Thanksgiving Middle School Active Games

Three running, tag or relay games for a class of 20: change the 20 kids menu to fit your group.

Thanksgiving Middle School Active Games

  1. Wishbone Freeze, Freed by Two1. Three taggers wear pinnies. A tagged player freezes with arms up and out, like a wishbone. 2. Two free players release a frozen one by each taking a hand and counting to three aloud together. 3. Nobody may be tagged while freeing someone. 4. Change the taggers every ninety seconds. The taggers' score is the most players frozen at one moment. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 8 min. Props: three pinnies.
  2. Through the Turning Rope: The Class Streak1. Two turners swing a long rope in slow, even loops. The class lines up beside one turner. 2. One player runs straight through on every turn of the rope, without a jump and without a gap. 3. Count the class streak aloud. A missed turn or a touched rope sets the count back to zero. 4. The player who touched the rope swaps with a turner and the line carries on. With two ropes, two lines race to twenty. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 8 min. Props: one or two long ropes.
  3. Tail Feather Scarf PullA tail-pulling tag in teams: pulled tails go in a team hoop, and a player who loses one fetches another. 1. Each player wears a tail feather: a scarf held at the back of the waistband by one corner, the rest hanging free. 2. On the whistle, pull other players' feathers and drop them in your team's hoop. No holding your own feather and no contact. 3. A player with no feather jogs to the spare basket, does five squats, takes a new feather and rejoins. 4. After three minutes, the hoop with the most feathers wins the round. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 10 min. Props: a scarf or a flag a player, spares in a basket and four hoops.

Next step Thanksgiving scavenger hunt lists

How it works

These active Thanksgiving games get a class or a yard of children running. The list opens on games for 20; a caught player always has a way back in, and no food is used.

Read the full guide

A gym class of 20 to 35

The page opens on 20 kids. Choose 30 kids in that menu for a bigger class. The kit is what a gym has: beanbags, cones, hoops, scarves, foam balls and a parachute.

Cousins in the yard, or a wet day

Set the menu to the number of children you have first. More filters, its last entry, then narrows the list to Gym (12 or more), Yard (up to 12) or Hall (8 or more), or to No kit. Every game prints its ages.

Tips
  • In the yard, send the youngest first or give them the shortest run: Stair-Step Relay by Age does the second.

Questions and answers

Which Thanksgiving gym games keep a whole class moving at once?

Tail Feather Scarf Pull, Sweep the Cranberries Across the Center Line and Always Room at the Table: Shrinking Hoops have every student active for the whole round. A caught or tagged player does a short job and rejoins, so nobody stands at the wall.

What can cousins play outside before Thanksgiving dinner?

Set the 20 kids menu to your number, then choose Yard (up to 12) under More filters. The Hider Has to Gobble needs nothing at all, and Staggered-Start Trot Around the House gives a five-year-old a fair race against a teenager.

What if it rains and the children are stuck indoors?

Choose Hall (8 or more) under More filters. Walk-the-Lines Turkey Tag and Balanced Beanbag Tag, Walking Only are tag games at a walk, and Seated Volley Over a Low Rope keeps everyone on the floor.

Do any of these games use food?

No. Dishes appear only as names: a foam disc is the pie and red balls are the cranberries. Nothing edible is carried, thrown or raced.

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All 45 games

Thanksgiving PE games for a class of 20 to 35 20

  • Always Room at the Table: Shrinking Hoops 1. Scatter hoops on the floor, one for every two players. Music plays and the class jogs between them. 2. When the music stops, everyone needs one foot inside a hoop. 3. Take away two hoops each round. Nobody is out: the class has to fit everyone into the hoops that are left. 4. The game ends at the smallest number of hoops that still holds the whole class for a count of three. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 8 min. Props: hoops and music.
  • Build the Bird From the Equipment Cart 1. Show a drawing of a turkey made of gym equipment: a hoop for the body, a cone for the head, scarves for the tail, two ropes for the legs. 2. Teams line up across the gym from a shared pile of equipment. 3. One runner at a time fetches one piece and adds it to the team's bird. 4. The first complete bird wins. Then each team adds three pieces of its own choice and names the result. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 10 min. Props: hoops, cones, scarves and short ropes.
  • Capture the Wishbone Built on capture the flag: each flag is a wishbone of two foam noodles, and both halves have to come home. 1. Each half of the gym guards a wishbone: two foam noodles laid in a V inside a hoop at the back. 2. Cross the center line to lift the other team's wishbone and carry it home. 3. A player tagged in the other half walks to that side's bench. A teammate who reaches the bench frees one player, and both walk home with a hand up. 4. Both noodles home scores a point. Reset after each point. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 15 min. Props: four foam noodles, two hoops, cones and pinnies.
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Thanksgiving PE games for a class of 20 to 35, continued

