cupcake turkeys here.

Turkey Leftovers

Turkey Sweet Potato Soup

• ½ Cup chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 5 Cups turkey broth**
• 1 ½ pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 Cups cooked turkey, shredded or cut in cubes
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ Cups corn

Saute onion in butter. In soup pan, add broth, potatoes, turkey, onion, salt and corn. Simmer for 20 minutes until sweet potatoes are tender.
For turkey broth: boil your leftover turkey bones with a full pot of water for 1 hour. Then strain off broth and reserve for soup. You can also use this for a great turkey soup.

Turkey Panini

Panini is like a grilled cheese sandwich. For this sandwich place a slice of turkey between two slices of cheese and grill or fry in pan.

Barbecue Turkey Rolls

Add barbecue sauce to shredded turkey and serve on rolls or croissants.

Turkey Casseroles

Use your leftover turkey in some turkey casserole recipes.

Share your Kid Friendly Thanksgiving Recipes

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