10 Thanksgiving Drawing Prompts for Kids

10 Thanksgiving Drawing Prompts for Kids

Thanksgiving is a day full of waiting. The turkey is in the oven, the grown-ups are talking, and the kids want to know when dinner will be ready. A pencil, some paper and a good drawing prompt can fix that fast.

Here are 10 Thanksgiving drawing prompts for kids, and every one of them is a little bit silly. There’s a turkey in disguise, a T. rex at the dinner table, a pumpkin pie on the run and a monster with a lot to be thankful for. A few characters from my books came along to help. There is no wrong way to draw any of these, and the goofier the drawing, the better.

When you have drawn all 10, my free drawing prompt generator will give you a brand-new idea every time you spin. More about that below.

Free Drawing Prompt Generator for Kids

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How to Use These Thanksgiving Drawing Prompts

• Pick a prompt. Choose a number from 1 to 10, or write the prompts on slips of paper and pull one out of a bowl.
• Set a timer. Five minutes is plenty for a quick sketch. Ten minutes leaves time for details and color.
• Set up the kids’ table. Cover it with paper, put out crayons and markers, and leave a few prompts in the middle.
• Draw the same prompt together. Everyone draws the same one, then you compare. No two turkeys in disguise ever look alike.
• Share at dinner. Pass the drawings around while everyone eats. They make a great conversation starter.

1. A Turkey in Disguise

Draw a turkey wearing a disguise so nobody can find it before dinner. Will it dress up as a pizza, a superhero, a cow or a snowman? A fake mustache and a big pair of sunglasses never hurt. Hide a feather or two somewhere, so sharp-eyed guests can still spot it.

Trace Then Color the Turkey: Free Activity Page

2. A T. Rex at the Dinner Table

Draw a T. rex trying to pass the mashed potatoes with its tiny arms. Is the bowl about to slip? Who is sitting next to it, and do they look worried? Tuck a napkin under its chin and give it a fork that is much too small.

How to Draw: Cartoon Dinosaurs

3. The Pie That Ran Away

Draw a pumpkin pie running away before anyone can eat it. Give it little legs and a nervous face. Who is chasing it, and where is it going? Draw a trail of whipped cream behind it so everyone knows which way it went.

How to Draw: Food Monsters

4. A Robot Chef’s Big Mess

Draw a robot cooking Thanksgiving dinner when everything goes a little wrong. Maybe the peas are flying, the gravy is bubbling over or the potatoes are stuck to the ceiling. Add sparks, steam and a robot face that says “Oops!”

How to Draw: Cartoon Robots

5. An Alien’s First Thanksgiving

Draw an alien tasting cranberry sauce for the very first time. Does it love it or hate it? Show it with the eyes, the mouth and maybe every one of its antennae. Older kids can add a speech bubble with the alien’s review.

How to Draw: Silly Aliens

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6. The Drumstick Football Game

Draw a drumstick playing in the backyard football game. Give it a helmet and a jersey number. Is it scoring a touchdown, or running from the family dog? Draw the whole team: a roll, a corn cob and a very fast sweet potato.

How to Draw a Turkey Drumstick for Thanksgiving

7. The Silliest Horn of Plenty

Draw a cornucopia (a horn of plenty) spilling out things that aren’t food. Socks, toys, puppies, rubber ducks or a crowd of tiny monsters? Fill yours with your favorite things, then ask everyone at the table what they would put in theirs.

20 Free Thanksgiving Worksheets for Kids

8. Your Own Parade Balloon

Design a giant parade balloon of your favorite animal floating down the street. Draw tiny people holding the ropes underneath so the balloon looks huge. Add a few buildings, a marching band and one balloon that is trying to float away.

How to Draw: Baby Animals

9. Who’s Hiding in the Leaf Pile?

Draw a big pile of fall leaves with someone hiding inside. Only show a little: two eyes peeking out, a tail sticking up or a pair of sneakers. Is it a squirrel, a puppy, a little brother or a very shy acorn? Let the family guess.

How to Draw: Cute Cartoon Animals

10. A Thankful Monster

Draw a monster giving a big hug to everything it’s thankful for. What would a monster be thankful for? Mud puddles, smelly socks, its best friend under the bed? When you are done, draw the things you are thankful for, too.

How to Draw: Cute Cartoon Monsters

Want More Ideas? Try the Drawing Prompt Generator

Once your family has drawn all 10 of these, keep going with my free drawing prompt generator. It works like a slot machine for drawing ideas. Press Spin! and it mixes a mood, a character and something to do, so you might get “Draw a grumpy turkey riding a skateboard.” Every spin is different, so you will never run out of things to draw.

• Pick from a group. Use the “Pick from” menu to spin only birds (that’s where the turkey lives), food, monsters, dinosaurs, robots and more.
• Choose Easy, Silly or Wild. Easy gives you a mood, a character and an action. Silly adds a prop, and Wild adds a bonus twist, like giving your character three arms.
• Lock what you like. Found a character you love? Lock that reel, then spin the rest until you get a prompt that makes you laugh.
• Set a timer. Pick 2, 5 or 10 minutes and see what you can draw before time runs out.
• Try today’s prompt. Everyone who presses Today’s prompt gets the same idea that day, so cousins in different houses can draw the same thing and compare.
• Use the big screen. Big screen mode shows the prompt in large letters, so the whole table, or the whole class, can see it.

It’s free, there’s nothing to sign up for, and it works on a phone, a tablet or a computer. Want a list instead? Try my 100 drawing prompts for kids.

Spin a Drawing Prompt

More Thanksgiving Drawing Fun

Looking for more to do before the big meal? Print my 20 free Thanksgiving worksheets, including Turkey in Disguise, a pumpkin patch maze and place cards for the table. Learn how to draw a turkey drumstick step by step with a draw-along video, or trace and color my free turkey page. Grown-ups can find even more ideas in Thanksgiving drawing activities for kids.

If your young artist gets stuck on a prompt, remember that every character starts with simple shapes. A circle becomes a pie, an oval becomes a turkey, and a rectangle becomes a robot. My How to Draw books break every character into easy steps, and my Trace Then Color books are perfect for little ones who like to trace first.

Happy Thanksgiving, and happy drawing!

Browse All Art Books for Kids

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