9 Creative Activities That Teach Kids To Be Thankful

Thanksgiving is more than just a large meal and football – it’s about taking time out to appreciate all of the people we have who love us and to reflect on the year with a full and grateful heart. Sometimes these deeper meanings are lost on our kids, only to be replaced by black Friday deals or getting the turkey just right. Here are a few super fun activities to incorporate into your Thanksgiving traditions this year, in hopes to pass on thankfulness all year round!

Go On A Gratitude Walk

Take your time walking around the neighborhood or playing in the park with your kids, and ask them about what they enjoy about their world, or what their favorite part of this season is. Make sure to stop to play in the leaves and grab some hot chocolate!

Make A Family Gratitude Scrapbook

Have some scrapbook supplies set up for a few weeks and encourage your family to create a page or two about what they are thankful for. You could be more specific and have each person pick a family member to create a thankfulness page about. This would be fun to do a few days before thanksgiving, and then have everyone put the pages together and read aloud over pumpkin pie at the table!

Gratitude Scavenger Hunt

This would be a great family activity for those of us having all the extended family over. Break the family up into teams, give everyone a list of things to find, and make sure each team has a phone to take pictures with. The list could include things like: Something we’re thankful for in nature, something that tastes good, something that makes us laugh, someone in the family we all look up to, etc. Send the troops out for the morning and get to cooking that turkey!

Gratitude Wall

If you’ve already followed the chalkboard paint / wall trend, then this will be easy – just have your kids write down one thing they are thankful for a day before dinner (or whenever). If you don’t have a chalkboard wall, no worries! You can always get a poster board and place it in the kids’ room, or by the dinner table. The whole point is to get the whole family in the habit of being thankful each day, even if it’s just about the little things!