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If your house is anything like mine, Thanksgiving day is a time for family, food, and football. We have always reserved the game playing for Christmas but in the past few years, I have added some gaming to our Thanksgiving day as well. After all, I absolutely love games, so why just enjoy them at Christmastime?
Besides, playing games also distracts the guests, especially the children, from bugging the cook in the kitchen!
So playing games on Thanksgiving day has been working out wonderfully for us! If you would like to add some family game time to your day too (instead of everyone napping!) here are some fun Thanksgiving-themed party games! There’s everything from free printables to DIY crafty ideas.
And while prizes are not necessary, they always add to the excitement of any gameplay! You could easily pick up inexpensive prizes from Dollar Tree. Even small candy bars would work out well.
And now on to the good stuff. Here are 52 fun Thanksgiving games and activities to do with the family this year.
Thanksgiving Family Games
Some fun ideas include bingo, trivia, and scavenger hunts. These games are great if you have a larger group or if a number of kids will be at your gathering.
- Bingo
Get 5 in a row and call Bingo! You can print out Thanksgiving Bingo Cards made by Time For A Game here.
To play first designate a caller for the bingo cards. Next, cut out the bingo calling cards and put them into a bowl or bag. Then, give a different printed bingo sheet to each player. The bingo caller will pick out and call the words and players will mark off the square if they have it. The first to get 5 in a row wins!
If you would rather play with images instead of words, check out this Thanksgiving Bingo. It would be perfect for a classroom activity too!
- Word Search
Print out a Thanksgiving word search for each playing guest with this free printable. Then set a timer for 5 minutes. Each guest will race to find the words. Whoever finds them all first or has the most after time is up is the winner!
- Who’s the baby
Have each guest bring a baby picture of themselves and/or other known family members. Then set out all of the baby pictures and see if your other guests can correctly guess who is who! This is a fun activity, especially for the children as they get to see the other relatives when they were little!
- Thanksgiving Taboo
Thanksgiving Taboo is a fun team game! To play teams take turns coming up with clues to a specific Thanksgiving-related word on their card. The catch is you cannot say any of the forbidden words underneath the clue, which of course are words that would easily allow your teammates to guess the right word! In the end, the team that collects the most cards wins!
- Scavenger hunt
Kids will have a lot of fun racing around the house to hunt for the things on this indoor scavenger list! Whoever gets the most points wins the game!
Want to take it outdoors? Try this outdoor scavenger hunt!
- Thanksgiving Riddle Match
Can you match these Thanksgiving riddles the quickest? Give each player a sheet and let them try to match the correct answers. Whoever gets the most right wins!
- Thanksgiving Charades
To play charades you will need to act out Thanksgiving-related clues and get your teammates to correctly guess them. You cannot use any props and no talking, just movement. The team to guess the most within a minute wins the round. Find out how to play over at Play Party Plan.
- Thanksgiving Pictionary
Prefer drawing instead? Draw out these Thanksgiving-related clues to see if your team can guess the word correctly! Find out how to play including a free printable here.
- Thanksgiving Outburst
See if your team can quickly guess all of the items listed on these Thanksgiving-themed Outburst sheets. Complete directions and printable is over at Play Party Plan.
- Candy Dice Game
In this game, give each player 3 wrapped candies to start and put about 15 to 20 more pieces in the center. The youngest player goes first, rolling a die and following the directions on this free printable here. Play continues clockwise, one roll per player per round until someone runs out of candy. Once a player has no candy left, they are out of the game. The last player to have any remaining candy is the winner!!
- Fill In The Blank
Set a timer for 3-5 minutes, then have guests fill in the blanks in this Thanksgiving Fill In The Blank game! The player with the most correct after time is up will be the winner!
- Thanksgiving Recipe Match Up
See who can match the food ingredients to the Thanksgiving dishes in this matching game. Set a timer for 3-5 minutes and whoever has the most correct wins!
- Thanksgiving Tic-Tac-Toe
This absolutely adorable tic-tac-toe set features hand-painted turkeys on stones. The draw-string bag not only doubles as the board but it is perfect to store the rocks in.
If pumpkins are more your thing, try playing tic-tac-toe with two different colors of pumpkins! Kristina from Toddler Approved shows us how with her creative idea.
Printable Thanksgiving Adult Games (these are a bit more challenging)
Here are some more advanced games that might be a little too hard for the younger kids. However, they could always join an adult as part of a team so they aren’t excluded from the fun! Or give them one of the more kid-friendly Thanksgiving games or activities shared later in this article.
- Thanksgiving Trivia or Multiple Choice
Print out this Thanksgiving trivia quiz to test who has the most holiday knowledge! For a slightly easier option, try a multiple-choice trivia quiz.
- Word Scramble
Find out who can unscramble the words the fastest in this Thanksgiving Word Scramble. Set a timer for 3-5 minutes and whoever gets the most correct when the time is up is the winner!
- Find Someone Who
In this game, players will write down other guests’ names that fit the descriptions on their Find Someone Who sheet. You can only use one person per line though, so be sure you put Aunt Bertha in the right spot! The person who has the most filled in after 10 minutes is the winner!
