Thanksgiving Sunday School Games

Each game is built on a Bible passage for a Thanksgiving lesson: press Pick 3 new games.

Thanksgiving Sunday School Games

  1. Daniel 6:10 Bell Round1. At the start of the night read Daniel 6:10, where Daniel “kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks”. 2. Three times during the evening, in the middle of other things, a leader rings a bell. 3. At each bell every team has one minute to add three new lines to its own thanks list. 4. At the end, each team reads its nine lines. Ages: 12 to 17. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 5 min. Props: a bell, paper and pens.
  2. Psalm 100 Whiteboard Relay, a Word a Walker1. Each team lines up facing its own half of the board, with one marker. 2. The first player walks up and writes the first word of Psalm 100:1, walks back and hands on the marker. 3. Each player adds the next word. Teammates may call out the word, and a player may fix one earlier mistake as a turn. 4. The first team to finish verses 1 and 2 as its class Bible prints them wins. Ages: 8 to 17. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: a board, two markers and a Bible.
  3. Who Said It in Luke 17?1. Give each team three cards: THE TEN, JESUS and THE STORYTELLER. 2. Read one line at a time, such as “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” or “and he was a Samaritan”. 3. On three, each team holds up a card for who says the line in the passage. 4. Check each answer in Luke 17:11-19. Add “Get up, and go your way.” and “But where are the nine?” for more rounds. Ages: 8 to 17. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: three cards for each team and a Bible.

Next step More indoor games for a youth groupPlay the thankful game, A to Z

How it works

These Thanksgiving Sunday school games each name a Bible passage. Most use the ten who were healed in Luke 17, Psalm 100, or the loaves and fish of John 6. Nothing is eaten.

Read the full guide

Choose the passage first

The All games menu keeps one set: The ten who were healed (Luke 17:11-19), Psalm 100 and Psalm 136 games or Loaves and fish (John 6:1-14). Each has games for the smallest children and for readers.

Then the age of the class

More filters, the last entry of that menu, sorts by grade: Preschool keeps the games with no reading. The games for ages 12 to 17 are the fourth set in the All games menu.

Tips
  • Quotations follow the World English Bible, which prints the divine name as Yahweh. Read from your own class Bible.
  • Paper loaves and fish last longer cut from a cereal box.

Questions and answers

What is a fun Sunday school game for Thanksgiving?

Where Are the Nine? Paper Figure Hunt. Hide nine of ten paper figures, read Luke 17:17, and let the class find them. It takes about eight minutes and suits ages three and up.

Which Bible passages fit a Thanksgiving lesson?

Three carry most of these games. Luke 17:11-19 tells of ten men healed and one who came back to give thanks. Psalm 100 says to enter with thanksgiving. In John 6:11 Jesus gives thanks before the loaves are handed out.

Do these games work for a mixed-age class?

Many do. Look for the games marked for ages 3 to 11, such as Psalm 136: Leader and Echo, where the leader reads and every child joins the answer.

Is any food used?

No. The loaves and fish are paper or beanbags, and nothing is eaten.

More tools

Browse Holiday Games

All 33 games

The ten who were healed (Luke 17:11-19) 8

  • At a Distance: The Growing Thank-You 1. The children stand along the far wall, as the ten men “stood at a distance” in Luke 17:12. 2. The leader whispers, "Thank you." The children whisper it back and take one step forward. 3. Each round the leader says it a little louder, and the children echo and step. 4. When they reach the leader, everyone says it once in a glad, loud voice. Luke 17:15 says the one who came back spoke “with a loud voice”. Ages: 3 to 5. Players: 3 to 20. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Luke 17 Strips in Order 1. Print Luke 17:11-19 with one verse on each strip, nine strips in all, and cut off the verse numbers. 2. Give each team a shuffled set. 3. Teams lay the strips in the order they think the story runs. 4. Open a Bible to check. A team scores one point for every strip in the right place. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: the nine verses printed on strips for each team, and a Bible.
  • Stand Up When the Story Changes 1. Read Luke 17:11-19 aloud once as it is written. 2. Read it again, changing one detail in each sentence: twelve men, a quiet voice, three who came back. 3. Children stand as soon as they hear a change, and the first one up says what the passage really says. 4. Open the Bible to settle any argument. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a Bible.
Show all 33 games (30 more)

