Bringing friends and family together for a cherish holiday like Thanksgiving is a beautiful way to express gratitude for the blessings in our lives. It’s a time to give thanks, reflect on the year’s journey, and indulge in delicious feasts.
We all look forward to a yummy turkey dinner, that signature pumpkin pie and the ton of desserts but what about some fun with the family? Enjoying the day fully consists of making memories, laughing and enjoying it with your loved ones.
In this blog post, we’ll explore some awesome Thanksgiving games you can enjoy with your loved ones.
We’ll also delve into why you should engage in Thanksgiving games, what they teach, and how to celebrate this meaningful holiday.
Why Celebrate Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is more than just a day of feasting; it’s a time to connect with loved ones and express gratitude. Here are some reasons why celebrating Thanksgiving is essential:
Gratitude: Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the things you are thankful for in your life. Expressing gratitude has been shown to improve mental and emotional well-being.
Family and Friends: It’s an opportunity to spend quality time with family and friends, strengthen bonds, and create lasting memories.
Tradition: Thanksgiving is a tradition that has been celebrated for generations in the United States. Embracing traditions helps connect us to our past and preserve cultural heritage.
Community: It’s a time when people come together to help those less fortunate through volunteering and charity work.
Festive Spirit: The holiday season officially kicks off with Thanksgiving, setting the stage for a month of joy, goodwill, and celebration.
The Benefits of Thanksgiving Games
Thanksgiving games offer a fun way to celebrate the holiday. They provide an opportunity to engage with family members, friends and bring some great laughter to the day. During these games, this time together can also teach valuable lessons:
Expressing Gratitude: Thanksgiving games can serve as a medium for expressing gratitude. When you take the time to be involved and play games, it shows your family members it’s more than just the food. It’s a way of expressing you are glad they are there.
Family Bonding: Games together as a family promotes bonding. It’s an opportunity for parents and children to work together to win, share stories, and make memories.
Creativity and Imagination: Games can encourage creativity and imagination. Whether you’re on different teams or by yourself, you may need to spark that creativity in your brains! You also might just need to get imaginative in order to win.
Fine Motor Skills: Many Thanksgiving games involve details that encourage the use of fine motor skills. These activities help improve fine motor skills, especially in children.
Teaching Patience and Perseverance: Some games can be time-consuming and require patience and perseverance. These qualities are essential life skills that can be imparted through playing games.
Appreciating Nature: Games that involve being outside or going into nature for items can introduce an appreciation for nature and the changing seasons or the lovely weather on that day.
Fun Thanksgiving Games for All Ages
Thanksgiving Turkey Name
Start off the day with assigning everyone their Thanksgiving names. This will give everyone a good giggle. Creating a way of winning at the end of the night would be a fun twist.
For example, the person who only uses Thanksgiving names throughout the night, wins!
Turkey Donuts
Break the ICE with some DICE on Thanksgiving! A fun and quality time kind of game will be enjoyed with a simple pair of dice.
Related Post: 75+ Easy and Free Thanksgiving Crafts & Activities
Turkey Bowling
Turkey bowling! Sign me up! You can make this as big or small as you would like. Whether you use mini cones or even larger ones, this can be an actually ball in your backyard!
If your family likes competition, keep score and see who is up for the challenge!
The Gratitude Game
Similar to the dice game, this is the gratitude game. If you don’t have dice but you want to create some colored popsicle sticks for a craft that leads to a game, try this!
We love games that get the family talking and interested in each other’s thoughts.
Printable Pumpkin Pie Games
Here is a printable for two fun pumpkin games that include “Draw the Pumpkin” and “Pass the Pumpkin.”
Shake Your Tail Feathers
Okay, let’s be honest! How funny will this be to watch grandma and grandpa doing in the living room? Start saving up those empty tissue boxes, grab some feather/cotton balls/ping pong balls and get to practicing your shake!
Thanksgiving Scattergories
All you need is a Scattegories dice (if you don’t have one you can easily find a printable one online or make your own) and this printable! A little friendly competition will make your dinner way more fun.
