20 Thanksgiving Games for Everybody to Enjoy

When little stomachs rumble, but the turkey needs a few more minutes in the oven, it's time for creativity to shine. Employing any of these Thanksgiving games will keep the tiny ones content until Mr. Tom graces the table.

1. Thanksgiving Bingo. A perennial favorite, you can easily create this game by drawing a few columns on blank copy paper. Add a variety of Thanksgiving-related words to each gameboard. If you would like to include the pre-readers in the crowd, eliminate the words and attach a Thanksgiving sticker to each bingo card square instead. Give each child several candy corn or peanut butter-covered candies to serve as "markers." Children place candy on their squares as the leader names the various images.

You can also download cute bingo cards here if you prefer cooking or mingling to whipping up a Thanksgiving game.

2. Turkey Hokey Pokey. Gather youngsters for a round of singing and fun as they put words to a well-known tune. Instead of the traditional words, invite children to "put in" a wing, drumstick, gobbler, or tailfeathers. Then, wait for the laughter.

3. Pumpkin Relay. Place two pylons or other visible markers at the end of a designated area, such as the lawn or driveway. Children stand in two lines facing the pylons. Provide the first child in each line with a miniature pumpkin. Demonstrate how to race around the required pylon and give the gourd to the next child in line.

Adapt the game to include older children by providing each team with a large spoon. This version requires participants to roll the pumpkin to the designated pylon and back using the spoon.

Ready, set, roll!

4. Musical Turkey Trot. Cut the same number of turkey footprints out of construction paper as there are children and tape them to the floor. Encourage little ones to gobble around the room while the music plays. When the music stops, children strut to an open set of prints.

Adapt the game for older children by removing a pair of footprints each time the music ends.

5. Playdough Sculptures. Children will love this activity—though it lacks the qualifying characteristics of a typical Thanksgiving game. Put playdough, colored feathers, pom poms, and other art materials on a table and call the crowd to create turkey sculptures. Consider reading A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman if you want to incorporate storytime.

Further Reading: Ten Games for a Family Thanksgiving

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Technology will take a backseat to these fun-filled Thanksgiving games as kids engage in activities that provide hours of entertainment.

1. Pass the Mini Pumpkin. Form two equal lines of children. Give the first child in line an egg-sized miniature pumpkin. The goal for each team? Pass the pumpkin from one person to another without the use of hands.

2. Go on a Turkey Hunt. Reuse last year's plastic Easter eggs by placing them at a table with materials children can use to create their tiny turkeys. Some items might include child-sized scissors, construction paper, white glue, and wiggle eyes.

Once the turkeys dry, fill them with your favorite fall candies, hide them in a large area, and loose the mighty hunters.

3. I'm Grateful For… With children arranged in a circle, one person initiates the game by completing the phrase, "I'm grateful for _____________ (i.e. mashed potatoes)." The child sitting to the right of that child says, "You are grateful for mashed potatoes, and I am grateful for family." The game continues until someone forgets the correct order of gratitude responses.

4. Thanksgiving Charades. Write a series of Thanksgiving-related words or phrases on paper strips and place them in a basket. Suggestions include a Thanksgiving parade, cornucopia, wattle, and Mayflower.

Divide children into two groups and explain the basics of charades (no sound effects, use of fingers to indicate the number of words in a phrase, et cetera). Enjoy the show!

5. Paper Plate Pictures. Give children a paper plate and a marker. Then, while holding the paper plate above their heads, boys and girls will draw a picture representing Thanksgiving. Depending on the level of challenge desired, you can set a time limit for the drawing competition.

Further Reading: How to Celebrate Thanksgiving When Giving Thanks Is Hard

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Why not engage the adults in the crowd with games, as well? The following options will ease after-dinner drowsiness and engage grownups of all ages.

1. Flag Football. Instead of watching the big game on television, gather the grownups for a rousing round of flag football. For extra fun and instead of flags, tuck a "turkey feather" from the local craft store in each person's waistband.

2. Thanksgiving Tales. Group the adults into three or four teams. Give each crew a copy of the same four or five images or memes. Set the timer for five to ten minutes and allow creativity to flow as teams each craft a story prompted by the pictures. Participants share the stories and vote on their favorite Thanksgiving tale.

3. Top Ten. Divide the adult guests into teams of two to four. Each group crafts a list of ten favorite songs, then either sings a line from each song or shares a portion of that tune from their streaming device. A correct guess earns that team one point.

For an added challenge, assign a certain music genre each round of the game (hymns, praise music, country, jazz, or Christmas.) Feel like including the young and young at heart? Incorporate nursery rhymes and children's classics.

4. Pair Up for Pie. Teams of two sit facing one another. Give one teammate per pair a plate featuring a piece of pie and a plastic fork and blindfold them. Provide the other player with a napkin. Blindfolded team members feed their partners as much dessert as possible in two to three minutes. The goal? The person enjoying dessert needs to remain as neat as possible and is not allowed to use their hands.

5. Turkey in the Straw. Give guests brown, yellow, and white or manilla construction paper and a glue stick. Blindfold the participants. Ask them to tear the brown and yellow construction paper into pieces, then glue the shapes to the white paper to represent a turkey in the straw. Consider setting a time limit of five minutes.

Alternatively, ask your players to draw a turkey in the straw while blindfolded.

Further Reading: The Meaning of Thanksgiving Day and History of the Holiday

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Some games offer the entire family an opportunity to foster holiday memories. Why not incorporate one of the following Thanksgiving games into your celebration?

1. Turkey Bowling. Either before Thanksgiving or early in the day, decorate six empty liter bottles per family or group with foam shapes to resemble turkeys. Arrange each group of bottles like pins at a bowling alley. Next, designate a starting line for young children, older children, and adults. Locate a ball or use miniature pumpkins and let the bowling begin.

(Note: Craft cute turkeys from brown disposable cups for a simple, indoor version of the game.)

2. I Give Thanks for You Because . . . Provide family and friends with the sentence prompt, "I Give Thanks for You Because. . ." and a piece of paper (turkey-shaped if you like). Ask each person to draw another participant's name. Encourage each family member or friend to complete the phrase as they write a note to the person listed on the paper. Even younger children can participate by dictating or drawing a picture that depicts their reason(s) for being thankful for that special individual.  

Collect the notes, distribute them, and if time allows, invite guests to share their notes aloud before or after dinner.

3. How Many Candies? Fill a jar with Thanksgiving-themed candies. Offer a prize to the adult or child who records a guess closest to the number of pieces in the container.

4. Let's (Not) Talk Turkey. Curate and post a list of words often associated with Thanksgiving. As each guest arrives, give them a slip of paper with one of those words recorded on it. Wondering which words to consider? How about stuffing, parade, turkey, pie, casserole, and gobble? Record their name next to the appropriate word on the list.

If another adult overhears a participant using their word, they collect that paper slip. The person with the largest collection of paper slips wins the Thanksgiving game. 

5. Crepe Paper Pumpkin. Choose a few volunteers to serve as "pumpkins" and group the remaining players into teams. Provide each team with orange crepe paper, the same number of green leaves cut from construction paper, masking tape, and a pumpkin headband.

Team members must wrap the "pumpkin" in crepe paper and attach the other items within three minutes. The first team to achieve the goal without the crepe paper breaking wins the game.

While watching the Macy's Day Parade and enjoying dinner together top the list of popular Thanksgiving customs, perhaps you and your family will discover a new tradition by incorporating one of the games in this article. I am convinced they will rival your post-dinner nap.

Further Reading: Is Thanksgiving Truly a Christian Holiday?

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