November is an exciting time of year at Mary, Mother of the Light Academy! We've been teaching the children about the history of Thanksgiving and the many traditions we all share! The kids can't get enough of the Thanksgiving festivities so we wanted to provide parents with some great ways to involve your kids in the whole Thanksgiving dinner process.

As we all know, preparing a Thanksgiving feast is no small feat. Especially when you throw several bored children into the mix. Instead, involve your kids in preparing, cooking and serving Thanksgiving dinner. Kids are great at making placemats, washing veggies and setting the table. They'll be excited to be a part of the process and you'll be thrilled to have some extra hands. Here are a few ways the little ones can help out on this special holiday.

Make a List:

Thanksgiving dinner requires a good deal of planning, so enlist the help of your kids! Before you go shopping, sit down and make a list together. Educate them about the different ingredients that each dish requires and how each dish will be cooked. This is a great time to reminisce about past Thanksgivings and favorite foods.

Shop Together:

Once you're finished with the list, head to the grocery store together. Let your children help you pick the turkey and all the other ingredients you'll need for the meal. Depending on how old your kids are, you can turn the shopping trip into a learning experience. Teach your older children about comparing prices, reading nutritional labels, how to pick the best produce and more! You can also use this experience to educate your kids about participating in Thanksgiving food drives to help less fortunate families. 

Prep the table:

Get crafty with the kids and create one-of-a-kind placemats and centerpieces to decorate the Thanksgiving table. Check out our last blog for some adorable autumn centerpiece ideas. For the placemats, grab some construction paper, markers and fake leaves that the little ones can glue to the paper. Laminate the placements if you'd like to save them for next year. For seating cards, the kids can create little hand turkeys labeled with each guest's name. On each seating card, the kids can write a reason why they are thankful for each person. Then let them create the seating chart. Kids also love to roll napkins and put them in a napkin ring!

Prep the meal:

Even your littlest kids can help with the prep! Toddlers can do things like washing vegetables, tearing lettuce for the salad or snapping off the ends of the green beans. The older kids can help gather the ingredients for the recipes, mash potatoes, roll out pie crusts and fill the water glasses. If you've got teenagers, they can pitch in with chopping, measuring ingredients, mixing and cooking. Take this time to teach your older kids about kitchen safety and the proper way to use a knife. This is also a great time to talk about table etiquette and how to properly set a table.

Clean up: 

Let's face it. No one wants to face the mountain of dishes after Thanksgiving dinner. You feel accomplished if you can even get up out of your chair! Lucky for you, the kids still have energy so you can delegate clean-up tasks to each child. Assignments can include clearing the dishes from the table, collecting the dirty napkins and placemats, rinsing the dishes, loading them into the dishwasher and wiping down the table. Older kids can package leftovers for your guests, take out the garbage and recycling, and help wash pots and pans. If everyone does their part, the clean up will be done in no time!

The ways you can involve your children in Thanksgiving dinner are endless. Taking the time to include them in the process will make them feel valued and will take some of the stress off of you! Not to mention, you'll be creating memories that you and your kids can treasure forever! 

The most important part about this whole process is to reinforce what Thanksgiving is all about: giving thanks. Be sure to talk to your kids about the many blessings you have in your lives. We all have so much to be grateful for. 

From our MMOLA family to yours, we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Have more ideas about how kids can help with Thanksgiving dinner? Leave them in the comments!