5 Fun Thanksgiving Youth Ministry Games For Small Churches

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Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, you may be looking for a fun way to celebrate the Thanksgiving season with your group! We’ve got you covered today with five Thanksgiving youth ministry games that your entire group will love. Playing games is a great way to celebrate the season with your students, and we hope you’re able to take a game idea or two and adapt it for your youth group.

A Few Quick Tips For Engagement

Before we jump in with instructions for our first fun game, let’s talk about ensuring the environment of your youth group is ripe for fun game-playing. Firstly, your youth leaders set the tone. Students don’t always come into youth groups with the most positive and energetic attitude, and because they’re actual children, they won’t always self-correct. They need to be led! So have a conversation with your leaders beforehand to ensure they can project the kind of energy you want students to have. 

Secondly, give your students time to offer feedback on your youth group games. One creative idea for this might be handing out index cards once or twice per year, and letting your students anonymously rate a few of the games you’ve played. When students know their voice is valued, they’re more likely to buy into the games you play, even if they’re not sure they’re going to like it.

And finally, if you want to set the tone for an engaging game atmosphere, play music. This sounds really simple, but it’s often a major difference-maker. Teenagers, as a general rule, love music. They live their lives to music. So whether it’s from your phone, a portable speaker, or the room’s sound system, play energetic music at an appropriate volume while you play these Thanksgiving games. You’ll be glad you did.

5 Fun Thanksgiving Youth Ministry Games

1.  Take The Turkey To The Pen

Type of Game: 

Group Game with Equipment

Supplies: 

• Balloons (one for each student)
• Buckets (one for each student minus 1)

Game Prep: 

Set out the buckets throughout your space and blow up the balloons before the game.

Objective: 

Be the last student standing. 

Directions: 

• The students will be in the open space trying to keep their balloons up in the air. 
• The leader will yell “gobble, gobble” and the students will have to race to hit their balloons into one of the buckets. 
• Once a balloon has been hit into a bucket, no one else can use that bucket that round. 
• The student that is not able to get their balloon into a bucket. They are out. Students are only allowed to hit their balloon. 
• Eliminate a bucket each round. 
• The last student standing wins. 

Pro-Tip: Before you start the game, have the students draw the face of a turkey on their balloon and give their turkey a name. 

2. Mash The Potatoes 

Type of Game: 

Group Game 

Supplies: 

• Microwave Mash Potatoes
• Paper Bowls
• Plastic Spoons
• Dry Erase Mini Boards And Markers
• Licorice
• Minced Garlic
• Sour Patch Kids
• Whipped Cream
• Sour Blue Raspberry Liquid Candy
• A Small Prize

Game Prep: 

Mix several bowls of mashed potatoes, each with a special ingredient.

Objective: 

Correctly guess the special ingredient in the mashed potatoes. 

Directions: 

• Choose several students to play. 
• Give each student a whiteboard and dry-erase marker. 
• Explain to the students that “one of the best Thanksgiving side dishes is MASHED POTATOES, so we have taken some special ingredients to add to our mashed potatoes.” 
• The leader will have 4-5 different types of mashed potatoes. Make sure you have enough of each special ingredient mash potatoes for each student to try it. 
• The leader will bring one type of mashed potatoes out at a time. The students will have to take a bite of the mashed potatoes, and within 10-15 seconds, write down what special ingredient they think is in the mashed potatoes. 
• Have the students taste and guess all of the different types of mashed potatoes before you reveal the correct answers. 
• The student with the most correct guesses for the special ingredients will win! 

3. Turkey Waddle Race 

Type of Game: 

Group Game with Equipment 

Space Needed:  

Open Space 

Game Supplies: 

• Balloons (one for each student)
• Tape

Game Prep: 

Blow up the balloons before you start the game and set up lines of tape for the starting line and finishing line. 

Objective: 

Be the first student to waddle across the finish line. 

Directions:

• The student will have to keep the balloon in between their legs as they race to the finish line. 
• If the balloon comes out at any point, the student can resume from the spot that their balloon came out once they reestablish the balloon between their legs. 
• The first student to cross the finish line wins! 

Pro-Tip: You can also add the element that the students have to flap their arms and gobble like a turkey. 

4. Falling Feathers 

Type of Game: 

Group Game with Equipment 

Space Needed: 

Open Space 

Supplies Needed: 

• Feathers (one for each student) 

Game Prep: 

Feathers in your open space 

Objective: 

Keep your feather up in the air the longest. 

Directions: 

• Give everyone a feather. 
• Have the students spread out in the open space. 
• To win this game you have to keep your feather up in the air the longest. 
• When the leader says go each student will throw their feather up in the air. 
• The student will have to blow air to the feather to keep it up in the air. You are not allowed to use your body. 
• If your feather drops to the ground, you are out. 

5. Psychiatrist – Thanksgiving Edition 

Type of Game: 

Group Game with No Equipment 

Space Needed: 

Open Space 

Supplies Needed: 

Chairs in a circle or have the students just sit in a circle.

Game Prep: 

None

Objective: 

Figure out the “illness” the students have. 

Directions: 

• The leader will pick 1 person from the group to be the psychiatrist. 
• The leader will ask the psychiatrist to leave. 
• The leader will then give the students left in the room an “illness” related to Thanksgiving. The students will have to act out this illness.
• The psychiatrist will be invited back into the room and will have to figure out what the illness is of the students. They are able to ask questions as the rest of the group acts out the illness.
• The psychiatrist has three chances to guess what the illness is. If they guess correctly, pick someone else to be the psychiatrist for the next round. 
• Play until time is up or all students have had a chance to be the psychiatrists. 

Examples of “illnesses”:

• Grandpa sleeping on the couch after the turkey dinner. 
• The person who wants everyone to know that pumpkin pie is gross.
• Uncle Joey burnt the turkey in the oven.
• Cousin Janice tried to remove the turkey out of the oven without mitts.
• Grandma keeps trying to kiss you on the lips. 
• (Split the group in half) Half are decorating a Christmas tree and the other half are annoyed they are doing that this early. 
• You keep stealing food from the plate of the person next to you. 

The Beginning Of Tradition

Your students are going to love these games. The good news is that once you find a Thanksgiving game your group loves, you can play it every year, and your students will look forward to the tradition! That’s one of the great things about Thanksgiving only coming around once per year! So choose which of these games will be the best fit for your ministry, and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Read More:

Incorporating Mental Health Awareness Into Youth Ministry

6 Best Youth Activities That Focus On Spiritual Growth

5 Impactful Youth Group Activities To Get Your Kids Engaged