The ten who were healed (Luke 17:11-19), continued

  • Ten Cups, One Thank-You 1. Turn ten paper cups upside down in a row and draw a star inside one of them. 2. Children take turns lifting one cup. A cup with no star goes back in its place. 3. The child who finds the star says, "Thank you," as the one man does in Luke 17:16, and mixes the cups for the next round. 4. Count the cups aloud each round: nine without a star and one with. Ages: 3 to 5. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 6 min. Props: ten paper cups and a marker.
  • Ten Went, One Turned Back 1. Number the children one to ten, sharing numbers in a bigger class. Everyone walks slowly away from the leader toward the far wall. 2. The leader calls a number. That child turns back, walks to the leader and says, "Thank you." Everyone else freezes. 3. Start the walk again and call another number, until every number has turned back once. 4. Sit and read Luke 17:15-16. In the class, everyone came back. In the passage, one of the ten did. Ages: 3 to 11. Players: 5 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • Thank-You Cards Delivered by Hand 1. Read Luke 17:15-16: one man turned back and gave thanks. 2. Each child draws or writes a thank-you card for someone who helps in the building, such as the person who unlocks the doors or plays the music. 3. Walk back through the building together and deliver the cards by hand. 4. A card for someone who is not there is left where that person will find it. Ages: 3 to 11. Players: 3 to 20. Time: 15 min. Props: paper and crayons.
  • Where Are the Nine? Paper Figure Hunt 1. Cut ten paper figures. Stand one on the table and hide the other nine around the room. 2. Read Luke 17:17 aloud: “Weren’t the ten cleansed? But where are the nine?” 3. The children hunt for the nine and stand each one beside the first. 4. Count to ten together, then tell the story of Luke 17:11-19 in your own words: ten were healed, and one came back to say thank you. Ages: 3 to 11. Players: 3 to 16. Time: 8 min. Props: ten paper figures.
  • Who Said It in Luke 17? 1. Give each team three cards: THE TEN, JESUS and THE STORYTELLER. 2. Read one line at a time, such as “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” or “and he was a Samaritan”. 3. On three, each team holds up a card for who says the line in the passage. 4. Check each answer in Luke 17:11-19. Add “Get up, and go your way.” and “But where are the nine?” for more rounds. Ages: 8 to 17. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: three cards for each team and a Bible.

Psalm 100 and Psalm 136 games 8

  • The Disappearing Verse 1. Write Psalm 100:4 on the board and read it together. 2. The children close their eyes while the leader rubs out one word. 3. Everyone reads the whole verse aloud, saying the missing word from memory. 4. Rub out another word each round until the class says the verse to an empty board. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a board and a marker.
  • Five Motions for Psalm 100 1. Agree on a motion for five words of Psalm 100:1-4: shout (hands around the mouth), serve (hands held out), come (walk on the spot), know (point to your head) and enter (one step forward). 2. Read the psalm slowly. The children make each motion when they hear its word. 3. Read it again a little faster. 4. Last time, the leader only makes the motions and the class says the words it remembers. Ages: 3 to 11. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: a Bible.
  • Gates of Thanks, Courts of Praise 1. Two leaders hold hands high to make a gate. A rug behind them is the courts. 2. The children walk through the gate in a line, and each one says a thank-you for something as they pass under. 3. On the rug they clap in time until the whole line is through. 4. Read Psalm 100:4 to finish: “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.” Nobody is caught under the gate. Ages: 3 to 5. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 6 min. Props: a rug.
  • Psalm 100 Verse Scramble 1. Write the first sentence of Psalm 100:4 on cards, one word a card: “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.” 2. Shuffle a set for each team. 3. Teams lay the cards in order on the floor. 4. The first team done reads the verse aloud from its cards, and the others check it against the Bible. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: a set of word cards for each team and a Bible.
  • Psalm 100 Whiteboard Relay, a Word a Walker 1. Each team lines up facing its own half of the board, with one marker. 2. The first player walks up and writes the first word of Psalm 100:1, walks back and hands on the marker. 3. Each player adds the next word. Teammates may call out the word, and a player may fix one earlier mistake as a turn. 4. The first team to finish verses 1 and 2 as its class Bible prints them wins. Ages: 8 to 17. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: a board, two markers and a Bible.
  • Psalm 100:5, a Word a Child 1. Sit in a circle and read Psalm 100:5 together twice. It begins “For Yahweh is good.” Use the wording of your own class Bible if it differs. 2. The first child says the first word, the next child the second word, and so on around the circle. 3. A wrong word or a long pause sends the verse back to its first word, starting with the next child. 4. Time one clean lap, then try to beat it. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 5 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: a Bible and a watch.
  • Psalm 136: Leader and Echo 1. Teach the line that ends every verse of Psalm 136: “for his loving kindness endures forever”. 2. The leader reads the first half of verses 1 to 3 and verses 23 to 26. After each, the class answers with the line. 3. Children then offer first halves of their own, such as "Give thanks for the rain," and the class answers again. 4. Try it once in a whisper and once standing. Ages: 3 to 11. Players: 3 to 40. Time: 6 min. Props: a Bible.
  • Sheep of His Pasture 1. Lay a green blanket on the floor for the pasture. One leader is the shepherd, and the children are sheep who wander the room on hands and knees. 2. When the shepherd says, "We are his people," the sheep answer, "and the sheep of his pasture," and crawl back to the blanket. 3. Count the flock together, then wander again. 4. The words are from Psalm 100:3: “We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” Ages: 3 to 5. Players: 3 to 15. Time: 5 min. Props: a green blanket.

