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Thanksgiving Trivia Questions for Kids and Families
Thirty Thanksgiving questions to pass around the table while the turkey rests, with answers. Then play our full Thanksgiving category on the TV, with everyone answering on their phones.
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Easy Thanksgiving trivia questions for kids
1.On which day of the week does Thanksgiving always fall in the United States?
Thursday. It is the fourth Thursday of November, so the date lands between the 22nd and the 28th.
2.Each November, which bird does the U.S. president "pardon" at the White House?
A turkey. Pardoned turkeys are sent to live out their days on a farm or at a university.
3.What is a male turkey called?
A tom (or gobbler). Male turkeys do the famous gobbling; females mostly cluck and yelp.
4.Sweet potato casserole is often topped with what sweet, puffy treat?
Marshmallows. Sweet potatoes and yams are different plants, even though U.S. stores often mix up the names.
5.Which nut gives its name to a rich, gooey Thanksgiving pie?
The pecan. Pecan trees are native to North America, and their name comes from an Algonquian word.
6.What name is given to the shopping day right after Thanksgiving?
Black Friday. The name caught on in Philadelphia, where police used it for the heavy crowds and traffic.
7.What is a fun run held on Thanksgiving morning often called?
A turkey trot. The YMCA Turkey Trot in Buffalo, New York, was first run on Thanksgiving in 1896.
8.In the song "Over the River and Through the Wood," how do the travelers get to grandfather's house?
In a sleigh pulled by a horse. Lydia Maria Child wrote it in 1844 as a poem about Thanksgiving Day; many people now sing "grandmother's" instead.
9.Where do wild turkeys usually sleep at night?
Up in trees. Wild turkeys can fly in short bursts at about 55 miles per hour.
10.What is a Thanksgiving-style meal shared with friends instead of relatives often called?
Friendsgiving. Merriam-Webster added the word to its dictionary in 2020, 13 years after its first known use.
11.Where do food-safety experts at the USDA recommend thawing a frozen turkey?
In the refrigerator. Plan on about one day of thawing for every 4 to 5 pounds of turkey.
12.Which turkey meat is darker: the legs or the breast?
The legs. Turkeys walk and stand all day, so their leg muscles hold lots of myoglobin, a protein that stores oxygen.
Medium Thanksgiving trivia questions
13.Which part of a turkey can change color when the bird is excited?
The bare skin on its head and neck. It can shift between red, white and blue in moments.
14.What do many people call stuffing when it's baked in a dish instead of inside the bird?
Dressing. Which word you use often depends on where in the United States you grew up.
15.What is the colorful dried corn that decorates many doors and tables in autumn often called?
Flint corn, often called Indian corn. A single ear can have red, blue, white, gold and yellow kernels.
16.In 1789, who proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving under the new U.S. Constitution?
George Washington. He set aside Thursday, November 26, 1789, as a day of public thanksgiving.
17.Which Founding Father wrote to his daughter that the turkey was a more respectable bird than the bald eagle?
Benjamin Franklin. Despite the popular story, he never actually proposed the turkey as the national bird.
18.What is the red, dangling flap of skin under a turkey's beak called?
The wattle. A male turkey wiggles his wattle as part of his show to impress hens.
19.What name is given to the heart, liver and gizzard that come packed inside a whole turkey?
Giblets. Cooks take the giblet packet out of the turkey before it goes in the oven.
20.According to the USDA, what inside temperature must a cooked turkey reach to be safe to eat?
165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 degrees Celsius). Check with a food thermometer in the thickest part of the breast, the innermost thigh and the innermost wing.
21.Which artist painted Freedom from Want, the famous 1943 picture of a family gathering for a turkey dinner?
Norman Rockwell. Rockwell's neighbors and friends posed for it, and it appeared in The Saturday Evening Post.
22.Turkey often gets blamed for after-dinner sleepiness because of which substance in it?
Tryptophan. Turkey has no more of it than other meats like chicken; a big, carb-heavy meal is the likelier cause.
Hard Thanksgiving trivia questions for adults
23.Which Pilgrim governor wrote a history of Plymouth Colony that mentions hunting wild turkeys in its first autumn?
William Bradford. His book, Of Plymouth Plantation, went missing for decades and turned up again in the 1850s.
24.According to Pilgrim Edward Winslow, Massasoit's men went hunting during the 1621 harvest celebration and brought back five of which animal?
Deer. They gave the deer to the colony's governor and captain and others, adding venison to the shared meals.
25.Which cartoon cat was the very first giant balloon in New York City's big Thanksgiving parade, in 1927?
Felix the Cat. Puppet maker Tony Sarg designed the early balloons, and the Goodyear company built them.
26.Before sailing to America in 1620, many Pilgrims had lived for years in the city of Leiden. In which country is Leiden?
The Netherlands. They had moved there from England in 1608, and Leiden became their main home for about 12 years.
27.Which English explorer's crew held a service of thanks in the Canadian Arctic in 1578, long before the Pilgrims arrived?
Martin Frobisher. The ship's chaplain led thanks for their safe arrival in Frobisher Bay, in what is now Nunavut.
28.Which country celebrates Labor Thanksgiving Day every year on November 23?
Japan. It grew out of Niinamesai, an old harvest rite in which the emperor offers newly harvested grain.
29.Which dish of corn and lima beans takes its name from a word in the Narragansett language?
Succotash. It is a traditional side dish at many Thanksgiving dinners in New England.
30.Wild turkeys were first domesticated, or raised as farm birds, in which present-day country?
Mexico. Tame turkeys were taken to Europe and later came back across the ocean with settlers.
Ways to use these Thanksgiving questions
While the turkey rests on the counter and the gravy simmers, hand a few of these to whoever is hovering near the kitchen; it beats asking when dinner will be ready. Read the easy ones aloud on the drive to Grandma's, or save the hard ones for the uncles who think they know everything about the Pilgrims. Teachers can use a handful as a warm-up on the last school day before the break, and families can go around the table between helpings, with the youngest picking first. After the pie, see who remembers how fast a wild turkey can fly.
Make it a Bingo night: free printable holiday bingo cards from Room Game Night.
Play Thanksgiving trivia together
Room Trivia has a whole Thanksgiving category with different questions: four answers to pick from, points for speed, and a scoreboard. Put it on a TV or laptop and everyone answers on their own phone. Free, with no app and no account.