Thanksgiving Devotional Ideas for Families

Are you looking for some Thanksgiving devotional ideas for families during the month of November? In preparation for Thanksgiving Day, I hope these simple ideas can help us practice gratitude for each family member. From running water, an abundance of food, the songs of birds, the feel of snow, and even just our own life breath, we have so much to be thankful for during this season. Happy Thanksgiving!

A Gratitude Journal

My first tip for Thanksgiving devotional ideas for families is to keep a family gratitude journal. This could be a simple thing to practice each night at the dinner table. Use the journal to promote an attitude of gratitude during the month of November. You can use a simple notebook or print a few of these worksheets and cut them out for each day. Laminate them at the end of the month and save them for the future. It is such fun to look back during the Thanksgiving season at all of God’s gifts.

Thanksgiving Pumpkin

One of the great creative ways to record your wealth of blessings is to grab a plain pumpkin and a black Sharpie marker. Use Thanksgiving time to ask each family member the following question: “What are you grateful for today?” Record the answers with the Sharpie and display the pumpkin proudly on your Thanksgiving table.

Another idea would be to purchase several small pumpkins to let each child individually write on his/her pumpkin. This is such a sweet way to capture their handwriting. Take a picture and add it to your yearly memory book or a printed calendar for November. You will be amazed to see all of the good things recorded by the end of the month. These are simple ideas that will stick with your children and bear witness to a faithful God.

Thanksgiving Prayers

Think about using written Thanksgiving prayers to share at the dinner table throughout the month of November. Using poetry and other people’s language brings a richness and depth to our lives. Don’t wait for Thanksgiving dinner when the pumpkin pie is served to read a beautiful Thanksgiving poem. Try out a few of these to express thanks this year.

Psalm 100

Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

A Song for Merry Harvest by Liza Cook

Bring forth the harp, and let us sweep its fullest, loudest string.
The bee below, the bird above, are teaching us to sing
A song for merry harvest; and the one who will not bear
His grateful part partakes a boon he ill deserves to share.
The grasshopper is pouring forth his quick and trembling notes;
The laughter of the gleaner’s child, the heart’s own music floats.
Up! up! I say, a roundelay from every voice that lives
Should welcome merry harvest, and bless the God that gives.

The Harvest Moon by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It is the Harvest Moon! On gilded vanes
And roofs of villages, on woodland crests
And their aerial neighborhoods of nests
Deserted, on the curtained window-panes
Of rooms where children sleep, on country lanes
And harvest-fields, its mystic splendor rests!
Gone are the birds that were our summer guests,
With the last sheaves return the laboring wains!
All things are symbols: the external shows
Of Nature have their image in the mind,
As flowers and fruits and falling of the leaves;
The song-birds leave us at the summer’s close,
Only the empty nests are left behind,
And pipings of the quail among the sheaves.

Thanksgiving Bible Verses

Reading Bible verses together helps your children remember the importance of having a thankful heart to Jesus Christ. Think about gathering together and singing some songs of praise like All Creatures of our God and King and All Things Bright and Beautiful. Share a short devotion time together by reading these Scripture verses. Instilling the spiritual discipline of reflecting on God’s word will sustain your children and encourage them throughout their lives with grateful hearts.

• “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His steadfast love endures forever.”1 Chronicles 16:34 – a good reminder of God’s faithfulness from the past year
• “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 – recalling that in every season of life we must persevere and trust God
• “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.” Psalm 28:7 – recall God’s character and how the Lord protects us and God’s provision
• “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.” Psalm 95:1-3 – Remember your spiritual blessings by expressing your thanks to God.
• “Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” Psalm 100:3 – recall the providence of Almighty God and his protection

Candy Corn Count Your Blessings

If you have younger children, try using candy corn to count your blessings together. Place candy corn or even just kernels of corn in a container near the dinner table. Allow each child to grab three pieces and list three blessings from that day. You can list these on a piece of construction paper and keep them throughout the month. Remember all the good things with your Thanksgiving devotional ideas!

Thanksgiving Dinner Prep

Consider letting your kids get involved during the Thanksgiving season. Working together in the kitchen will promote conversation and reflections on the year behind us. Talk about the ways that God provides for us through nutrition and the farmers that plant the crops and raise the animals. Check out these simple recipes to prep with your children!

I hope this post helps you celebrate the importance of Thanksgiving with your loved ones and offers some helpful Thanksgiving devotional ideas. It’s my favorite holiday! For further ideas for holiday celebrations, keep reading!

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