{"id":6261,"date":"2016-10-25T16:10:20","date_gmt":"2016-10-25T20:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/?p=6261"},"modified":"2026-01-15T11:22:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T16:22:06","slug":"5-thanksgiving-games-to-add-to-your-activity-calendar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/5-thanksgiving-games-to-add-to-your-activity-calendar\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Thanksgiving Games to Add to Your Activity Calendar"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"thanksgivingWith Thanksgiving just around the corner, get your residents excited and active during the holiday season by scheduling fun facility-wide competitions. Here are a few Thanksgiving games from notjustbingo.com to get you started.<\/p>\n

Turkey Bowl<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead of playing the traditional game of football during this time of the year, challenge residents to a game of bowling \u2013 turkey bowling! To play, simply modify your existing bowling pins by taping feathers<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to the back of each pin. In addition, consider setting up several bowling games<\/strong><\/a> in your Activity Room to encourage more people to play. To make it even more fun, the day before the competition, divide residents into teams and encourage team members to dress alike for the competition (e.g., all wear red shirts or all wear baseball caps \u2013 an item that they all have) to encourage \u201cteam unity.\u201d Afterwards, award trophies or ribbons<\/strong><\/a> to the winning Turkey Bowl team.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s the Turkey?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Play a fun trivia game<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0with residents to find out who\u2019s the turkey of the group. Divide residents into teams and award points to the team members who answer the trivia questions correctly. At the end of the game, tally the points to find out which team has the lowest score and then award that team with the title of \u201cturkey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turkey Volley<\/strong><\/p>\n

Invite residents to play one of their favorite games \u2013 balloon volleyball \u2013 and use an orange or brown balloon in honor of the season! Use foam rackets<\/a><\/strong> and a net<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to play.<\/p>\n

For this special game, try to create instant buzz by naming it the (Your Facility Name) Annual Balloon Challenge. Several days before, appeal to your residents\u2019 competitive side by organizing teams for the challenge (e.g., Exercise Club against the Knitting Club or the first floor against the second floor). To get residents even more excited about the competition, display the prizes that will be awarded to the winning team, like the trophies or a few of your coveted bingo prizes. Consider getting your facility\u2019s administrators in on this annual challenge by hosting a special administrator game as well.<\/p>\n

Gobble, Gobble<\/strong><\/p>\n

Play a fun game with residents for the day where they automatically receive a prize such as awards<\/strong><\/a> or\u00a0candy<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0for saying the word of the day: gobble. Don\u2019t let anyone know what the word of the day is, just have your staff and administrators give out the prize whenever they hear a person use that word during the day. If residents like this activity, consider playing this word-of-the-day game each week. This is also a great and easy weekend game for weekend staff members to play when you\u2019re not there.<\/p>\n

Pass the Cranberries<\/strong><\/p>\n

Have fun with your residents while they get a good workout playing Pass the Cranberries. To play, seat two teams of residents at a long table with members of each team sitting on the same side of the table. Set a bowl of cranberries in front of one member of each team \u2013 the one sitting at the end of the table \u2013 and provide empty bowls for all the other team members.<\/p>\n

Give each resident a pair of chopsticks, or these jumbo tweezers<\/a><\/strong> are easy to grip (you can also use spoons to make it easier) and when you say \u201cgo\u201d have the person with the bowl of cranberries in front of them take their chopsticks or spoon and pass one cranberry at a time to the person next to them by placing it in their bowl. Next, have that person do the same until the cranberry ends up in the bowl of the last person on the team. Finally, have that last person pass his cranberries onto a plate (to make it easier to count). The object of the game is to be the team to get the most cranberries from the first bowl to the plate by the end of the time allotted. This is also a great activity for practicing fine motor skills! If real cranberries are not an option, use red pom-poms<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0as an alternative.<\/p>\n

Share your favorite Thanksgiving games to play at your facility!<\/p>\n

Find more ideas from Notjustbingo\u00a0on the S&S blog here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

About Not Just Bingo:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"senior<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Not Just Bingo<\/a>\u00a0is an online resource of fun, senior activity ideas for activity professionals of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. They have been providing fun activity ideas online since 2009, and continue to assist activity professionals across the country by creating meaningful and engaging activity ideas for their residents that go \u201cbeyond bingo.\u201d Not Just Bingo feels\u00a0privileged to help activity directors better the living experiences of their residents while demonstrating that a senior\u2019s quality of life can actually\u00a0improve<\/em>\u00a0when they move to a nursing facility!<\/p>\n

Want even more ideas each month? Visit\u00a0www.notjustbingo.com<\/a>\u00a0for how-to activity ideas, monthly newsletters, and daily holiday ideas. You can also sign up for the\u00a0Notjustbingo Membership<\/a>\u00a0to receive specialized activity ideas to keep your residents and staff engaged, active, and having fun!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, get your residents excited and active during the holiday season by scheduling fun facility-wide competitions. Here are a few Thanksgiving games from notjustbingo.com to get you started. Turkey Bowl Instead of playing the traditional … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[457,224],"tags":[1008,590,495,284,257,518,1165,255,874,314,471,259,1007],"yoast_head":"\n5 Thanksgiving Games to Add to Your Activity Calendar - S&S Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/5-thanksgiving-games-to-add-to-your-activity-calendar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Thanksgiving Games to Add to Your Activity Calendar - S&S Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With Thanksgiving just around the corner, get your residents excited and active during the holiday season by scheduling fun facility-wide competitions. 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