- Thanksgiving True or False
Print out a Thanksgiving True or False sheet for each guest and set the timer for 3-5 minutes. Guests will read through the questions circling which they think are true and which they think are false. Whoever gets the most correct is the winner.
- Thanks-givagories
Thanks-givagories is a fun Thanksgiving party game! To play, have your guests write down answers to different categories, using the letter at the top of the column. They are trying to come up with something they think no one else will write down. For every unique answer players score 1 point.
After all of the categories have been read through for the letter, the player with the most points wins the round! There are four different games provided in the Thanks-givagories game here, each with 5 different letters for a total of 20 rounds.
- What’s on Your Phone?
Teens will have fun with this one! Everyone pulls out their phone and gives themselves the number of points for each of the items they have from the What’s On Your Phone? list. The person with the most points at the end wins the game. No cheating either! Someone might just want you to pull out that selfie in a corn maze!
- The Price Is Right Thanksgiving Dinner Guess
So how much is that Thanksgiving dinner anyhow? Print out a sheet from this Price Is Right Thanksgiving Dinner Guess game and have your guests write down how much they think the items each cost. The person that gets closest to the actual retail price without going over wins a point. Most points overall win the game!
- Turkey Trot
Can you match the artist with their Thanksgiving-related title track in this Turkey Trot Music Trivia Game? See who can guess the most correct to win.
- Thanksgiving Feud
Another great group game! Print out a sheet for each guest or team from this Thanksgiving-themed feud game. Then have all guests/teams fill in their best guess as to what the top three survey answers are for each question. Players will still score points regardless if their answers are in the correct order or not.
Once all of the guests/teams have filled out their sheet, the host will read the answers along with the point value for each. The number 1 answer is worth 3 points, the second is worth 2 points and the third is worth 1 point. The guest/team with the most points at the end wins the game! There are 2 different games provided in this Thanksgiving Feud edition here.
Thanksgiving Games For Younger Kids
Here are some Thanksgiving games for younger kids. Some of these require adult supervision and/or help, but for the most part, they will keep the little ones occupied. Maybe while the adults play one of the more challenging games!
- Feed The Turkey
Keep little ones occupied with this easy activity! Or make it a game and have the younger kids race to be the fastest to feed their turkey all of its pom-pom food. Get the full instructions over at the Busy Toddler.
- Turkey Rocket Races
Turkeys become balloon rockets in this race crafted by Growing A Jeweled Rose. The nice thing about this activity is kids can first craft their turkey out of foam, feathers, and construction paper. Then they will have fun racing them on string tracks with a balloon attached. Twice as fun!
- Turkey Feathers
Turkey Feathers from The Idea Room combines clothespin “feathers” and dice in this cute game! It is similar to the Roll-A-Turkey game but the goal is to cover each number with a colored clothespin as you roll it.
- Pin The Tail On The Turkey
This Pin the Tail on the Turkey game is a great Thanksgiving version of the classic pin the tail on the donkey! See who can complete Tom Turkey’s look by filling in that missing feather!
- Guess How Many?
Fill a glass jar with candy corn and put it as the centerpiece on the kids’ table. Provide slips of blank paper, then let younger guests guess how many candies they think are in the container. The winner is whoever comes the closest without going over. Just be sure you count the candy as you are filling the jar so you know the number!
Here’s another idea! Number 5 brown paper bags and then fill them with differing amounts of candy corn. Seal off the bags so no one takes a peek inside!
Next, have players gently shake the bags to try to figure out which holds the most amount of candy corn. Have everyone write down the bag they think holds the most. Then have them write down which they think holds the second most, third most, fourth most, and then least amount of candy. The person to correctly guess the order is the winner! Of course, there might be multiple winners in this game!
Thanksgiving Football Party Games
These games are especially fun if you plan to offer monetary prizes with a small buy-in. Betting on football games makes it more interesting to watch! Of course, you could play these games without any betting and your guests will still have fun!
- Thanksgiving Football Bingo
You can either play traditional bingo where the first to cross off five in a row wins or wait until the game is over and whoever has the most crossed off total on their board is the winner. There is a regular game and a prop bets game mentioned in the article here.
- Pass the Pumpkin
In this game, instead of passing a football, your guests will be passing a small to medium-sized pumpkin around. As possession of the football changes in the game, the pumpkin moves clockwise from player to player. Find more instructions here.
- Thanksgiving Football Props sheet
A props prediction sheet is another easy activity that makes the football game more interesting to watch. You can grab a Thanksgiving Day Prop Bets sheet here, where you can print off as many copies as you need.
- Thanksgiving Day Football Trivia or Multiple Choice
It isn’t a party without a good game of trivia! If you are feeling crafty, you can make up your own. Or head over to grab a traditional trivia game or a multiple-choice trivia game.
Classroom Games
- Roll A Turkey Dice Game
Kids will have fun making their own turkey in the roll-a-turkey game. And there are so many versions out there on the web! Some of them use feathers, others strips of colored construction paper. For the simplest option, kids just color in the feathers as they get them.
