10 Easy and Fun Elementary Thanksgiving PE Stations and Relays
Get ready to gobble up some fun with these 10 easy and festive elementary Thanksgiving PE stations and relays!
Perfectly designed to keep K-5 students hopping, running, throwing, and laughing, these holiday-themed activities blend fitness with festive cheer.
Thanksgiving PE Stations and Relays
Kick off pumpkin pie season with 10 Thanksgiving PE Stations and Relays that are easy, fun, low-prep and unique.
These engaging and kid-friendly physical education activities blend Thanksgiving-themed games, fitness fun, and team challenges into station rotations and relay races that excite and motivate every student.
Enhance your November PE lessons with 10 fun activities and Thanksgiving PE Station and Relay Race Ideas your K-5 Physical Education students will absolutely LOVE!
Hi there, it’s so great to meet you! I’m Mrs. T. (Love 2 Teach and Learn) or you can call me Jen – a Michigan mom, wife, new grandma (aka “Jemma”) and K-12 PE teacher who has also taught Kindergarten, 3rd, and 6th grades.
In this post love2teachandlearn (Mrs. T.) will share every awesome detail related to how to easily add these Thanksgiving PE Stations and Relays Ideas to your November PE Class Schedule.
#1: Thanksgiving PE Station – Pumpkin Patch Pop
SUPPLIES NEEDED: A Bunch of Orange Balloons, Kids Ready to Have a TOTAL BLAST!
PE STATION SET-UP: Place a large garbage bag with the orange balloons inside in the area of the gym where you want to set up this station.
HOW TO PLAY: Kids love balloons so much. Tell them that the balloons are the pumpkins in the pumpkin patch and their job is to have fun playing “Keepy Uppy” with the pumpkins. They can use whatever body part necessary to keep the pumpkins (balloons) from touching the ground.
#2: Thanksgiving PE Station – Pin the Helmet on the Turkey
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Large Cardboard or Paper Turkey, Several Cut-out Paper Football Helmets, Blindfold, Tape
PE STATION SET-UP: Hang the Turkey up on a gym wall with tape. Place a basket filled with the blindfold, paper helmets, and some tape at the station.
HOW TO PLAY: Each students should put on the blindfold, have their classmates spin them around a few times, then walk forward and pin (or tape) a helmet on the turkey. The student who gets the closest to where the turkey’s helmet would actually be – WINS.
*It’s fun to use paper football helmets that correlate with your school colors or your state’s favorite home football team.
#3: Thanksgiving PE Station – Pumpkin Pie Putt-Putt
SUPPLIES NEEDED: 1 Orange Poly Spot, Several Small Pumpkins, Mini Golf Putting Green (if you don’t have one, here’s how to easily make your own), Golf Putter, Golf Ball
PE STATION SET-UP: First, lay out the putting green. THEN, place the Orange Poly Spot (represents the pumpkin pie) at the end of the green. Finally, scatter all of the small pumpkins (obstacles) around the green.
HOW TO PLAY: Students take turns putt-putting to the Pumpkin Pie (Poly Dot Spot) – count how many strokes it takes them to hit the pumpkin pie with their golf ball.
*Sometimes, I line up several putting greens to make an extra long pumpkin mini golf hole. The kids think this is so cool.
#4: Thanksgiving PE Station – Turkey Feather Bowling
SUPPLIES NEEDED: 1 Basketball, 10 Different Colored Bowling Pins, 10 Colorful Juggling Scarves (only if you don’t have colored bowling pins)
PE STATION SET-UP: First, grab a basketball (this will be your pumpkin). Next set the ten colored pins (these are your turkey feathers) up in a pyramid (4-3-2-1) formation – just like regular bowling. If you don’t have colored bowling pins, simply use colorful juggling scarves and tie them around the neck of your bowling pins.
HOW TO PLAY: Just have fun knocking the turkey feathers (pins) down with the pumpkin (basketball) and BOWL – wacky style, normal or whatever works for you.
#5: Thanksgiving PE Station – Feed the Turkey
SUPPLIES NEEDED: 1 Hula Hoop, 10 Bean Bags, Dry Erase Board, Dry Erase Marker
PE STATION SET-UP: Simply place the hula hoop, bean bags and dry erase board/marker in the corner of the gym or space where you want to conduct this station.
HOW TO PLAY: Each student should take a turn being the turkey (holding the hula hoop up around their waist), while the other students in the station group practice “feeding” (underhand throwing) the turkey with the “food” (bean bags).
When it’s their turn to feed the turkey, each student gets 10 pieces of food (bean bags) to feed the turkey with. After they have fed the turkey, they should record their score (how many pieces of food they got through the hoop) on the dry erase board.
*It’s helpful to use a piece of colored tape, line on the gym floor, or a Poly Spot to mark the throwing line in this game. Simply adjust the line closer or further away based on grade/age level.
#6: Thanksgiving PE Relay – Build a Turkey
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Hula Hoops, Colored Cones, Pool Noodles, Poly Spots, Jerseys or Pinnies, etc.
PE RELAY SET-UP: First, gather as much fun (turkey building) equipment as you can and lay it out on the floor at one end of the gym. Next, divide your class into relay teams. Finally have them line up at the opposite end of the gym.
HOW TO PLAY: When the relay begins, students take turns running down to grab one piece of equipment from the opposite end of the gym and bringing it back to their team. The relay continues until all of the equipment as been gathered. Finally, give the students 3-5 minutes to work together to create a turkey using the supplies they gathered as a team.
*Be sure to take pictures of your students with your turkeys and display them in your gym or Thanksgiving PE Bulletin Board.
