New Thanksgiving Games for Children's Ministry

Are your kids tired of playing “Gobble Gobble” or “Heads-Up 7-Up” during free time in children’s church? We have good news for you! Try these new Thanksgiving games for children’s ministry. Having a few extra games on hand will help manage the crowds and keep kids focused on thankfulness and fun. You can spread these two games out across the month or have a Thanksgiving game-a-thon with these exciting active games. Ready, set–gobble, gobble!
Thanksgiving Turkey: If all your children can read this is a fun game to play. Tell kids you need to build a Thanksgiving meal and they can help! You’ll need to tape two lines on the floor or tell the children where the start and finish line is. These only need to be spaced out 10 feet apart or more if you have room. Before class, right Thanksgiving foods on slips of paper. Also, include the word TURKEY on one of the papers. It is okay to have multiple slips of paper representing one food, except for Turkey– there should only be one. Have all the kids line up behind the start line. Remind them not to tell anyone who they are.
Call the foods out one at a time. When you call the foods like, “Sweet potatoes!” the kids holding these slips of paper should run across the room and cross the finish line before you can touch them. Once they cross, they are safe but if they are touched, they have to sit out until the next “meal” or game. When you call out “TURKEY!” you and all the kids who have crossed the finish line get to try and touch the TURKEY before he crosses the line. If he’s touched, the game is over and you start again. It’s silly and fun!
Give Thanks to the Lord: This game is based on Psalm 107, “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his faithful love endures forever!” You will need four bins for this game, a bag of foam peanuts and two plastic cups. I also like to have a CD playing of this song in the background. It’s the perfect Thanksgiving game music. Divide the foam peanuts in half, placing one half of the bag in one bin and the other half in the other. Set the bins with the peanuts in them at the start line. Place the two empty bins at the finish line which should be about ten feet away. Divide the class in half and lining the two groups behind the line. Tell the kids that the foam pieces are like our thanks and we are going to bring them to the Lord! The goal is to see who can accomplish the task the fastest. Each team member takes a turn bringing the peanuts to the bin at the finish line. Whoever finishes first is the winner!
Read more from Mimi by visiting her blog at Tools for Kids Church.