  • Craft-Stick Feathers: Laps That Build a Fan 1. Each team of four sits at a cone with a pile of craft sticks at the far end of the gym: the feathers. 2. Two runners at a time jog a lap, and each picks up one feather on the way past. 3. The two who are resting lay the feathers out in a fan on the floor. 4. After six minutes, the widest fan wins. Runners swap every lap, so everyone runs half the time. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 8 min. Props: craft sticks and a cone for each team.
  • Deliver the Pie: No Steps With the Disc The no-running passing game with a flying disc, played on half a court with a hoop for the end zone. 1. Two teams of six share half a court. A foam flying disc is the pie, and a hoop behind each end line is the oven. 2. A player holding the pie may not step. The team passes it up the court. 3. A dropped or caught pass by the other side changes possession. No contact and no grabbing. 4. Land the pie in the oven hoop for a point. Every player has to touch the pie before a team may score again. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 28. Time: 12 min. Props: a foam flying disc and two hoops for each court, and pinnies.
  • Egg, Chick, Turkey: Rock Paper Scissors Ladder A rock paper scissors ladder: a win moves a player up from egg to chick to turkey. 1. Everyone starts as an egg and travels in a low squat walk. 2. Meet another player at the same stage and play rock paper scissors. The winner goes up a stage: chick (small quick steps), then turkey (strut with flapping elbows). 3. The loser goes down a stage, or stays an egg. 4. A turkey who wins again stands on the side line as a farmer and cheers. Stop after three minutes and start over. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 6 min. Props: none.
  • Fill the Bird: Toss to the Moving Sack 1. Each team has a catcher with a laundry bag who may move only along the end line. 2. Throwers stand behind a line eight steps away and lob foam balls underhand for the catcher to bag. 3. Missed balls are fetched by the thrower, who has to be back behind the line before throwing again. 4. After two minutes count the bag, change the catcher and try to beat the team total. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 10 min. Props: a laundry bag for each team and a crate of foam balls.
  • Four Flocks Find Each Other by Call A find-your-group game by sound: the groups are four birds, and a full flock runs to a corner. 1. Whisper a bird to every player: turkey, duck, goose or rooster. 2. Players spread out and stand still. On go, everyone makes their bird's call and jogs to find the rest of the flock. No words. 3. A complete flock links elbows and runs to any corner. 4. The last flock to arrive leads the stretch. Re-deal the birds and play again. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 6 min. Props: none.
  • Gravy Boat Scooter Relay 1. Each team has one scooter board. The rider sits on it, holds the handles and pushes with the feet only. 2. Ride to a cone, pick up one beanbag, put it in your lap and ride back. 3. Hand the board to the next rider. While the board is moving, hands stay on the handles, and nobody stands on a board. 4. The first team with six beanbags in its bucket wins. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 32. Time: 10 min. Props: a scooter board, a bucket and six beanbags for each team, and cones.
  • One of Every Color: Beanbag Relay 1. Scatter beanbags of four colors in the center circle. Teams of five line up behind a hoop at the edge of the court. 2. One runner at a time brings back one beanbag. 3. The hoop is a plate that needs three of every color. A fifth bag of one color has to be run back first. 4. The first team sitting behind a full plate wins. Then swap the recipe: four of two colors only. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 10 min. Props: beanbags in four colors and a hoop for each team.
  • Parade Balloon Lap by Squad 1. Squads of six hold hands in a ring around a beach ball: the parade balloon. 2. The squad travels one lap of the gym while keeping the ball in the air with heads, shoulders and knees, hands still joined. 3. If the ball lands, the squad stops, re-forms the ring and counts to five before moving again. 4. Time each lap. The squad that improves its own time the most wins. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 12 min. Props: a beach ball for each squad and a stopwatch.
  • Roost and Rejoin Turkey Tag 1. Three taggers are farmers and carry a soft foam ball each. Everyone else is a turkey. 2. A turkey touched by a ball, never thrown, walks to the roost: a mat in one corner. 3. On the roost, do ten jumping jacks with flapping arms, then run back in. 4. Change the farmers every two minutes. A farmer's score is how many turkeys were on the roost at once. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 10 min. Props: three soft foam balls, a mat and pinnies for the farmers.
