A 20-Minute Gratitude Jar and a 45-Minute Thankful Tree Are Among the Thanksgiving Activities PBS KIDS Suggests for Ages 2 to 5

“[S]low down, think about the things that are most important” is how PBS KIDS for Parents describes the start of being thankful, and its Thanksgiving gratitude page turns that idea into crafts for children ages 2 to 5. A 20-minute gratitude jar and a 45-minute thankful tree are the shortest and longest of five activities on the list, each with a time listed.

The page also includes a thankful turkey at 30 minutes, a grateful garland at 30 minutes and cards of thanks at 15 minutes. PBS KIDS credits itself as the page’s creator and does not list an individual author. Here is what each activity involves, according to PBS KIDS, from the quickest to the longest.

Cards of Thanks: 15 Minutes

The quickest activity is making cards of thanks, which PBS KIDS puts at about 15 minutes. The child picks someone to thank, such as a family member, friend, neighbor, babysitter or teacher, or a community helper such as a mail carrier or librarian.

The materials are simple: paper or an index card, pencils, markers or crayons, and an envelope. Magazine pictures, stickers and glue are optional. The card is folded in half, decorated on the front and put in an envelope to be handed over in person or mailed.

PBS KIDS notes that a younger child can dictate the message to an adult, while an older child can write it and sign a name. The suggested way to begin is to talk about someone who did something nice or helpful for the child, and to explain that a card is one of several ways to show thanks, alongside saying it out loud or drawing a picture.

Gratitude Jar: 20 Minutes

The gratitude jar takes about 20 minutes, according to PBS KIDS. It starts with a conversation about what makes the child happy or thankful, and a container. A jar works, and the page says a box, bowl or envelope can stand in. Paper, crayons or pens and optional stickers are the only other supplies.

The child decorates the container or leaves it plain, then brainstorms things to be thankful for, such as people, memories or toys. Each one gets a drawing, and an adult helps write a few words next to it. PBS KIDS says adults can add their own drawings or notes, which models gratitude for the child.

The jar is meant to keep going past a single afternoon. Each paper gets the child’s name on it before going in, and when the jar fills up, the family can take papers out to revisit them. PBS KIDS suggests pulling out two or three at a weekly family meal. It also points out that writing the words doubles as handwriting and sounding-out practice.

Thankful Turkey: 30 Minutes

Making a thankful turkey is another 30-minute project on the PBS KIDS list. The body is a large brown paper circle, about 6 inches across, with a smaller circle for the head, both attached to a sheet of white paper. A beak comes from orange paper and wattles from red paper.

The feathers are the gratitude part. PBS KIDS calls for 25 to 30 feathers cut from colorful paper. The child names things they are thankful for, such as family, friends or a favorite toy, and an adult writes one on each feather, leaving 5 to 10 blank.

The finished turkey hangs where everyone can see it, with the blank feathers left for later. PBS KIDS suggests adding a new feather each day as the holiday season goes on, and starting with a few feathers and adding more over time. The page also recommends using the activity to talk about what each person is grateful for.

Other parenting sites publish similar Thanksgiving crafts for the same age group. The Bump, a pregnancy and parenting site, published a list of eight Thanksgiving crafts for toddlers and preschoolers in November 2025, including a footprint turkey, a popsicle stick turkey puppet and a leaf turkey made from real fall leaves.

Grateful Garland: 30 Minutes

The grateful garland also runs about 30 minutes, according to the PBS KIDS page. It is built from construction paper leaves in red, yellow, orange and brown, strung across a wall with yarn or string. Leaves are cut from folded paper, so a child cuts a half-leaf shape and gets a full leaf when the paper opens.

PBS KIDS says a garland about 5 feet long takes roughly a dozen leaves of varied shapes. Family members sit down together and talk about what each person is grateful for, including small things, and each idea is written or drawn on a leaf. Drawings count, since the page says there is no wrong way to record an idea.

Family members take turns attaching the leaves to the string, which is taped across a wall at a height everyone can reach. The garland can be moved to another room afterward.

Thankful Tree: 45 Minutes

The longest activity on the list is the thankful tree, which PBS KIDS lists at about 45 minutes. It uses two or three bare branches set in a tall vase or an oatmeal canister, held upright with marbles, rocks or crumpled newspaper.

The leaves are the prep work. The page calls for 25 leaf shapes drawn and cut from orange, green, red and yellow paper with safety scissors. The child then says what they are thankful for, and each item is written or drawn on a leaf. Younger children can draw instead of write, according to PBS KIDS.

Each finished leaf is glued near the top of the branches, and the page calls for a glue gun, so that step is one for an adult to handle. PBS KIDS suggests displaying the tree on the Thanksgiving table. Oval leaves are the easiest to cut, and adding lines to them makes them look more realistic.

All five activities share a pattern: a parent asks, a child answers by speaking or drawing, and the answer ends up on something that can be displayed. That structure leaves room for children who cannot write yet. PBS KIDS notes for several of them that drawings or dictated words work.

The page itself suggests starting with picture books and helping children name the things that make them feel good, then using the activities to recognize gratitude on Thanksgiving and year-round. Several are built to be added to over days, including the jar and the turkey, which makes them as much a routine as a craft.

Get stories like this by email. Sign up for The Parent Diaries Letter.

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Tbk1101 – CC0/Wikimedia Commons