by Nikki Everett

Created on: October 19, 2009

Instead of following the usual Thanksgiving ritual of eating the feast and then segregating into those who watch Football or Parades and those who don't. Why not try setting a new tradition of extending your family time with some games to help with the fun?

Thanksgiving Nature Walk

Let's face it, nothing is better than walking off a big meal.

1. Before the big day, find and print off a leaf pattern. Have the children cut them out.

2. On the back, place a list of items for the seek and find.

3. See how many you can find:

Nature Walk List

*a red leaf

*a brown leaf

*an orange leaf

*a pine cone

*an acorn

*a dried weed or pod

*a seed

*a piece of bark

*a sweetgum ball

*dried berries

Turkey Trot Game

Another outdoors game to replace the usual game of Touch Football, especially if you have smaller children to consider, is Turkey Trot.

1. All you need is Turkey mascots which can be stuffed animals dressed to be a turkey, a paper turkey cut out taped to the end of a football will do, or even crumpled paper bags with drawn on turkey faces.

2. Players pair up with their elbows linked. Each team is given a turkey mascot.

3. The pairs try to make it to the finish line at the far end of the playing field without breaking their arms from one another or dropping their turkey.

Gobbler Pictionary

Take a classic game and make a homemade Thanksgiving twist to it.

1. Before the Thanksgiving feast, take index cards and print Thanksgiving words or sayings on them.

2. Place a dry erase board on an easel and divide the group into teams.

3. Each team gets a chance at drawing a card and drawing out whatever word or phrase they have chosen on the board.

The other team(s) try to guess the words or phrases within a 2 minute time frame. The team with the most correct guesses wins.

Printable Thanksgiving T.V. Bingo

Thanks to Disney's Family Fun, even if you lose everyone to the dreaded T.V. after your feast, everyone can still engage and have fun.

1. Download the number of bingo playing boards you will need for your group from Family Fun's website.

Thanksgiving Day Parade (contains 6 unique game boards)
Thanksgiving Day Football (contains 6 unique game boards)
*To view and print these files you'll need Acrobat Reader which is available for free.

2. Keep a pile of pennies out as markers for the boards.

3. Players look at their boards while watching T.V. and call out the images as they see them (Baton twirler, Dallas Cowboy mascot, etc) then place a penny on corresponding spots. The winner is the first player to complete an entire row of five horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

Of course, there are always tons of ways to spend quality time with one another over the holiday season without falling into the same old same of the year before. Make your own fun traditions each year and watch how they become favorites time and time again.

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