Loaves and fish (John 6:1-14) 8

  • Gather the Pieces Into Twelve Baskets 1. Number twelve paper bags from one to twelve and stand them in a row. Scatter torn paper pieces all over the floor. 2. Read John 6:12: “Gather up the broken pieces which are left over, that nothing be lost.” 3. The children gather every piece and share them out so that each bag holds about the same. 4. When the floor is clear, read verse 13 and count the twelve baskets. Ages: 3 to 11. Players: 3 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: twelve paper bags and scrap paper.
  • Hold Up the Number 1. Give each team cards reading 2, 5, 12, 200 and 5,000. 2. Ask one question at a time: how many loaves, how many fish, how many baskets were left over, about how many sat down, how many denarii Philip names. 3. Teams hold up a card on three. 4. Check every answer in John 6:7-13 before giving the point. Ages: 8 to 17. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: five number cards for each team and a Bible.
  • John 6 Mural, One Verse a Child 1. Tape a long sheet of paper to the wall. 2. Read John 6:1-14 one verse at a time. After each verse, one child adds one thing from it to the picture: the sea, the mountain, the grass, the boy, a loaf. 3. Nobody draws over another child’s part. 4. At the end, the class retells the passage by pointing along the picture. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 3 to 14. Time: 12 min. Props: a long sheet of paper, crayons and a Bible.
  • Lift the Loaf, Lift the Fish 1. Give every child a paper loaf for one hand and a paper fish for the other. 2. Read John 6:5-13 slowly. 3. Children lift the loaf each time they hear bread or loaves, and the fish each time they hear fish. 4. Read it a second time and count the lifts together. Ages: 3 to 11. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: a paper loaf and a paper fish for each child, and a Bible.
  • Loaves-and-Fish Plate Down the Rows 1. Teams sit in rows on the floor, as the crowd sits down in John 6:10. 2. The front player of each row gets a paper plate with five paper loaves and two paper fish on it. 3. Pass the plate overhead to the back of the row and forward again. A piece that falls is put back before the plate moves on. 4. The first row with a full plate back at the front wins. Verse 11 has the food handed to the disciples and then to the people sitting down. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: a paper plate with five paper loaves and two paper fish for each row.
  • Seven Tosses Into the Basket 1. Set a laundry basket two steps from a line on the floor. 2. Each child gets seven tosses: five beanbag loaves and two paper-plate fish. 3. Count aloud together as each one lands in or out. 4. Everyone helps carry the pieces back for the next child. The five and the two are the boy’s lunch in John 6:9. Ages: 3 to 5. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 8 min. Props: a basket, five beanbags and two paper plates.
  • Share Until It Is Even 1. Sit the class in groups of four or five on the floor. 2. Give each group a bag of paper loaves and fish, with a different number in every bag. 3. Each group shares its pieces out so that everyone holds the same number, and puts any left over in the middle. 4. Groups with extras carry them to a group that has fewer. Read John 6:11: the people had “as much as they desired”. Ages: 3 to 11. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: bags of paper loaves and fish.
  • Who Has the Lunch? 1. One child is Andrew and waits by the door with eyes covered. 2. The circle passes a small bag holding five paper loaves and two paper fish until the leader says stop. The child holding it hides it behind their back, and everyone else puts hands behind their backs too. 3. Andrew comes back and has three guesses to find the lunch. 4. Read John 6:8-9, where Andrew says, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish”. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 6 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: a small bag with five paper loaves and two paper fish.