  • Scarves in the Air: Level-Up Catches 1. Every player has one light scarf. Level one: throw it up, clap once and catch it. 2. Level two: touch the floor before the catch. Level three: turn all the way around. Level four: swap places with a partner and catch each other's scarf. 3. A drop means going back one level. 4. Finish with the whole class throwing on a count of three and catching any scarf except their own. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 8 min. Props: a light scarf for each player.
  • Six-Dish Circuit, Rotate on the Whistle 1. Set six stations around the gym, each named for a dish and a move: mash (squats), stir (hoop turns around the waist), knead (push-ups against a wall), whisk (jump rope), carve (side shuffles between cones), serve (chest passes with a partner). 2. Groups of five work for forty-five seconds at a station. 3. On the whistle, jog to the next dish. 4. Go around twice. The second time, each group tries to beat its own count at one station it chooses. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 12 min. Props: hoops, jump ropes, cones and a ball for each pair at one station.
  • Sweep the Cranberries Across the Center Line 1. Split the gym in half with a line of cones and scatter soft red balls evenly: the cranberries. 2. On the whistle, both sides roll or throw the balls below shoulder height into the other half. 3. Each half has two hoops on the floor. A ball resting in the other side's hoop at the whistle counts double. 4. Play three ninety-second rounds. Nobody is ever out: a player hit by a ball just keeps going. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 8 min. Props: thirty or more soft balls, four hoops and cones.
  • Tail Feather Scarf Pull A tail-pulling tag in teams: pulled tails go in a team hoop, and a player who loses one fetches another. 1. Each player wears a tail feather: a scarf held at the back of the waistband by one corner, the rest hanging free. 2. On the whistle, pull other players' feathers and drop them in your team's hoop. No holding your own feather and no contact. 3. A player with no feather jogs to the spare basket, does five squats, takes a new feather and rejoins. 4. After three minutes, the hoop with the most feathers wins the round. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 10 min. Props: a scarf or a flag a player, spares in a basket and four hoops.
  • Ten Gobblers Down: Rolling Line A bowling relay: the pins stay down, and the team counts its rolls. 1. Each team stands ten cones or plastic pins in a triangle at the far end of its lane. 2. One bowler at a time rolls a ball from behind the line. Rolled, not thrown. 3. The bowler runs to fetch the ball and hands it to the next in line. Pins stay down. 4. Count how many rolls the team needs to clear all ten. Reset and try to do it in fewer. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 32. Time: 10 min. Props: ten cones or plastic pins and one ball for each lane.
  • Through the Turning Rope: The Class Streak 1. Two turners swing a long rope in slow, even loops. The class lines up beside one turner. 2. One player runs straight through on every turn of the rope, without a jump and without a gap. 3. Count the class streak aloud. A missed turn or a touched rope sets the count back to zero. 4. The player who touched the rope swaps with a turner and the line carries on. With two ropes, two lines race to twenty. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 8 min. Props: one or two long ropes.
  • Whip the Cream on the Parachute 1. The class holds the edge of a parachute at waist height. Tip a bag of soft white balls into the middle. 2. Round one: small ripples only, and no ball may leave. 3. Round two: half the class tries to shake the balls off while the other half tries to keep them on. 4. Count the balls left on after thirty seconds, swap the jobs and compare. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 8 min. Props: a play parachute and twenty soft white balls.
  • Wishbone Freeze, Freed by Two 1. Three taggers wear pinnies. A tagged player freezes with arms up and out, like a wishbone. 2. Two free players release a frozen one by each taking a hand and counting to three aloud together. 3. Nobody may be tagged while freeing someone. 4. Change the taggers every ninety seconds. The taggers' score is the most players frozen at one moment. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. Time: 8 min. Props: three pinnies.

