Catch the Turkey – a Thanksgiving Number Identification Game

Number identification can be really difficult for some preschoolers. And boring. Not this game! Catch the Turkey is a Thanksgiving number identification game that is as fast paced and silly as any preschool aged child!…but completely effective, too!

Catch the Turkey is fast paced. Your preschooler won’t have time to get bored and won’t even realize she is strengthening both her counting and number identification skills as she laughs and giggles and gobbles her way through this crazy fun game. Yes, there will definitely be some gobbling. Ok…a lot of gobbling. But the silliness is what makes this number identification game so much fun.

Best of all, the game can be tweaked and scaffolded depending on the skills of your preschooler.

And, did I mention it is a FREE printable!?

Materials

Simple. All you need is the free printable from the end of this post.

The Set Up

Prepare the game by printing out all the images. Twice. You will want at least two copies, more if you are playing with a larger group.I printed them six to a page to get cards that are about 2.5 inches across. Use cardstock to make them last longer, and laminate them as well. Cut out the cards, mix them up and place them in a pile facing down. Now, invite your child to come and play.

The Game Objective

The objective of the game is to collect the most turkey cards. Players want to ‘catch the turkey’.

How to Play Catch the Turkey

Select a player to go first by drawing a card from the pile. If the player draws a number card, the player reads the number and then places it in the discard pile. If the player draws a turkey card, he must say, “Gobble, gobble, gobble” in his best turkey gobbling voice. He then gets to keep the turkey card until the end of the game.

I tried this out with Corinne before I presented it to my preschoolers, and it was a wildly huge success! Both she and I wanted to get as many turkeys as possible, mostly because we wanted an excuse to gobble like silly turkeys. During the game, however, Corinne got a whole lot of number identification practice, too!

How to Differentiate with Catch the Turkey

This game actually have a few levels of difficulty.

First, you have the option of only putting into play the numbers 0-10. When doing this, also pull out half the turkeys, unless you want a whole lot of gobbling, which maybe you do!

Or, did you notice that the cards are also counting cards? This game can also be differentiated for various skills sets by using the number cards as counting cards. Children can count the pumpkins on each card to practice one to one correspondence skills while associated the quantity on the card with the number on the card.

How to Get Your Free Printable of Catch the Turkey

Are you hooked on this game yet? Get your copy by clicking the giant red download button below.

Don’t forget to check out my Turkey Activity Pack, too!