I have four Thanksgiving articles over on Suite101 that have lots of simple ideas for Thanksgiving.  If you are looking for something quick or a new tradition, you should check these out!

Thanksgiving Ideas, Projects and Writing Prompts

Creative Thanksgiving Ideas for Children

Create Meaningful Family Thanksgiving Traditions

Classic Thanksgiving Children’s Picture Books

Let me know if you find something you really enjoy.  I always like to hear the ideas that people find most helpful or inspiring.

Enjoy! 

Every year from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, David and I play the License Plate Game. We keep track of all the out of state license plates we see in our area. (It could also be done on a family trip.)

We do it because we’re just a couple of geeks who enjoy stuff like this.  But it would be a great activity to do with children in terms of teaching them about geography.

I write the abbreviations for all the states on an index card that I keep in my purse.  When we see a car with that license plate, I cross it off the list and mark the date. If you did it with children, you could photocopy a drawing of the USA and write the date in the state when you see it.

It’s really fascinating to see which states are easy to find and which ones are more challenging.  Last year we actually saw a Hawaii plate (this is in Michigan) but it was about a week before Memorial Day so it didn’t count.  Boo hoo!

Anyway, a fun game to play to pass the time in the car. 

This is another one of those “today only” freebies, but wanted to share since it looked so neat.

Mazes and How to Thread Them

Enjoy!

Here are a few things on my to do list with Caroline…

Matching Colors Using Clothespins (Must get to Home Depot or Lowe’s…)

Heart Shaped Creature Cookies

Simple Games for Passing the Time

Enjoy! 

The last few times my parents came to visit, they brought this game with them.  But by the time we got Caroline in bed each night, I was too tired to try it out.  I finally had the opportunity to play it at a party over Christmas.  I LOVED IT!

Bananagrams

In some ways it is similar to Scrabble, but it is vastly better in my opinion.  The reason?  Scrabble drags.  There is too much downtime waiting for each person to go. And you are stuck with the letters you have.

With Bananagrams every player is engaged at the same time.  You are playing your own set of letters while everyone else does the same.

I won’t try to explain the entire game here, but I noticed when I grabbed the link for Bananagrams from Amazon it was ranked #6 in Toys and Games. I am not surprised. It is that fun.

Highly recommended!