I’ll be the first to admit that I can’t draw to save my life. I tried drawing Pokemon pictures for my son once and he declared me the worst. He even went so far as to tell me that it was so painful to watch me try to draw. Luckily in Pictionary you don’t have to really know how to draw. You can chicken scratch and stick figure your way to victory! It’s one of the reasons we absolutely love the game! And this Thanksgiving version is great for families to play after dinner, before dinner, or any time during the Thanksgiving season! I mean who couldn’t use a little movement after eating this pumpkin crunch cake? And it’s a little more low-key than say these Thanksgiving minute to win it games (but they’re super fun too!) You could even play today – I don’t mind. Or play on November first along with this Skittles gratitude game as a way to get the season started off right!
Thanksgiving Pictionary Supplies
You only really need a few things to play Pictionary. That’s why it’s one of my favorite Thanksgiving games! You can either buy them separately or just buy the actual game and switch out the words with the Thanksgiving Pictionary words from this post!
Pens – You can either use dry erase pens or regular pens, totally up to you, just make sure they work before the game Paper – You can use regular paper, a large flip pad of paper like this (and like they do on the game show Win Lose or Draw), or small dry erase boards. I like the idea of dry erase because I often screw up and want to start over again! Pictionary words – Print out the PDF with the Thanksgiving pictionary words at the bottom of this post Timer – You can either get an electronic timer like this or a 2-minute sand timer (or 3-minute if you think your group will need more time)
How to Play Thanksgiving Pictionary
One thing I love most about Pictionary is that it’s a game you can seriously just decide to play last minute and be ready to play five minutes later. Having these Thanksgiving pictionary cards ready for you makes it even easier. I’ve included instructions on how to play Thanksgiving pictionary below but if you want to try something else with these words – I highly recommend trying out one of these unique charades games as well! You can watch the video below to see some of the different charades games you can play! Just use the Thanksgiving pictionary words from this post or from this Thanksgiving charades post instead of the Halloween ones!
1 – Print and cut out your Pictionary words.
The printable PDF at the bottom of this post has different words you can use for Thanksgiving Pictionary! Simply print out the pages of the PDF, cut out the words, fold them up, and put them in a bowl.
2 – Divide into teams.
Divide your group into two teams. You can divide however you want – by age, by gender, by family. Totally up to you – just make sure the teams are even in size. And I’d say skill but you just never know who is going to be good at pictionary or not. Sometimes the people who draw the best are actually the worst because they go for perfection over speed.
3 – Pick someone to go first.
That team will pick someone from their team to draw first. That person chooses a word from the bowl and draws it as quickly as possible to get their team to guess it. Only drawing allowed – no props, words, or actions allowed. If you want to act, try out one of these party games instead! If their team guesses the word before the timer runs out, they get a point. If you want to add a little twist to the game, give the other team one chance to guess what the picture is if the first team doesn’t get it right. If they guess correctly, they get to steal the point for the round.
4 – Next team’s turn.
Now it’s the other team’s turn. Someone on their team will do the exact same thing – draw a picture while their team guesses.
5 – Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Keep playing until everyone on the team has had a a turn to draw at least once. Add up the total number of pictures they guessed correctly and the team with the most points wins.
Download the Free Printable Thanksgiving Pictionary PDF
Enter your first name and email address in the form below to get a PDF of Thanksgiving Pictionary words. Once you fill in the form, you’ll immediately be taken to a PDF to print/download and receive a copy to your email inbox as well. The PDF will have one sheet of words. If you want additional words, I recommend downloading and printable these Thanksgiving charades as well! If you cannot see the form below, click here to get to it.
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