Add a little bit more fun into your Thanksgiving Day with this free printable Thanksgiving scavenger hunt! A full sheet of clues that’ll send kids around the house searching for things they’re grateful for! It’s the perfect way to get kids thinking about Thanksgiving and having a bit of fun!
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Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt
One of my favorite things to do with my son is a scavenger hunt.
You know one of those things where you’re given a clue that leads to a location with another clue and you keep going and going until you find the end of the hunt?
My family did them all the time growing up, and I’ve continued the tradition starting with my Halloween scavenger hunt and now this one.
I think maybe I just like to rhyme but that’s a story for another day. Or maybe when I do my Christmas scavenger hunt!
Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt Theme
The theme of this Thanksgiving scavenger hunt is things we’re thankful for.
Theme meaning the cards lead to different places in and outside of your house that we can all be thankful for, and the cards mention things we can be thankful for.
Things like running water, a washing machine, a bed (and roof overhead), and of course – an oven to cook pumpkin crunch cake!
We did this on the first day of November as one of our first gratitude activities, but you could do this any time in November, on Thanksgiving Day, on Black Friday or really whenever.
It’s just a fun way to get kids moving, thinking about clues, and a more unique way to give them a little surprise. It’s also a great precursor to doing some active Thanksgiving games like these ones!
You could even setup another game like this gratitude game at the end!
Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt Supplies
You just need a few things to do this Thanksgiving scavenger hunt with your kids!
- Printable scavenger hunt clues – download at the end of this post
- White card stock – I recommend printing the cards out on this
- Scissors – to cut out the clues
- Tape – to tape the clues around the house, I like to use festive stuff like this
- Prizes – either small prizes for along the hunt or one for the very end. I have some fun prize ideas toward the bottom of this post.
How to Do this Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt
One of my favorite things about scavenger hunts is that as long as you have the clues (and you do – I made them for you!), they are super easy to setup!
1 – Print and cut the downloadable scavenger hunt clues.
I recommend printing on white card stock but you can print on regular printer paper as well.
Once they’re printed – and before you cut them out – write on the back of each card the location it’s supposed to be put in.
The hunt goes from the first card to the end in a specific order so if you mess the order up, it can get a bit confusing for the kids. And if you cut them out first, it’s tricky to put them in the right order and location.
Hint – if you accidentally cut them out first, just look back at the non printed PDF to get the right order!
2 – Hide your scavenger hunt clues.
Put the first clue aside then hide your other clues where they are supposed to be around the house.
If you’re doing this with younger kids, make them easy. If you’re doing it with older kids, make them a bit tricker – kind of like if you were doing one of these Easter egg hunts.
If you’ve never done a scavenger hunt before, you’ll want to put each clue in the location that the clue before it directed the kids to.
So for instance, the card that talks about washing their hands – don’t put that in the bathroom. The clue AFTER that one in the document goes in the bathroom. The washing hands clue will be somewhere else (wherever the clue before it leads).
3 – Go hunting!
Give your kids the first clue and let them follow the other clues throughout the hunt!
Don’t forget to go with them – that’s half the fun! And if your kids are younger, they might need a little help trying to figure out all the clues or reading to them.
Scavenger Hunt Prize Ideas
- Thanksgiving Books
- Thanksgiving Pencils + Notebooks
- Gobble T-Shirts
- Stuffed turkey
- Pilgrim Ducks
- Thanksgiving sticker playset
- Thanksgiving Dinosaur Shirt
- Thanksgiving Owl Treat Bags (with treats)
- Turkey Toes Treat
- Gobbles the Turkey (so cute!)
- Thanksgiving Stickers
- Turkey Puzzle
Download the Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt
All you need to do for this Thanksgiving scavenger hunt is print out the free printable PDF.
Cut up the cards and then hide them where they go! I purposely made the clues in a way that they should work in everyone’s home, not just mine. I’m assuming everyone has a bed, an oven, somewhere they get mail, and more. If not, sorry!
Enter your first name and email address in the form below to get the printable. If the form isn’t showing up below, click here to get to the form to download the printable files.
More Fun Thanksgiving Ideas
- Printable pictionary cards for Thanksgiving
- Thanksgiving charades game
- Fun Thanksgiving games
- Thanksgiving family feud game
- Easy Thanksgiving crafts
More Thanksgiving Printables
- Free buffalo check prints
- Thanksgiving table settings
- Give thanks printables
- Why Thankful game
- Printable Thanksgiving tags
- Thanksgiving coloring page
- More Thanksgiving coloring pages
- Printable cornucopia treats
- Leftover labels
- Gobble It Up printables
Don’t forget to pin this Thanksgiving scavenger hunt for later.
neicy says
do you have scavenger hunt for adult party. for my husband to solve in front of a room of family.
BritniV says
Are you looking for a particular theme? Is it like a birthday thing or something else? If you want a birthday themed one, this one is fun –> https://www.playpartyplan.com/birthday-scavenger-hunt-ideas/.
Angela Gray says
How can I print these?
BritniV says
Enter your first name and email address in the form on the page and it’ll give you a printable PDF.
Lisa says
Hi! These are great. How do I print them? Thanks!
BritniV says
Enter your name and email in the pink form on the page and you’ll be send a PDF for printing.
Navin sahni says
can you please send me the printable pdfs.
BritniV says
Enter your email address and first name in the form and it’ll take you right to the printable!
Trina L Ferling says
Great fun!
BritniV says
I love the holidays and family time!
Cheryl Newton says
Ideas are great!!
BritniV says
Thank you!