Thanksgiving Trivia for Kids
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147 free Thanksgiving Trivia for Kids trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
45 free Thanksgiving Trivia for Kids questions with answers. This kids Thanksgiving trivia quiz is written for children aged roughly 8 to 12, with grown-ups welcome to play along. The questions cover the story of the first feast at Plymouth in 1621, the Mayflower and the Wampanoag, Squanto and the corn he taught the Pilgrims to grow, and the president who finally made Thanksgiving a national holiday. There is plenty of fun stuff too: what a baby turkey is called, how far away a gobble can be heard, why the New York parade once had zoo animals instead of balloons, which cartoon mouse got the first balloon, what Snoopy serves for dinner in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, why cranberries float and where the wishbone actually comes from. Nothing scary, nothing grown-up. It works for a classroom warm-up, a car ride to grandma's or a table game before the pie. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic or primary source and each question shows its citation once you have answered, so you can settle any arguments on the spot.
30 of 147 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which month is Thanksgiving celebrated in the United States?
November
American Thanksgiving is a federal holiday held on the fourth Thursday of November every year.
Q 02American Thanksgiving always falls on which day of the week?
Thursday
Thursday every year; the day straight after has its own nickname, Black Friday, and the weekend is one of the busiest of the year.
Q 03The Pilgrims' famous 1621 harvest feast took place at which settlement?
Plymouth
After bringing in their first good harvest, the colonists celebrated at Plymouth for three days in the autumn of 1621.
Q 04Which Native American people joined the Pilgrims at that 1621 feast?
Wampanoag
The Wampanoag had made a mutual protection agreement with the colonists, and their farming and hunting know-how had produced much of the food at the feast.
Q 05Which ship carried the Pilgrims across the Atlantic in 1620?
Mayflower
The Mayflower was an English merchant sailing ship. It transported the group of English families we now call the Pilgrims to the New World.
Q 06Which president made Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863?
Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln set it for the 26th, the final Thursday of November 1863.
Q 07Which department store puts on the huge Thanksgiving Day parade through New York City, with giant character balloons?
Macy's
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is the world's largest parade; its giant balloons first appeared in 1927.
Q 08Which roasted bird is the centrepiece of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner?
Turkey
Thanksgiving dinner is a large meal built around a big roast turkey, usually with stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy alongside.
Q 09Which pie is the most traditional Thanksgiving dessert?
Pumpkin pie
Pumpkin pie is widely regarded as the most popular and most traditional Thanksgiving dessert, though apple pie and pecan pie are common favourites too.
Q 10Which small red berry is made into a sauce served beside the turkey?
Cranberry
Cranberry sauce is a relish made out of cranberries and is a standard side dish at Thanksgiving dinner in North America.
Q 11When two people snap a turkey's wishbone, what does the one with the bigger piece get to do?
Make a wish
The custom of two people pulling on the bone, with the one holding the larger part making a wish, goes back to the early 17th century.
Q 12Canada celebrates its own Thanksgiving in which month?
October
Canadian Thanksgiving is held on the second Monday in October, more than a month before the American holiday.
Q 13Which NFL team has hosted a Thanksgiving Day game since 1934?
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions began the tradition in 1934 by hosting the Chicago Bears. The Dallas Cowboys started hosting their own Thanksgiving game much later, in 1966.
Q 21Most turkeys raised on farms have feathers of which colour?
White
Most farm turkeys are bred white because the tiny pin feathers left after plucking are hard to spot on pale skin, so the dressed bird looks cleaner.
Q 22Which of these can wild turkeys do that heavy farm turkeys mostly cannot?
Fly quickly
Wild birds usually fly low and for no more than about a quarter of a mile, but they are quick and nimble in the air.
Q 23Squanto, who helped the Pilgrims, had earlier been kidnapped and sold in which European country?
Spain
Squanto was kidnapped in 1614 and sold at Malaga, Spain; he later reached England, learned English, and got home in 1619 to find his village empty.
Q 14What is a grown male turkey called?
A tom
A male turkey is called a tom, or sometimes a gobbler. The female is called a hen and is much smaller.
Q 15From which country did the Pilgrims sail to America?
England
The Mayflower was an English ship, and it carried a group of English families from England to the New World in 1620.
Q 16What is a baby turkey called?
A poult
Poults can walk and leave the nest within a day of hatching, which is why turkey chicks are called precocial.
Q 17What is the tuft of stiff, hair-like feathers on a male turkey's chest called?
A beard
Male turkeys grow a beard, a tuft of coarse, bristle-like feathers hanging from the chest; on a mature tom it can reach about ten inches long.
Q 18The fleshy flap that hangs over a turkey's beak is called what?
The snood
The snood is the fleshy flap that hangs over a turkey's beak; a male's snood lengthens to several inches and flushes red when he is excited.
Q 19A wild turkey's gobble can be heard from about how far away?
One mile
A wild turkey's gobble carries about one mile; males gobble in early spring to announce themselves to hens and to rival toms.
Q 20Where do wild turkeys usually spend the night?
In trees
Wild turkeys roost in trees, flying up to the branches at dusk; sleeping high off the ground in a group keeps them safer from predators that hunt after dark.
Q 24Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to catch eels and grow which crop?
Corn
Squanto showed the Pilgrims how to plant corn, burying fish in each hill as fertiliser, and where to catch eels; the 1621 corn harvest was the colony's first real success.
Q 25Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who campaigned for a national Thanksgiving, also wrote which nursery rhyme?
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Hale's 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' was published in 1830, and her years of letters to presidents earned her the nickname 'Mother of Thanksgiving'.
Q 26In 1939, the US president moved Thanksgiving a week earlier to give people more time for what?
Christmas shopping
The 1939 move was meant to lengthen the Christmas shopping season; it caused such confusion that some states kept the old date, and Congress settled the matter two years later.
Q 27Which president signed the 1941 law that fixed the date of Thanksgiving for good?
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Critics of his 1939 experiment with the date had nicknamed the moved holiday 'Franksgiving'.
Q 28Which president made pardoning a turkey an official yearly White House tradition in 1989?
George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush granted the first official presidential turkey pardon in November 1989; the spared bird is sent to live out its days on a farm, in a park or at a university.
Q 29The first big New York City Thanksgiving parade in 1924 had live animals borrowed from where?
The Central Park Zoo
Macy's first parade in 1924 borrowed live animals, including bears and camels, from the Central Park Zoo; the crowd was so big the store promised to hold it every year.
Q 30Which cartoon character was the very first giant balloon in the Macy's parade?
Felix the Cat
Felix the Cat was the first giant character balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, in 1927, the year balloons took over from borrowed zoo animals.