Thanksgiving games and activities for ESL kids lessons
We have lots of Thanksgiving games and activities on this page to help plan your Thanksgiving lessons. In addition to being a lot of fun, your students can learn and practice vocabulary, structures and grammar presented in the activities – if done right, they won’t even realize they are learning!
Teaching Thanksgiving in an ESL kids lesson
Happy Thanksgiving!
This page has a selection of Thanksgiving games and activities that can be used in an ESL Kids classroom. Some have specific teaching functions, others are just fun games (good for parties!). At the end of each game is a Teaching Point (TP) Section.
All games and activities are listed in alphabetical order.
Thanksgiving games & activities:
Cranberry spoon race
Use real cranberries in a relay race game. If any cranberries fall off the spoon during the race the runner must start again.
(TP: V: cranberry, spoon)
Thanksgiving dinner game
Players sit in a circle. The first player starts by saying, “At Thanksgiving dinner I like to eat turkey“. The next player must repeat, “At Thanksgiving dinner I like to eat turkey…” and add another dish. This continues all the way around the circle with each student reciting the dishes in the exact order they have been given and then adding a new one. If a student makes a mistake they slide out of the circle and the game continues.
The person left who can perfectly recite the Thanksgiving menu wins.
(TP: V: various Thanksgiving dishes)
Thanksgiving word find
Take a Thanksgiving related word such as, Thanksgiving, Mayflower, Cornucopia, etc. and find as many little words as possible within before the timer runs out.
Example: Cornucopia words: corn, pin, no, arc, car, nip, cop, cup, on, or, rap…
Example: Mayflower words: May, flower, flow, flare, lay, low, fear, ear, owe, fly, rye, wear, row…
(TP: F: spelling)
Turkey hunt
Hide a stuffed animal somewhere in the room. If you don’t have a Turkey, dress up a stuffed bear or dog to look like a turkey. Have the children search for the turkey. Whoever finds it gets to hide it the next time.
(TP: none)
Turkey toss game
Take a large brown grocery bag and glue 2 small lunch bags (gathered at the tops) to the sides of the bag to look like drumsticks. Then take turns throwing in the stuffing (sock balls or bean bags)
(TP: none)
Turkey strut
Use pieces of masking tape to make turkey footprints all over the floor. Start playing some music. Let the children pretend to be turkeys and strut around the room. When you stop the music, have the turkeys find footprints to stand on (one turkey to a footprint). When you start the music again, have the turkeys continue strutting around the room.
(TP: none)
Turkey walk
Play music of your choice and encourage the children to move like: BIG turkeys, little turkeys, tired turkeys, happy turkeys, scared turkeys, etc. (TP: V: turkey, big, little, tired, happy, scared.
(TP: F: Using adjectives to describe an animal and feelings. AA: Have the students shout out the adjectives. You can also use adverbs, e.g. “Walk quickly/slowly”)
Thanksgiving lesson plan
Free Thanksgiving lesson plan
Check out our wonderful Thanksgiving lesson plan which is tailor-made to use in your kids ESL classroom. The lesson plan includes downloadable flashcards, worksheets, song and a classroom reader.
Thanksgiving song
ESL Kids Thanksgiving song to download – We have a wonderful song which you can download and use in your Thanksgiving lessons: “The Thanksgiving song!”.
