Introduction
The cornucopia, also known in English as the Horn of Plenty, is a symbol of prosperity and affluence, dating back to the 5th century BC. It was often filled with the fruits of the harvest which included corn, fruits, and other vegetables. Corn itself was one of the staple foods of the early settlers. Here are a variety of games using corn kernels… you can get dried feed corn like that sold for bird feeders or unpopped popcorn will also work.

Game Materials

• Dried Corn Kernels or popcorn
• Candy Corn
• Bowls

Game Description

• Turkey Feed – Turkeys are often fed corn to prepare them as guests at Thanksgiving.
• Corn Pitching – How accurately can you toss corn kernels into bowls
• Odds and Evens – Can you guess if there are odd or even numbers of kernels are in your partners hand?

Game Play

Turkey Feed

1. Fill a bowl with dried corn kernels and add several pieces of candy corn.
2. Blindfolded players and have them retrieve the candy corn from the bowl within a designate amount of time. (As a gross out variation, have them retrieve it with their bare feet then eat it.
3. The player that retrieves the most candy corn in the designated time limit wins.

Corn Pitching

1. Players takes turns pitching ten corn kernels, one at a time, into a bowl from a set distance. You might choose to have various bowls of different sizes and at different distances. Display the points based upon difficulty.
2. Keep score of how many kernels end up in the various bowls.
3. The winner is the one with the highest score after three rounds.

Odds or Evens

1. Each player starts out with the same number of corn kernels.
2. Players rotate about the room pairing up with others.
3. When they find a partner, one player hides a few kernels of in his hand.
4. The other player must guess if the number of corn kernels is odd or even. If guessed correctly, the player can add the kernels to his own collection.
5. Players take turns hiding and guessing, until one player has all the corn or until a specified time limit!

Discussion

• In these games are you someone who plays it safe or shoots for the moon?
• Was the voyage to the new world by the pilgrims a safe bet or a big risk?
• What were some of the potential risks? Potential rewards?
• What were some of your strategies in these games?

Application
Some people play it safe in life. Others take risks. Most of the time we evaluate if the potential reward is worth the risk. For the Pilgrims, coming to America was a great risk. But the lure of religious freedom was worth the risk. Many of them lost their lives in pursuit of the opportunity to freely worship God as their conscience dictated. After the first year of the Plymouth colony, only half of the 102 settlers were still alive. Times were hard. Later during a particularly tough winter is was said that each person had only 5 kernels of corn to live on each day.

Yet in spite of their hardships, they gave thanks to God. Eternal blessings outweighed the physical ones. There may be times when we do not have much, but to have a relationship with God is worth any cost and any hardship! They made a choice, a decision to pursue God at any cost.

Conclusion

• Has God called you to do something out of the ordinary?
• To what has God called you?
• What risks are worth the reward of knowing Jesus as Lord and living for him?

Just as a single grain of corn has the potential for an abundant harvest, even one decision for God can lead to a harvest of blessings in your life. What choice is God calling you to make today? Take a kernel of corn home as a reminder of a decision God has called you to make for him regardless of the risk.

Holiday Collection

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next Thanksgiving celebrations as well as a variety of other events for familiar holidays. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for various holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

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