Quick Ideas for Thanksgiving

After stuffing yourself to the gills with at your fabulous Thanksgiving dinner, do something to burn off some of those calories.

I know you probably won’t feel like getting up and moving.

But, it will help you burn off some of the calories that you just consumed. That would be good, eh?

Here are a few games and activities that you can play outside — if it will be warm on Thanksgiving where you live.

Pumpkin Roll
Get two nice sized pumpkins. Divide your grandchildren into two teams. Mark a finish line on the ground 20 feet from the starting line. The first person on the team rolls a pumpkin with a stick (or with just their hands if your grandchildren are little) to the finish line. When their pumpkin reaches the finish line, the grandchild picks up the pumpkin and races back to his team and hands the pumpkin to the next person in line. The next person takes his turn rolling the pumpkin. The first team that finishes is the winner.

Turkey Trot
Pair up your grandchildren — or anybody else that is willing to play. Have them stand back to back and link arms at the elbows. Give each pair a ‘turkey’ — which is just really a fairly large ball (like a football). The object is to get from one end of the yard to the other without dropping their ‘turkey.’ The person not holding their turkey tries to knock other people’s ball out of their hands.

Kick the Can
This is basically a game of tag. One person is designated as It. That person sets the can in the middle of the yard. The others run and hide. It tries to find the other players. If he sees another player, he runs back to the can, kicks it and calls out the name of the person he sees. The person that was found races to kick the can before It kicks the can. If It kicks the can first, the player that was found is now It. If the player kicks the can first, he is safe. It continues looking for the other players.

Here are some activities if the weather is too cold to play outside.

Corn Pitching
Get a large bowl and a bag of popcorn. Set the bowl 7-8 feet away. Adjust this distance to fit the age and ability of your grandchildren. Give each grandchild 10 corn kernels. Have your grandchildren take turns. They toss the kernels into the bowl. The one with the most kernels that stay in the bowl is the winner.

I hope you have fun playing together as a family!