Turkey and stuffing … football and giving thanks. Most of us love Thanksgiving for the food and the family, but the holiday can also include math! We created these festive Thanksgiving math word problems for students to practice their math skills while celebrating the season.
All you need to do is post one of these third grade math word problems on your whiteboard or projector screen. Then let kids take it from there!
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25 Thanksgiving Math Word Problems
1. Mom needs 87 potatoes to make the mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner. If she only has 39 potatoes in her kitchen right now, how many more potatoes does she need to buy?
2. On the day before Thanksgiving, a grocery store sold 40 ears of corn, 41 apples, 42 squash, and 55 pumpkins. How many items did they sell in all?
3. Caleb flies to his family’s house for Thanksgiving. If the trip is 2,607 miles each way, how many miles will he fly in all?
4. A family sat down to Thanksgiving dinner at 6:13 p.m. Each of the 5 people at the table spent 2 minutes telling each other something they were thankful for this year before they started to eat. What time did they start eating?
5. Sue is making paper turkeys to decorate the family’s Thanksgiving table. She has a total of 56 feathers. Each paper turkey needs 8 feathers. How many paper turkeys can she make?
6. If the average cost of a turkey is $1.21 per pound, how much would a 16 lb turkey cost?
7. Grandma brought a pecan pie to Thanksgiving. The pie had 8 slices. If we ate all but 2 slices of the pie, what fraction of the pie did we eat?
8. This year 10,294 people attended the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Last year 9,832 went to the parade. How many more people attended the parade this year?
9. Kelly bought 2 dozen pumpkin donuts. If she eats 2 donuts each day, how many days will she be able to eat donuts?
10. Dad baked 32 rolls for Thanksgiving. He wants each of his 8 guests to get an equal amount of rolls. How many rolls will each dinner guest receive?
11. Ryan brings in an apple pie to share with his class. There are 6 equal slices. Each slice has the same number of apple pieces. If Ryan counted 30 apple pieces in all, how many are in one slice of pie?
12. Tom Turkey ate 16 kernels of corn each day for 7 days. How many kernels of corn did he eat this week?
13. Elian’s family is watching Thanksgiving Day football. His team scored 15 points in the first quarter, 7 points in the second quarter, and 11 points in the third quarter. Their final score was 42 points. How many points did the team score in the fourth quarter?
14. The turkey pen on a farm is a rectangle. It is 24 feet long and has a perimeter of 81 feet. What is the width of the turkey pen?
15. The macaroni and cheese recipe calls for ⅔ cup of cheddar cheese and ⅓ cup of parmesan cheese. How much total cheese is needed to make the dish?
16. The third-grade raised money to buy a Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless in their community. How much total money was raised if Mrs. Coat’s class raised $22.82, Mr. Reed’s class $17.14, and Mrs. Alston’s students raised $33.10?
17. A Thanksgiving feast began at 3:15 p.m. It lasted for 2 hours and 30 minutes. What time did the feast end?
18. Alana is making green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. She spent $30 on fresh green beans at the store. If green beans cost $2.14 per pound, how many pounds of green beans did she buy?
19. In November, a fourth-grade classroom held a canned food drive. There were 18 students in the class. If each student brought in 6 cans, how many cans of food did they collect altogether?
20. Cameron is making a pumpkin pie. It takes 3 pumpkins to make 1 pie. How many pumpkins would it take to make 145 pies?
21. Isabella’s dining room table is 60 inches long. Her mother asks her to add a leaf to make the table long enough to seat all their Thanksgiving guests. With the leaf added, the table is 84 inches long. How many inches long is the leaf? How many feet?
22. Every Thanksgiving, Tess and her family write down 3 things they are thankful for on separate index cards. They put all the cards in a gratitude jar. If there are 9 people present, how many cards are in the gratitude jar?
23. Manny saves his money all year to go shopping with his mom the day after Thanksgiving. This year he wants to buy a TV that costs $300 but is on sale for 50% off. How much will the TV cost after the discount?
24. The Baker’s always order Thanksgiving dinner. This year they ordered a baked ham, butternut squash soup, and cornbread. The ham cost $20.99, the soup cost $15.99, and the cornbread cost $9.99. How much did they spend on dinner?
25. Courtney wanted to bake two pies for her family. One pie crust calls for 2.5 cups of flour. The filling calls for 3 tablespoons of flour. How much flour does Courtney need in total?
