By Kendra Johnson

Thanksgiving always seems so exciting in the commercials and movies, but there have been many times that I have found the holiday to be kind of boring. We don't usually have family travel to see us so it's just the same people we always see. 

It's nice, but there isn't actually anything too festive about it. If your family is like mine, you might want a few ideas to help bring up the energy this thanksgiving!

Here are 5 Family Fun Activities to Help Make Your Thanksgiving Fun

1. BINGO

Make meal time even more exciting by playing Thanksgiving BINGO!  This activity is amazing because it'll keep the kids entertained and encourage them to try a little bit of everything on the menu! 

While the food is being prepared, spend time with the kids cutting out the card markers and setting a board and 9 card markers at each place setting. 

Then, decide what the "Prize" will be! 

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE PRINTABLE CARDS HERE

2. Keepy-Uppy

Keep the kids distracted with this super simple game! Just give each kid a small craft feather or balloon and see who can keep theirs in the air the longest. If you don't want to make it a competition, have each child just see how long they can keep the balloon or feather in the air. 

3. Nature Walk: Collect Decorations

Go for a family walk and collect artifacts to make a table centerpiece. This could include pine cones, leaves, dried plants, branches, and any other interesting things! 

When you get back from the walk, place the items in a vase.

4. Play Hot Potato or "Gobble, Gobble, SQUAWK!" 

Hot Potato

Grab an extra potato from the kitchen and play this classic game! To play, you sing 

One Potato, Two Potato

Three Potato, Four

Five Potato, Six Potato

Seven Potato, More!

1! 2! 3! 4! 5! 6! HOT!

While singing the song you pass the potato quickly around the circle. The last person who touched the potato once the words HOT were shouted is considered out.

If you only have a few kids then you could just laugh and say "the hot potato got you!" and let them continue to play. 

Gobble, Gobble, SQUAWK

The same rules as Duck, Duck, Goose except you say Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, SQUAWK! 

Everyone sits in a circle and one person is the Turkey. They walk around the circle, gently tapping each child's head. With each tap the Turkey says "gobble." This continues until they choose one person to tag and they instead yell "SQUAWK!!!"

The person tagged then chases the turkey around the circle, attempting to tag them before their spot in the circle is taken by the Turkey.

If the turkey is tagged, they remain the turkey. If the tagged player doesn't catch the turkey before they take a seat, they become the new turkey. 

5. Thanksgiving Pictionary or Charades

Another simple activity to try with any age would be either Pictionary or charades, but Thanksgiving themed!

You can work together to come up with all of the words, or you can use this list.