Thanksgiving youth games, ages 12 to 17 9

  • Colossians 3:17 Jigsaw Trade 1. Print Colossians 3:17 once for each team and cut it into single words. Move two words from every envelope into another team’s envelope. 2. Teams build the verse and find out which words are missing and which are spare. 3. One runner from each team trades a spare word for a missing one, and says thank you at every trade. 4. The first team with the whole verse reads it aloud. It ends “giving thanks to God the Father through him”. Ages: 12 to 17. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: the verse cut into words in an envelope for each team.
  • Daniel 6:10 Bell Round 1. At the start of the night read Daniel 6:10, where Daniel “kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks”. 2. Three times during the evening, in the middle of other things, a leader rings a bell. 3. At each bell every team has one minute to add three new lines to its own thanks list. 4. At the end, each team reads its nine lines. Ages: 12 to 17. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 5 min. Props: a bell, paper and pens.
  • Every Good Gift: The Empty Box 1. Read James 1:17, which begins “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above”. 2. Pass a wrapped empty box around the circle. 3. Whoever holds it has five seconds to name a good gift that cannot be wrapped, such as sleep, rain or a friend who waits. No repeats. 4. A player who stalls or repeats becomes a judge for the rest of the round. Ages: 12 to 17. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a wrapped empty box.
  • In Everything: The Odd Categories Round 1. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “In everything give thanks”. 2. The leader calls an unlikely category, such as things under a sink, a wet Monday or the back seat of a car. 3. Teams have one minute to list things in that category worth a thank-you. 4. Read the lists. An answer no other team wrote scores a point. Ages: 12 to 17. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 10 min. Props: paper and pens.
  • Luke 17 in Six Panels 1. Teams read Luke 17:11-19 and fold a sheet of paper into six boxes. 2. They draw the passage as a six-panel comic with no words. 3. Teams swap comics. The new team writes the verse number it thinks each panel shows. 4. Hand them back and compare with the artists’ own numbers. Ages: 12 to 17. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 15 min. Props: paper, pencils and Bibles.
  • Match the Verse to Its Reference 1. Write six verses about thanks and good gifts on cards and their references on six more: Psalm 107:1, Psalm 118:28, Philippians 4:6, Colossians 3:17, James 1:17 and Daniel 6:10. 2. Spread a mixed set face up in front of each team. 3. Teams pair every verse with a reference from memory. 4. They then look up all six to check, and score one point for each pair that was right before the Bibles opened. Ages: 12 to 17. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: twelve cards for each team and Bibles.
  • Named Thanks Station 1. Read Luke 17:15-16, then set out cards and pens. 2. In pairs, write thank-you cards to people who serve the congregation, by role or by name: the sound desk, the nursery helpers, whoever sets out the chairs. 3. Every card has to name one exact thing that person does. 4. After ten minutes, count the cards and choose who delivers each one on Sunday. Ages: 12 to 17. Players: 4 to 40. Time: 12 min. Props: cards and pens.
  • Ten-Second Shout of Thanks 1. Read Psalm 100:1: “Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands!” Use your own class Bible’s wording if it differs. 2. Each team has three minutes to write a ten-second shout of thanks with a rhythm, and every member has to have a part. 3. Teams perform in turn. 4. Leaders score how well the team keeps together, never how loud it is. Ages: 12 to 17. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 10 min. Props: paper and pens.
  • Two Verses and One Saying 1. Before the night, the leader prepares rounds of three lines: two verses about giving thanks, copied from a Bible, such as 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and Psalm 107:1, and one well-known saying that is not in the Bible. 2. Read the three lines of a round aloud. 3. Teams decide which line is the saying and hold up one, two or three fingers. 4. Look up both verses together before giving the point. Ages: 12 to 17. Players: 4 to 40. Time: 10 min. Props: the leader’s prepared rounds and Bibles.

How this list was compiled: Written by the Game Night Generator editors on 2026-10-03 for Sunday school classes and church youth groups in the weeks before Thanksgiving. The games and their wording are our own, and ages, player ranges and times are our estimates. Nothing is eaten, nobody is asked about their own beliefs, and nothing is said here about the history of the holiday. Every Bible reference and quotation was checked on 2026-10-03 against the World English Bible, a public domain translation that prints the divine name as Yahweh, at https://ebible.org/eng-web/ (Luke 17, Psalms 100, 107, 118 and 136, John 6, 1 Thessalonians 5, Philippians 4, Colossians 3, James 1 and Daniel 6). This page is unofficial and belongs to no church: read each passage from your own class Bible. Licence: own work