More Ideas for Cultivating Thankfulness in Kids

Here are some more ideas for cultivating thankfulness in your kids throughout the month of November.  

1. Write on a real or fake pumpkin your grateful list

Grab a real pumpkin or a fake pumpkin.  Using a sharpie or paint pen, write in large letters, “We are thankful.”  Then, as you go throughout the month of December, each day, write a new blessing for which you are grateful.  For ease of reading, you can separate the individual items with a circular dot or a dash.   Your family can add things that the whole family is thankful for or add items for each person each day.  You might even add to the list in subsequent years.  

1. Create a grateful chain

Younger kids might especially enjoy this simple activity.  Cut horizontal strips of fall colored construction paper.  Each day of November, write something you are grateful for and add to the chain by either stapling the new loop onto the chain, or tape the ends in a loop shape.  For children that don’t read and write, consider having your kid draw a small picture of what they are grateful for onto the strip of paper.

1. Make a paper thankful pumpkin

Cut strips of horizontal strips of orange construction paper.  Give a handful of strips to your child(ren).  Ask your child to write on each strip, “I am thankful for _____________” while completing the sentence with something for which they are grateful.  Non-reading children can draw pictures for things for which they are grateful.  Then, gather the completed strips and staple them into overlapping circular shapes, joining them all at the top to form a circular shape.  Take a small strip of green paper and cut a leaf and twig curled strip.  Attach the leaf, with your child’s name, to the top of the pumpkin.  Display your paper pumpkin as a Thanksgiving decoration.  

On Thanksgiving day, before you eat your plentiful meal, gather your family around and begin the tradition of sharing five kernels of corn, using my instructions, which uniquely focus on the religious roots of this holiday.  See the instructions here: (https://brunkle1990.wixsite.com/website-3/five-kernels-of-corn ).

For more ideas on cultivating Thankfulness in kids, refer to my original post on the roots of Thanksgiving  or the first post with ideas (links below).

https://brunkle1990.wixsite.com/website-3/post/the-religious-roots-of-thanksgiving

https://brunkle1990.wixsite.com/website-3/post/more-ideas-for-cultivating-thankfulness-in-kids

‍