One of my favorite versions is this M&M game created by PJs and Paint. So cute and the kids can eat the M&Ms after they complete their turkey!
- Turkey I Spy
Another fun activity for kids is Turkey I Spy. In this game, they will have a blast rushing to count out how many of each object they can find! Grab a free printable of Turkey I Spy here.
Thankful Games
- Roll The Dice Say Something Nice
Roll a die and then take a look at the free printable here, saying something nice about the particular item you rolled.
You could also play Roll with the Gratitude, where you state something you are grateful for in whatever category you roll.
- Candy Gratitude Game
Open a bag of candy and without looking draw one out, then name some you are grateful for according to one of these charts by Out Upon The Waters. Rebecca has 3 different versions – one for M&Ms, one for Skittles, and one for Smarties.
- Gratitude A to Z
In this activity, players will write down something they are grateful for that begins with each letter of the alphabet. If you want to make it competitive, the first person to fill out their sheet wins! Print a free Gratitude A to Z printable here.
Thanksgiving Minute To Win It Games
- Face the Pie
In this game, players must race to eat through their whipped cream pies and find letters to unscramble. Whoever figures out the word first is the winner! Find out more from Play Party Plan.
- Football Stack It!
See who can stack their football cups in between plates without knocking them over the fastest! Or do a timed contest to see who can get the most stacked within a minute. Get directions and more Minute It To Win It ideas from Kid Friendly Things To Do.
- Pumpkin Seed Suck It Up
In this game, each person is attempting to transfer all of their pumpkin seeds to another plate in one minute or less. Or have a head-to-head contest to see who can fill their plate the fastest. Find out full instructions over at The Chaos and The Clutter.
Thanksgiving Activities
- Gobble Gobble Mad Libs
Fill in the blanks with various words to make crazy Thanksgiving stories in this Gobble Gobble Mad Libs book.
- Family Photographer Scavenger Hunt
Everyone will get a kick out of playing this scavenger hunt! Grab a phone or camera and prepare to search and shoot as you find items on the list. Find out how to play over at Party Game Ideas.
- This or That
Print out a This or That free printable sheet to circulate around the dinner table. Decide who starts and that person reads the first This or That question. They then explain what option and why they chose it.
Next, you can find someone who prefers the second option and let them tell the reason why they prefer that one. Then the sheet gets passed to the next guest who reads the next question and tells what option they choose and why. Continue going around the table until everyone has had at least one chance to pick.
- Make-Your-Own Turkey
Here is a fun activity to keep the younger ones busy, maybe while the adults are playing one of the other games. Kids will delight in dressing up these turkeys with various stickers. This set includes 20 turkeys to dress up, so plenty to go around the kids’ table.
- Would You Rather
It’s easy to get into some interesting conversations when you play Would You Rather! Print out this printable and cut each question into slips. Fold each slip of paper and put them into a large jar or container. Pass the jar around the table while each guest picks out one slip of paper and reads their Would You Rather Question. Then discuss! There are no right or wrong answers, so encourage everyone to play!
- Coloring Sheet
Another good activity to keep young kids busy is a coloring sheet. Print out a free Thanksgiving-themed coloring page here. It is best printed out as landscape. Children can first write out what they are thankful for and then color the border.
- Turkey Bowling
The Seasoned Mom has a super cute and crafty version of Turkey Bowling on her page. First, have the kids make the turkeys using brown cups and feathers or colored strips of construction paper. Then use mini pumpkins or a small football to try to knock down the cute crafty turkeys! This activity combines both a craft and a game, so another double win!
- Turkey Talk Activity
Hop over to the Happy Home Fairy to grab free printable Turkey Talk and Tasks cards. These cards help bring kids into the dinnertime conversation and teach about being grateful.
Outdoor Games and Activities
- Candy Corn Ring Toss
This is an absolutely awesome and inexpensive game to put together! The setup is easy too. You can grab the orange cones and glow necklaces right from Dollar Tree! Find out the full how-to from Kid Friendly Things To Do.
- Thanksgiving Bean Bag Toss Game
Another great game to play outdoors without a lot of planning and setup is a Thanksgiving Bean Bag Toss. See who can get the most points as you toss bean bags through the openings.
- Mini pumpkin hunt
While outside, try a mini pumpkin hunt in your backyard! It’s like hunting for Easter eggs, but using mini pumpkins instead! You could also write point values on the pumpkins from 1 to 5 to make it even more interesting. Then whoever gets the most points, wins!
- Thanksgiving Search & Find
Get everyone outside looking for Thanksgiving-themed items in this search and find from The Taylor House. Print out an activity sheet for each player and glue them to brown paper bags. This way, when out searching for the items, everyone has somewhere to put their finds.
- Turkey Tag
Let’s Get Together has a fun and unique way for the kids to tag one another in this Turkey Tag game! So grab some clothespins and get ready to have a ton of fun with this one!
And that’s all 52 ideas for Thanksgiving day games and activities. Hopefully, you found a few good suggestions of things to do with your family this year. Have a great Thanksgiving day!
These are some great ideas!! Thanks for the inspiration and helping to plan my family’s holiday gathering this year.