Thanksgiving involves gathering family and friends together. It also means trying to entertain children of various ages while you're trying to cook dinner. The following games can be used to entertain kids on or around Thanksgiving. Heck, you might even want to get grown-ups to play.

Popcorn Relay Race

You will need two full bowls of popcorn, two empty bowls, and two plastic cups. Place the full bowls of popcorn on side of a room and the empty bowls on the other side. Divide the players into two teams (for large groups, add an extra bowl of popcorn and an extra team). The goal is for each team to empty the full bowl into the empty one by using the cup. To make it harder, require players to use their hands or their mouth.

Thankerchief

All you need for this is a handkerchief (the Thankerchief) and players. Pass the thankerchief around the circle while reciting these words:

Thankerchief thankerchief around you go

Where you'll stop nobody knows.

But when you do, someone must say,

What they are thankful for on this day.

Whoever is holding the "thankerchief" at the end must say one thing that they are thankful for.

Hot Pumpkin

Start with a mini or pie pumpkin and have all the kids sit in a circle on the floor. Much like Hot Potato, the goal of this game is to pass the pumpkin as quickly as possible to the next child in the circle. Play music, or after one minute (use a stopwatch), call out "Stop!". The child with the pumpkin must step out of the circle. Continue the game like this until all but one player has been eliminated.

Turkey Hunt

You will need about twelve index cards, use more for a large group of kids, less for a small group. Draw or paste a turkey cut out on each card (drawing the turkeys can be an excellent way to fill time if you're looking for a quiet activity for kids). Start by picking one person to be the leader of the game (for young children, make this person an adult). The leader will remain in the room while everyone else leaves and will hide the turkeys around the room. Once the turkeys are hidden have the "hunters" come back into the room and search for the turkeys. When a turkey is found have the children bring it to the leader so he or she can keep score. Whoever has the most turkey at the end wins. You can offer prizes or just make the winner the leader for the next round.

Pumpkin Race

You will need two large pumpkins, two large sticks that can push your pumpkins (try thick broom handles), and plenty of room. Have both of your teams break up into 2 groups and place them at the opposite ends of each other. Make sure that each team is far enough away from the other so they aren't running into each other as they race. They will then race across the room or yard with the pumpkins, but they must use the sticks to get the pumpkins to their teammates on the other side. Once they reach the other side their teammate will take the pumpkin and race back to the other side, and repeat until the whole team is finished. The team that finishes first wins.

Learn more about this author, Sarah Heller.
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