#7: Thanksgiving PE Relay – Pumpkin Pie Relay
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Small Pumpkin Pie Pumpkins, Frisbees or Pie Tins
PE RELAY SET-UP: Divide your class into relay teams and have them line up with their teams at one end of the gym.
HOW TO PLAY: When the relay begins, students take turns racing to the opposite end of the gym and back while balancing a frisbee or pie tin with a small pumpkin on top. If the pumpkin or pie plate falls, the student must go back to the start line and begin again.
#8: Thanksgiving PE Relay – Magical Turkey Drumstick
SUPPLIES NEEDED: 3-5 Long Pool Noodles, Food Squishies, Play Food or Bean Bags, Kids Ready to Have Tons of Fun
PE RELAY SET-UP: FIRST, Divide the class into teams of three or four students. THEN, Have them line up with their teams at one end of the gym. NEXT, Give each team a long pool noodle and a hula hoop.
FINALLY, Scatter several play food pieces, squishies or bean bags on the gym floor, on the opposite side of the gym from where the students are lined up.
HOW TO PLAY: Explain to the students that it is Thanksgiving Day and 50 people suddenly showed up at their house for dinner but they have no food in the house to feed them.
The turkey drumstick (pool noodle) is magical because it can fly to the grocery store super fast.
When the relay begins, all students must hop on and ride on the drumstick (see photo below) together, traveling to the grocery store (food at the opposite end of the gym) as a team.
For each trip down the gym floor to the grocery store, teams are allowed to choose only one food item to bring back and add to their hula hoop, which is their Thanksgiving dinner table.
When all of the food items have been collected, have the students count up how many items they each collected.
The team with the most food collected for their Thanksgiving feast wins the turkey drumstick relay.
#9: Thanksgiving PE Relay – Pumpkin Rolling
SUPPLIES NEEDED: A Few Big Pumpkins
PE RELAY SET-UP: Divide your class into relay teams and have them line up with their teams at one end of the gym.
HOW TO PLAY: When the relay begins, students take turns rolling a pumpkin to the opposite end of the gym and back. The team that finishes first – WINS!
*If you don’t have pumpkins you can always use orange playground balls or large fitness balls work too.
#10: Thanksgiving PE Relay – Dinner Dash
SUPPLIES NEEDED: A Few Baskets (Laundry Baskets Work Well), Play Food Items or Bean Bags if You Don’t Have Play Food
PE RELAY SET-UP: Divide your class into relay teams, give them each a basket and have them line up with their teams at one end of the gym.
Spread the food items out along the gym floor on the opposite end of the gym.
HOW TO PLAY: When the relay begins, students take turns pushing their grocery basket to the grocery store on the opposite side of the gym and choosing one food item to add to their basket. The game continues until all of the food items have been picked up. The team that collects the most food for their Thanksgiving dinner – WINS!
BONUS TIPS for this Relay
- I usually pick 3-4 mystery food items before the relay. When the kids are counting up how many food items they got at the end of the relay, I reveal the mystery items and make the mystery items worth 5 bonus points.
- I’ve had kids mat surf down to get the food – they love this!
- And, if you really want to up the fun level on this relay you can have the kids use scooters to dash to the supermarket and get their food. I’ve also had kids pull team members down to get the food. Just make sure you have scooter safety rules in place.
These Thanksgiving PE Stations and Relays are sure to leave a lasting impression on your students. Try these creative Thanksgiving PE activities to transform your physical education lessons and make November your most spirited season yet.
Then, I’d love to hear from you – Which Thanksgiving PE Stations and Relays were your favorites? Did you make any fun changes that worked well?
Why use Stations in PE Class?
Using small group stations in elementary PE classes helps create a dynamic, inclusive, and effective learning environment that benefits students physically, socially, and emotionally.
If you want 40 more Awesome PE Station Ideas – I got you! You can check them out RIGHT HERE!
I’ve been running Pe Stations with my students for many years now and feel like I have a pretty good system set up that helps my stations run pretty darn smoothly.
Here are a few PE Station Set-Up Tips for you that have worked really well for me over the years.
PE Station Tips for You
- GROUP SIZE: Try to keep your station groups between 3-5 students. Anything more or less than that can make things a bit challenging.
- CONE MARKERS: I like to use bright colored, medium-sized cones to mark my different stations. I also number each station by simply writing or taping numbers on a piece of paper and taping it to the cones.
- EQUIPMENT: I like to put a basket with all equipment needed for that station next to each numbered cone.
- STATION ROTATION: I have found that having my students rotate from numbered cone to numbered cone in a counter-clockwise direction works really well. So, when it’s time to rotate, the kids at Station #1 will go to #2, #2 goes to #3, and those at #4 will rotate to Station #1.
- USE MUSIC: I love using music in the gym – not only is it fun for the kids and I to listen to but it seriously works as the absolute best classroom management too. My rule is: MUSIC ON-Your Turn, MUSIC OFF – My Turn! When I stop the music, my students know that it is time to rotate WITH THEIR STATION GROUP MEMBERS to their next station. Once everyone is at their next station – start the music back up again.
Happy Thanksgiving
So, what do you say? Why not blast some “clean” and upbeat PE music , maybe tell a few funny Thanksgiving Jokes and bring the excitement of these 10 Thanksgiving PE Stations and games to your gymnasium today!
So, whether you decide to play these incredible Thanksgiving PE games with your kindergarten students, first grade cuties or all the way up to fifth grade, Just have tons of holiday FUN!
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out my 10 easy and fun Thanksgiving PE Stations and Relays.
I really appreciate it and I hope that you have a TRULY BLESSED And BEAUTIFUL Day spent laughing until your cheeks hurt!