Back-yard games for cousins before the meal 13

  • Call the Dish Built on spud: players are called by dish, not by number, the ball is rolled, and the letters spell P-I-E. 1. Give every cousin the name of a dish. One throws a soft ball straight up and calls a dish. 2. That player runs in to catch or pick up the ball while everyone else runs away. With the ball in hand, shout "Freeze!" 3. Take three giant steps toward anyone and roll the ball at their feet. 4. A hit below the knee gives that player a letter of the word P-I-E, and a miss gives it to the roller. Nobody leaves: after three letters, start again with a new dish. Ages: 6 to 14. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 12 min. Props: a soft ball.
  • Cook, Cook, How Many Minutes Left? Built on the tag game What's the Time, Mr. Wolf: the wolf is a cook, and the hours are minutes left in the oven. 1. One cousin is the cook and stands at the far fence, facing away. 2. The others call "Cook, cook, how many minutes left?" The cook answers with a number of minutes, and everyone takes that many steps. 3. When the cook answers "Done!", the cook turns and chases everyone back to the start line. 4. Anyone tagged becomes a second cook for the next round, so nobody sits out. Ages: 5 to 12. Players: 4 to 14. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • Field Goal Between Two Jackets 1. Lay two jackets on the grass four steps apart for the goal. 2. Each kicker places a ball five steps back and kicks it along the ground between the jackets. 3. A goal moves that kicker one step back for the next turn. A miss means staying on the same mark. 4. After five turns each, the kicker farthest from the jackets wins. Small cousins start three steps closer. Ages: 5 to 14. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 10 min. Props: a ball and two jackets.
  • The Hider Has to Gobble 1. One cousin counts to thirty at the back door while the rest hide inside the yard. 2. The seeker may shout "Gobble check!" three times in a round, and every hider has to gobble out loud. 3. A hider who is found joins the seeker's search party. 4. The last one found counts next. The fence is the limit and nobody hides in a shed or a car. Ages: 5 to 14. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 12 min. Props: none.
  • Jump the Gravy River 1. Lay two ropes or two garden hoses side by side on the grass, a foot apart. 2. Everyone takes a run and jumps the river. 3. After each round, move the ropes a shoe length farther apart. 4. Anyone who lands in the gravy does five hops on the bank and stays in the game. Count how wide the river gets before nobody clears it. Ages: 5 to 14. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 8 min. Props: two ropes or garden hoses.
  • Keep It From the Turkey Built on keep-away, also called monkey in the middle: the player in the middle is the turkey. 1. Cousins stand in a ring and one is the turkey in the middle. 2. The ring passes a soft ball across, never above head height for the smallest player. 3. If the turkey touches the ball, the thrower becomes the turkey. 4. A turkey who has been in the middle for a count of thirty picks someone to swap with. Ages: 5 to 14. Players: 4 to 10. Time: 8 min. Props: a soft ball.
  • Lap of the Yard Before the Kitchen Timer 1. Agree on a loop with five jobs on it: around the tree, over the garden hose, touch the fence, under the clothesline, slap the back step. 2. A grown-up sets a kitchen timer for a time everyone can beat. 3. Cousins go one at a time or in pairs of one big and one small. 4. Take five seconds off the timer after each clean round, until only one pair beats it. Ages: 5 to 14. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 12 min. Props: a kitchen timer.
  • Lawn Chair Slalom, Sideways on the Way Home 1. Set five lawn chairs in a line across the grass, three steps apart. 2. One at a time, cousins weave out through the chairs at a run and come home in a sideways shuffle down the outside. 3. A grown-up times each run, and a touched chair adds two seconds. 4. Everyone runs twice and keeps the better time. The biggest gain between the two runs wins. Ages: 5 to 14. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: five lawn chairs and a watch.
  • The Line Chases Its Own Dish-Towel Tail The chain game in which the head of a line chases its own tail: the tail is a dish towel. 1. Stand in a line with hands on the shoulders of the cousin in front. The last one tucks a dish towel into a back pocket. 2. The head of the line tries to grab the towel while the line twists to keep it away. The line may not break. 3. When the towel is caught, the head goes to the back and wears the towel. 4. Put the smallest cousins in the middle of the line, and play on grass. Ages: 5 to 14. Players: 5 to 12. Time: 8 min. Props: a dish towel.
  • Run and Touch: Colors of the Table 1. One cousin is the caller and stands on the back step. 2. The caller names a color from the dinner table: cranberry red, gravy brown, corn yellow, the green of the beans. 3. Everyone runs to touch something in the yard of that color and runs back to the step. 4. The first one back calls next. Nothing over the fence counts, and nothing has to be picked. Ages: 5 to 10. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 6 min. Props: none.
  • Rundown Between Two Doormats 1. Lay two doormats twenty steps apart: the kids' table and the grown-ups' table. A thrower stands at each with one soft ball between them. 2. Runners start on a mat and dash for the other while the ball is in the air. 3. A runner touched with the ball between the mats swaps places with that thrower. 4. Count the crossings you make before you are caught. Throws stay below the shoulder. Ages: 7 to 14. Players: 4 to 10. Time: 10 min. Props: two doormats and a soft ball.
  • Staggered-Start Trot Around the House 1. Line the cousins up from youngest to oldest at the front step. 2. The youngest starts first. A grown-up sends the next runner five seconds later, and so on up the line. 3. Everyone runs one lap of the house or two of the yard. 4. First back to the step wins. Change the gap to three seconds or eight until the finish is close. Ages: 5 to 14. Players: 3 to 14. Time: 8 min. Props: a watch.
  • Stair-Step Relay by Age 1. Set a line of markers out from the start, one for each runner on a team: a shoe, a cone, a lawn chair. 2. The youngest runner goes to the nearest marker and back, and the oldest to the farthest. 3. Tag hands at the start line to send the next runner. 4. Run it twice. The second time, each team tries to beat its own time, called by a grown-up with a watch. Ages: 5 to 14. Players: 6 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: markers from the yard and a watch.

