Kris Holder, Lawrence, holds her daughter Susan, 3, as Susan shows her the paper turkey she constructed Saturday. Watkins Community Museum of History was host to the Thanksgiving event in which the family participated.

In the ABCs of history, “T” is for Thanksgiving. Or at least it was Saturday at the Watkins Community Museum of History, 1047 Mass.

As part of a monthly series of programs geared toward children and their parents, the museum was host to an hour of storytelling and arts and crafts to teach local children about Thanksgiving.

“It gives them a chance to learn about things they experience, but might not know about,” said Matt Thompson, a Kansas University graduate student who read a story about the history of the holiday. “It’s an enriching activity and gives them a chance to visit a museum they otherwise might not.”

“They’ll probably have some really good facts to share with grandma and grandpa and aunts and uncles next week,” Rebecca Phipps, museum director, said.

And it wasn’t just the children who came away with some new knowledge.

“I liked the story that was read about the history of Thanksgiving,” said Lawrence resident Jonathan Slemmer, who attended the event with his wife and two children, 5-year-old Olivia and 2-year-old Nathaniel. “I didn’t know too much about it.”

Olivia was absorbed in the creation of a Thanksgiving centerpiece after the reading. She held a cupcake wrapper on which she had drawn a turkey surrounded by a bunny, a dog, a cat and a pumpkin. She said she was looking forward to the Thanksgiving feast.

Her favorite part?

“Eating cake and pumpkin pie with whipped cream,” she said.