We all love Thanksgiving for the delicious food, yummy desserts, and of course time with family. Somehow the kids always manage to gobble their Thanksgiving dinner in 15 minutes or less!
That’s why we’ve put together some of our favorite ways to keep kids busy the rest of Thanksgiving Day. These fun Thanksgiving activities are great for kids and families!
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Marshmallow Turkey Shoot
This is possibly one of my kids favorite games! They love shooting marshmallows out of their DIY marshmallow guns. These were so easy to make and super cheap using PVC pipe and connecting pieces from Lowe’s. We hid these paper Turkeys around outside for the kids to hunt. When they found one they had to shoot as marshmallow at it. We kept score by how many Turkeys they found and shot. You don’t have to keep score, but like I said earlier my guys like to compete!
Settlers of Cattan
This game has all the things my boys love…conquering lands, making trades, and of course competing with each other! Our family loves having board game tournaments and this year Settlers of Cattan is at the top of our list. The boys are ages 6 and 9 and have a good grasp of how to play. We plan on playing several rounds to see who can be the ultimate Settlers of Cattan winner!
They even have an extension that you can buy so that 5-6 players can play instead of the traditional 4 players!
Grab a Tail Feather
Similar to flag football, we came up with a game we call Grab a Tail Feather. It’s basically tag, but you have to grab the tail feathers off of each person’s belt. When you lose all your feathers, you’re out! The last man (or woman) standing with at least one feather is the winner. This game is really fun and can be played with kids and adults.
Kids Activity Placemat
My kids love doing mazes, playing I-Spy, coloring, and drawing. So I put all of their favorite activities in one place. You can use it as a placemat at the table or a sitting activity for something fun to do after they’ve been running around outside!
Neighborhood Turkey Hunt
After eating all that food, you and your kids could probably use a little exercise. A walk around the neighborhood searching for hiding turkeys is a fun way to get up and move! Since we did this during quarantine with Easter eggs, I’ve been obsessed with doing these little neighborhood scavenger hunts. I love how easy it is to do and the activity can bring the your neighborhood together! You can grab the free Turkey printable below!
Simply print out the Turkey. Have the kids color it. Then place it in the window facing the street where people will walk by.
Don’t forget to share this link with your neighbors and friends so you can have a neighborhood wide Turkey hunt!
Stuff the Turkey Game
Stuff the Turkey Game is a fun indoor or outdoor game for Thanksgiving! We turned an old Amazon box into a “cooked turkey.” Then we blew up red, yellow, and orange balloons. Kids were given a specific balloon color to pick up using salad tongs. The first one with all their balloons stuffed in the turkey wins!
This game works well with teams if you have lots of kids playing! Younger kids may not be able to use salad tongs. Instead they could just use their hands to pick up the balloons and stuff them in the turkey.
Cute Thanksgiving Turkey Craft
This cute Thanksgiving Turkey craft is great for preschool to early elementary school kids. It uses basic materials that you probably have around the house. Kids can use their imaginations to decorate the turkey so each one is unique!
All you need is the free Turkey printable and step by step instructions for the toilet paper roll turkey craft to create your own masterpieces!
Cup Stacking Game
Believe it or not, one of my favorite ways to keep my kids busy is by giving them a bunch of small plastic cups and some craft sticks. They will spend hours trying to build unique towers!
On Thanksgiving, we are going to see who can build the highest cup pyramid. My 6 year old has gotten his cup pyramid to 16 cups tall in the past! It’s pretty impressive and takes lots of patience to build a cup pyramid. Boys love pushing the limits and with this activity no one gets hurt…unless you knock someone’s tower down!
FUN TIP: Have the kids build a cup tower without using their hands! Use 4 strings of yarn tied to one rubberband. Have the kids use the rubberband and yarn to pick up the cups
Turkey Football Targets
We’ve really started to get into football around here! So we couldn’t have a fun Thanksgiving without a football game.
This game is really simple and easy to do. We set up small cones around the backyard with printable turkeys (the same printable turkeys from the Neighborhood Turkey Hunt) and then the boys take turns trying to knock down their turkey. Each time a cone/turkey is knocked over that person gets a point. Keep playing until someone has 5 points.
Make this game as difficult or easy as you want! My boys always like to take every game up a notch…so they were throwing to targets off of the back porch.
Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Movie
My kids love Charlie Brown and it wouldn’t be a holiday without a good Charlie Brown movie! If you are streaming Apple TV all the Charlie Brown movies are on there.
I just recently bought the complete set of Charlie Brown holiday movies from Walmart for about $25 so we could watch them on a road trip. We were driving to the beach and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas in August! There is something calming and nostalgic about Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang. We plan on ending Thanksgiving with popcorn and a movie!
Kids Escape Room
I’m so excited to set up a Kids Escape Room for my boys. They have requested that we use invisible ink, backwards messages to read in a mirror, and treasure chests!
We are moving my oldest son into his own room over Thanksgiving weekend, so we’ve decided to use his new room as the “escape room.”
As soon as, I have all the details together I’ll share the post here! So make sure and check back.
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