Best Thanksgiving Movies for Children

Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays, in my opinion. It’s filled with yummy food, movie specials and quality time with family and friends. If you’ve read any of my other blogs about holiday favorites, you’ll know that one of my favorite traditions is getting together with my brother-in-law and watching movies that are geared towards that specific time of year. Now that my daughter is old enough to really watch movies and like them, she joined us last year to watch some of the child-appropriate movies.

Although there aren’t as many options for Thanksgiving, there are a few out there that are cartoons or that deal with the idea of giving. This blog will cover some of my favorite movies as a parent, but also some of my favorites that can be geared towards kids who need help with communication skills!

You might be asking yourself, “how can movies help my child? Aren’t they more of a distraction?” The truth is - they can be distracting IF you aren’t asking questions. My daughter will sit there and watch TV without saying a word the entire time. That’s why I pause the movie and ask her questions about what the characters are doing, why their actions are taking place and what specific objects are in the scene.

If you are pausing and asking or answering questions, you will find that you can target an array of skills that focus on communication, attention and processing! These items include:

1.    Sequencing
2.    Inferring information
3.    Predicting
4.    Articulation
5.    Vocabulary
6.    Asking and answering questions
7.    Social skills
8.    Attention to task
9.    Processing information
10.  Recall of information

Not all movies will be the best to target all ten skills, but most, if you look closely and ask the right questions, will target at least half of the skills on this list!

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

While it's one of the best Thanksgiving movies for kids, people of all ages love this pick. Thanks to a last-minute invite from Peppermint Patty, Charlie Brown and the gang attempt to throw together a Thanksgiving dinner. Things don’t go exactly as planned and the group has to deal with bullying, critical thinking and teamwork to make their perfect Thanksgiving come together. This movie is great for kids of all ages, in fact, I even show it to my high school students to teach them the importance of working together!

Garfield’s Thanksgiving

I never saw this movie until I entered adulthood and started dating my husband. Everyone's favorite grumpy cat is forced to go on a diet on the worst possible day. Of course, poor Garfield has to include his sidekick on the journey and is taught a very valuable lesson at the end! This is another one that is great for children of all ages, but might be better suited for toddlers and young school-aged children!

Adams Family Value

Here’s one for children that are a little bit older! There’s no foul language in it, but they might not get the humor that is embedded in the movie until they reach about 6 years of age, plus there are a few scenes that may be a little scary for younger children. With that being said, my daughter, who is three, loves the movie and requests it all year round. The members of the odd Addams Family are up to more macabre antics in this sequel. This time around, Gomez Addams and his wife, Morticia , are celebrating the arrival of a baby boy. But siblings Wednesday and Pugsley are none too happy about the new addition, and try their best to eliminate the infant. When nanny Debbie Jelinsky appears to keep the kids in line, her presence leads to an unexpected treacherous twist. You might think this has more to do with Halloween than Thanksgiving, but the movie takes place during the Thanksgiving season, with the children even putting on a Thanksgiving play at their camp!

Free Birds

This one is perfect for the thanksgiving season because it features two turkeys! Pardoned by the president, a lucky turkey named Reggie gets to live a carefree lifestyle, until fellow fowl Jake recruits him for a history-changing mission. Jake and Reggie travel back in time to the year 1621, just before the first Thanksgiving. The plan: Prevent all turkeys from ever becoming holiday dinners. Unfortunately, the two birds encounter colonist Myles Standish, out to capture feathered friends for all the hungry Pilgrims.