Looking for some fun Thanksgiving youth group ideas for your student gatherings? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Feast on the eight ideas below. And feel free to adapt them to fit the needs of your preteen or teen group. Kids will thank you!
8 Thanksgiving Youth Group Ideas to Try
1. Turkey bowling
Grab a frozen turkey (don’t thaw it out) and fill a dozen two-liter bottles with water. Line them up, and let ‘er rip. Two warnings: A frozen turkey will knock a hole in a sheetrock wall. And a two-liter bottle of carbonated drink can explode. We promise.
2. Cranberry sauce sculpting
Make sure you use the gelatin version in a can. Set out various tools, such as those you use to carve pumpkins. Oh, and this can get very messy. So provide extra napkins.
3. Jimmy Fallon “Thank You Note” game
Divide students into teams. Then have them write thank you notes, like Jimmy Fallon does on his TV show. When kids are finished, have them read the notes aloud on stage.
4. Local mission project
Depending on the needs in your area, take students out to serve. You can sing outside an assisted living facility, rake leaves for elderly church members, or pick up trash in a local park.
5. Thanksgiving tree
Create a tree out of paper, repurposed wood, or a simple drawing. Then have students attach things they’re thankful for to the tree. For a fun ending, read “The Giving Tree.”
6. List 100 things to be thankful for
Give students 10 minutes to write down 100 things they’re thankful for. The goal is to write items down as quickly as possible, in order to complete the list in 10 minutes. Debrief and invite students to make observations about their lists.
7. Have students write thank you notes to loved ones
Add humor by having kids write the notes on handprint turkeys (using tempura paint and construction paper), like they did as preschoolers.
8. Thank-you notes to students
Have the youth leaders share things they’re thankful for with the group. These might include experiences from the past year, things that make them proud of the group, and so on.
Do you have Thanksgiving youth group ideas that didn’t make this list? We’d be very grateful if you’d tell us about them below!
This article about Thanksgiving youth group ideas originally appeared here.
