Make your Thanksgiving celebration fun for your littlest guests with these kid-friendly tips and ideas.

From recipes to crafts to keeping the kids happy at the table, we’ve got you covered!

Include kid-friendly foods! Although mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie and turkey and gravy are sure to be a hit with the kids, we love these ideas for Thanksgiving dishes with a fun twist like Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry “Ice Cream” Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes in Orange Cups, Frosted Pumpkin Cupcakes and Pumpkin Smoothies. I’m pretty sure the adults will want to gobble them up too!

Get the kids involved! As I mentioned in my post about hosting a kid-friendly brunch, it is a wonderful idea to get children involved in your Thanksgiving preparations. Have your little ones help with preparing the meal (they are awesome at washing  fruits, drying veggies, scrubbing potatoes – this Learning Tower is such a help with getting them to counter level), setting the table, putting their toys away – there’s so much they can do!

Set up a Kids’ Table! If you are having a separate kids table, set it up so it is truly kid-friendly. Use kraft paper to cover the table and leave out lots of crayons and coloring pencils. This is a wonderful opportunity for your littlest guests to help out, ask them to make their own centerpiece for the table or decorate felt turkeys.

Or have everyone at the same table! And if you are having the kids at the same table, you can still make it kid friendly! Put out small mason jars with crayons at their place settings so they can make their own placemats, include these small finger puppet favors and give them each a small pumpkin or squash to decorate.

Remember the treats! We love this idea of providing a special treat just for the kids – along with a slice of pumpkin pie ice cream cake (or these pumpkin pie bites) of course!

And give thanks! And above all, let’s keep this lovely article about Raising a Thankful Child in mind on this special day, so that we can be grateful for all that we have and give thanks. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

 Photos courtesy of Project Nursery, Parenting, Learning Tower, Tiny Prints and the DIY Mommy.