"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough." -- Oprah Winfrey
I feel teaching Children at a young age to be grateful. Gratitude can create abundance in lives. I want the best for my son and future children and by teaching them gratitude I feel like I can get them a good start. I have a little time to teach more than saying thank you and please for Malaki, but here are some great tools for teaching children about gratitude.
Make a Thankful Tree or Garland.
Children write on paper strips or paper leaves things they are grateful for. Stand it up on the wall in a Garland or find a bare tree branch with lots of limbs stick it in a pot full of pebbles and let the kids use clothes pens to fill the branches with gratitude! This is like my Favorite Idea!
The tree would make a lovely center piece for the thanks giving table.
Play the Alphabet Thankful game.
Starting with the letter A each person has to name something they are thankful for that starts with that letter. Then you move on to the letter B and repeat all the way till you reach the letter Z. Great game to play around the table as your eat Thanksgiving dinner.The Glad Game
Teach and play “The Glad Game” with the kids. It is also great when your kids are down and sad bout something not turning out. Ask often " Find something you can be glad about" or " Name one thing you can be glad about" in any situation.Make a Giving Thanks Jar.
Dedicate a jar, decorate it and have little pieces of paper ready to write on beside it. Making a routine of adding cards to the jar may assist, or just let people add items as they wish can work, each with something you are grateful for. At a specified time, sit down with the family and read the cards together. Another great thing to do for around the thanksgiving table, you could take turns reading them and guessing who wrote it!Make a list of ways you are thankful for your family members.
List each family member and three things you appreciate about them. Then write or draw a picture of one way you can show them how thankful you are. This makes me think of "Rainy day letters" take a paper and pass it around the family writing what you are grateful for in that person.Make a collage using pictures of things you are grateful for.
Let your child have the camera and take photos of all things they are grateful for. My little sister would love doing this! You may like to print out the pictures and then make a collage, or create a collage on a app. Make them into a thanksgiving decorations! hang the photos on fishing line with leafs! So cute! I am loving this Idea haha and I just thought of it! here is a photo kinda showing the idea you just add photos to the bottom instead.
Thanksgiving Calendar
Advent calendars are all the rage at Christmas time, but you can take that same idea of counting down the days and apply it to thankfulness instead. Just replace the little treats you often get leading up to Christmas with a daily ritual of expressing gratitude. Boxes where you open them with a paper in them to prompt with gratitude questions like " What smell are you grateful for today?" Just find a new topic each day..
Sight
person
memory
toy
movie
day
food
One for each day of the month of November til thanksgiving day.
Gratitude Games
Get kids in the spirit by turning your thankfulness into a game.Let’s say you’re playing ping pong. Make a new rule that the person serving the ball has to say something he/she is thankful for beforehand.
Or if you’re playing Candy Land, make a rule that you have to say something you’re thankful for every time you draw a green card.
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