Indoor hall games for a wet day 12

  • Balanced Beanbag Tag, Walking Only 1. Everyone balances a beanbag on their head, taggers included. 2. Two taggers try to touch a shoulder. Nobody may hold the beanbag in place. 3. A player whose beanbag falls freezes, puts it back and counts to five before moving. 4. A tagged player swaps jobs with that tagger at once, so the taggers keep changing. Ages: 8 to 14. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a beanbag for each player.
  • Bank Shot Off the Wall Into the Laundry Basket 1. Stand a laundry basket on the floor one step out from a bare wall. 2. Throwers stand behind a line six steps back with three rolled socks each. 3. A sock has to hit the wall first and drop into the basket to score. A straight shot does not count. 4. Collect the socks only when everyone has thrown. Play to ten points, then turn the line so that the throw comes from the side. Ages: 6 to 14. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: a laundry basket and rolled socks.
  • Chair-Leg Croquet to the Dinner Bell 1. Set six chairs around the hall as arches and stand a bell or a pan lid at the end. 2. Players roll a soft ball by hand through the legs of each chair in order. 3. One roll a turn, taken from where the ball stopped. 4. The first to roll through all six and hit the bell wins. In teams, players take alternate rolls. Ages: 6 to 14. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 12 min. Props: six chairs, a soft ball for each team and a bell or a pan lid.
  • Invent an Eight-Count Turkey Trot 1. Groups of four have five minutes to make up a dance of eight counts: a strut, a flap, a turn and a pose. 2. Each group shows its eight counts twice. 3. The whole hall copies each dance once through. 4. String all the dances together in the order shown and try the whole chain to music. Ages: 6 to 14. Players: 8 to 32. Time: 15 min. Props: music.
  • Kitchen, Table, Sofa: Three-Wall Dash 1. Name three walls of the hall kitchen, table and sofa. Players start in the middle. 2. The leader calls a wall and everyone walks fast to touch it. 3. Mix in actions: "pass the rolls" means find a partner and mime a pass, and "nap time" means lie down flat. 4. The last one to finish a call picks the next one. Nobody is out. Ages: 6 to 14. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: none.
  • Laps to Grandma's House on a Wall Chart 1. Draw a road on a long strip of paper with twenty boxes between Home and Grandma's House, and tape it to the wall. 2. The whole group walks or jogs laps of the hall at its own pace. 3. Each finished lap, a player colors in one box on the way past. 4. The group wins if the road is full before the timer rings. Next time, draw a longer road. Ages: 6 to 14. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: a long strip of paper, a marker and a timer.
  • Over, Under, Through in Pairs 1. Lay a course of three things: a bench to step over, a table to crawl under and a hoop held upright to climb through. 2. Pairs hold one scarf between them and may not let go of it. 3. Each pair goes around at a fast walk while the next pair holds the hoop. 4. Time every pair. Then run the course in the other direction. Ages: 6 to 14. Players: 8 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: a bench, a table, a hoop, a scarf for each pair and a watch.
