About Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a harvest holiday for giving thanks. In the United States it falls on the fourth Thursday of November, and in Canada on the second Monday of October. The American holiday looks back to a three-day harvest feast in 1621, shared by English colonists at Plymouth and members of the Wampanoag nation, though it only became a yearly national holiday in 1863.
Today it is mostly about food, family and football. These cards mix the dishes on the table with the little moments of the day, like the parade, the wishbone and the nap on the couch, and every square is explained below for anyone celebrating for the first time.
Did you know?
US Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday of November. Canadian Thanksgiving is on the second Monday of October.
The 1621 harvest celebration at Plymouth, often called the "first Thanksgiving", lasted about three days. It was shared by English colonists and around 90 Wampanoag men.
Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, after years of letters from writer Sarah Josepha Hale, who also wrote the poem Mary Had a Little Lamb.
Ripe cranberries have tiny pockets of air inside, so many farms flood their fields and harvest the berries as they float.
Wild turkeys can fly in short bursts and usually sleep perched up in trees.
Words in this puzzle 40
Thanksgiving list 40 words
- acorn
- The nut of an oak tree, sitting in a little cup-shaped cap.
- apple cider
- In North America, cloudy, unfiltered apple juice, often served warm with spices.
- apple pie
- A baked pie filled with sliced apples, sugar and cinnamon.
- autumn
- The season between summer and winter, when leaves fall. Called fall in North America.
- blessing
- Words of thanks or a prayer said before a meal.
- board games
- Games played on a board at a table, often brought out after a big meal.
- centerpiece
- A decoration placed in the middle of a table, such as flowers, candles or small pumpkins.
- corn bread
- A crumbly bread made with cornmeal.
- corn maze
- A maze cut into a field of tall corn plants, a popular autumn outing.
- cornucopia
- A horn-shaped basket overflowing with fruit and vegetables, a symbol of plenty.
- cozy sweater
- A warm, comfortable knitted jumper.
- cranberry sauce
- A sweet-tart sauce made from cooked cranberries, served with turkey.
- dinner rolls
- Small, soft bread buns served with a meal.
- family
- A group of people related to each other, like parents, children and grandparents.
- football game
- A game of American football, often watched on TV on Thanksgiving afternoon.
- gourd
- A hard-skinned fruit from the same family as pumpkins, often dried and used as decoration.
- grateful
- Feeling thankful for something or someone.
- gratitude jar
- A jar where family members drop notes about things they are thankful for.
- gravy
- A warm sauce made from meat juices, poured over turkey and potatoes.
- green beans
- Long, thin green pods eaten as a vegetable, often baked in a casserole.
- harvest
- Gathering in crops when they are ripe, and the crops that are gathered.
- hayride
- A ride in a cart or trailer filled with hay, pulled by a tractor or horses.
- kids' table
- A separate, smaller table where children sit at a big family meal.
- leaves
- The flat parts of trees, which turn red, orange and gold and fall in autumn.
- leftovers
- Food left after a meal, saved to eat later.
- maple leaf
- The leaf of a maple tree, famous for turning bright red and orange in autumn.
- mashed potatoes
- Potatoes boiled, then mashed until smooth, often with butter and milk.
- nap on the couch
- A short sleep after a big meal. A Thanksgiving tradition for many families!
- napkin
- A square of cloth or paper for wiping your mouth and hands at the table.
- parade
- A procession of marching bands, floats and performers moving along a street.
- pecan pie
- A sweet pie filled with pecan nuts in a sticky, caramel-like filling.
- pilgrim hat
- A tall black hat often drawn on Pilgrim costumes. The buckle came from later pictures, not from the real Pilgrims.
- potluck
- A meal where every guest brings a dish to share.
- pumpkin patch
- A field where pumpkins grow, often open in autumn for families to pick their own.
- pumpkin pie
- A pie with a smooth, spiced pumpkin filling, a classic Thanksgiving dessert.
- scarecrow
- A figure in old clothes set in a field to scare birds away from crops.
- stuffing
- A savoury mix of bread, herbs and vegetables, baked inside the turkey or in a dish. Also called dressing.
- sweet potatoes
- Orange root vegetables with a sweet taste, often baked or mashed.
- turkey
- A large bird, roasted whole as the centrepiece of many Thanksgiving dinners. Wild turkeys live in North American woods.
- wishbone
- A forked bone from a bird's chest. Two people pull it, and whoever gets the bigger piece makes a wish.
The kids’ table secret weapon
There is always a stretch on Thanksgiving Day when the turkey needs another hour and everyone is hungry. A round of bingo fills it nicely. The built-in list mixes the feast (gravy, stuffing, pecan pie) with the rest of the day (the parade, the football game, the nap on the couch) so grown-ups can play along, and children who can read short phrases can play by themselves.
Every card is unique, so you can print one per guest with a few spares. Or play "day bingo": hand out cards in the morning and let people mark squares as things actually happen: the wishbone gets pulled, someone mentions leftovers, a cozy sweater appears.
For the classroom
Teachers use Thanksgiving bingo to wrap up a unit on harvest, gratitude or the autumn season. Replace a few squares with your own vocabulary, or add a gratitude twist: when a child gets bingo, they share something they are thankful for. Four cards per page keeps copying to a minimum.
Print it ahead
Cards can be made any time and printed on regular paper or card stock. Calling cards are optional; a paper bag or a clean gravy boat makes a good draw bowl. Everything stays in your browser.
Questions people ask
When is Thanksgiving?
In the United States, the fourth Thursday of November. In Canada, the second Monday of October.
Why do people eat turkey at Thanksgiving?
Wild turkeys are native to North America and big enough to feed a crowd. Turkey became the traditional centrepiece in the 1800s, helped by writers like Sarah Josepha Hale who described Thanksgiving dinners.
What is the wishbone tradition?
After the meal, two people each hold one end of the turkey's forked wishbone and pull. Whoever ends up with the bigger piece gets to make a wish.
Can adults and kids play on the same cards?
Yes. The list mixes simple food words with moments from the day, and you can switch to 3×3 cards for little ones.
What is in the Medium and Hard PDFs?
Each has 20 unique 5×5 cards and a caller checklist. Medium has a free centre square; Hard has none, so it takes a full line of five.