Monday Funday: Get Kids Involved In Holiday Food With A Thankful Tree

The holidays are inextricably linked to food. This is nostalgically joyous for many, but for families dealing with feeding disorders or picky eating, these special meals can be full of stress and anxiety. Helping to make the cookies for a thankful tree or just touching the cookies to participate in a thankful game is a great way to involve kids in food traditions where they’re not pressured to eat.  

There are lots of ways to incorporate a ‘thankful tree’ into your Thanksgiving festivities.

You could create the tree by having everyone start with a cookie, say what they’re thankful for, and then place a cookie onto the tree. And with little leaf cookies like the ones above, everyone could take more than one turn. This way you end up with a visual of how much your gathering has to be thankful for!

Or you could start with the cookies on the tree and as you pass it around and everyone takes a cookie, they can say something they’re thankful for.

Or you could decorate the leaves with your guests names and have them put their personalized leaves on the tree as they say what they’re thankful for.

However you celebrate and play with food this week I wish you all happy, healthy, fun Thanksgiving preparations!

And of course, happy food play! 🙂