  • Run, Look, Report: Relay to the Covered Tray 1. Lay ten things from the kitchen on a tray at the far end and cover them with a cloth. 2. One runner from each team walks fast to the tray. A helper lifts the cloth for a count of five. 3. The runner returns and whispers what they saw to the team's writer. 4. When everyone has gone, the longest right list wins. The cloth stays down between runners. Ages: 6 to 14. Players: 8 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: a tray, a cloth, ten kitchen things, paper and a pencil for each team.
  • Seated Volley Over a Low Rope 1. Tie a rope between two chairs at knee height. Teams sit on the floor on either side. 2. Volley a beach ball over the rope. Players may slide along the floor but may not stand or kneel. 3. A team has three touches to send the ball back. 4. A ball that lands on your side gives the other team a point. Rotate one place after each point, and play to eleven. Ages: 6 to 14. Players: 8 to 24. Time: 12 min. Props: a rope, two chairs and a beach ball.
  • Squeeze Down the Line, Grab the Beanbag 1. Two teams sit in facing lines and hold hands along each line. A beanbag sits on a chair at the far end. 2. The leader shows a card to the first player of each line only: a turkey means go, any other picture means wait. 3. On a turkey, the first player squeezes, and the squeeze travels hand to hand. The last player grabs the beanbag. 4. A grab on the wrong card sends that team's last player to the front. A right grab does the same for the winners, so everyone gets every seat. Ages: 6 to 14. Players: 8 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: picture cards, a beanbag and a chair.
  • Tablecloth Tunnel Crawl 1. Two lines of players kneel facing each other and hold a tablecloth or a bedsheet low between them: the tunnel. 2. The pair at one end lets go, crawls through the tunnel side by side and takes hold at the far end. 3. The next pair follows as soon as the first is clear. 4. Time how long the whole tunnel takes to travel the length of the hall. Ages: 6 to 12. Players: 8 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: a tablecloth or a bedsheet and a watch.
  • Walk-the-Lines Turkey Tag A line tag at a walk: taggers and runners stay on the lines of the floor. 1. Players may travel only on the painted lines of the court, or on tape lines, and only at a walk. 2. Two farmers with pinnies tag turkeys by walking the lines as well. 3. A tagged turkey sits down on the line and becomes a roadblock that nobody may pass. 4. Every sixty seconds the farmers change, and all the roadblocks stand up and rejoin. Ages: 6 to 14. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: two pinnies, and tape if the floor has no lines.

How this list was compiled: Written by the Game Night Generator editors on 2026-10-03 for a PE teacher with a class of 20 to 35 in the week of Thanksgiving, and for families with a yard or a hall full of cousins. The descriptions are ours, and ages, player ranges and minutes are our estimates. No food is run with, thrown or raced, nobody is put out of a game for good, and the play-safe lines are our own rule. Nothing about the history of the holiday is stated. Where a game follows a playground classic, its first line names it. The classics were checked on 2026-10-03 against English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ followed by the name): Capture_the_flag, What's_the_time,_Mr_Wolf?, Spud_(game), Keep_away. Licence: own work