Thanksgiving Bingo
Bingo is fun on a normal day but Thanksgiving AND Thanksgiving themed? ADORABLE! Who doesn’t love Bingo especially with some corn, pie and turkey on it!
Thanksgiving I Spy
This fun Thanksgiving inspired I Spy will keep the kids (and adults) busy before or after dinner. The best way to stay awake after turkey is playing a visual perception game. Create teams with kiddos vs elders and see who has a better touch.
All Day Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt
This one is a fun way to keep the kiddos busy all day. Print these free riddles out and set them up the night before Thanksgiving. Your littles will enjoy finding clues throughout their day.
Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt Classic
This printable game has 4 different boards that can be used to be a great game within the family. Allow them to hunt for Thanksgiving items around the house or outside. The first to win gets the first piece of pie!
Turkey Bean Bag Toss
Grab those extra boxes laying around the garage and create your very own bean bag toss game. Create different turkeys (or just one) and cut the whole through the middle. Move the box back further and further to see who becomes the champion!
Turkey Stacking
Using disposable cups never seemed so fun! Not only is this a game but you now have a craft to kill some time with the kids too!
Whether you use this as bowling, stacking the highest tower and knocking them over, or just as a fun mid day craft, you can’t go wrong with this all aged fun.
Turkey Ring Toss
@handsonaswegrow
A game for the whole family on Thanksgiving and you are working on gross motor skills? Boy oh boy, now that’s some double fun!
Ring toss is a great game whether you are indoors or outdoors. Create a ring from a paper plate and some feather to make it extra festive.
Turkey Hunt
Print out the collection of Turkey Hunt Game Cards and assign each player a different color. If playing with more than 6 players, put players in 6 groups. Hide all of the game cards. Players must find their 9 colored cards. The first player to find all of their cards wins.
Balloon Race
This balloon race can be a game for all ages! Small to big, grab that balloon and get to waddling. The first person to make it to the finish line without dropping their balloon wins.
You will have everyone laughing!
Pie Face
This pie face game is hilarious! Keep it spunky within all the kids and family members to have whipped cream to the face.
Turkey Balloon Nerf Shoot!
Tie balloons around the yard and grab those fun nerf guns. Get outdoors and have some aim practice. Setting up lights will make it look extra beautiful and bright in the evening.
Giant Tumbling Blocks
Giant Tumbling Blocks are fun fun FUN! The littles may need some extra help but this will be a great time to end the evening. Grab some hot cocoa or coffee and have a blast bonding all together.
Thanksgiving is a time for reflection, gratitude, and spending quality moments with loved ones.
With these Thanksgivings game ideas, you can add a personal touch to your celebration and create lasting memories with the people you love the most.
So, gather your materials, let your imagination run wild, and make this Thanksgiving a memorable one with some great games.
By engaging in these games, you not only celebrate the holiday but also teach valuable lessons and create cherished thoughts with younger and older family members.
If you are looking for some Thanksgiving activities, check out these activities:
FREE PRINTABLES
Thanksgiving Puzzle
Thanksgiving Playdoh Mats
Thanksgiving Pattern Mats
Thanksgiving Size Matching Printables
Thanksgiving Counting and Numbers
4 Thanksgiving Coloring & Dot-to-Dot Printables
FUN ACTIVITIES/ IDEAS
Thanksgiving Counting Number Mats
Thankful Turkey Thanksgiving Activity
75+ Easy and FREE Thanksgiving Activities for Toddlers
Thanksgiving Footprint Baby Craft
While you’re here, grab my Thanksgiving Activity Bundle, with 6 different activities focused on toddler and preschool learning concepts – perfect for fall learning!
You can also check out more Fall Toddler & Preschooler Learning Resources in my shop here.
Marissa is a Pediatric Occupational Therapist turned stay-at-home mom who loves sharing her tips, tricks, and ideas for navigating motherhood. Her days are filled starting tickle wars and dance parties with three energetic toddlers and wondering how long she can leave the house a mess until her husband notices. When she doesn’t have her hands full of children, she enjoys a glass (or 3) of wine, reality tv, and country music. In addition to blogging about all things motherhood, she sells printables on Etsy and has another website, teachinglittles.com, for kid’s activity ideas.
