Thankfulness and Gratitude Activities for Kids

I can’t believe Thanksgiving is almost here! Now is the perfect time of year to reflect on what we are thankful for. Try these thankfulness and gratitude activities for kids!

Thankfulness and Gratitude Activities for Kids

Gratitude Cups

Stick the names of everyone in your family in a jar. Each person draws a name. Then, pass out colorful sticky notes and a small plastic container. For the next two days, jot down things you like about that person or what makes you feel grateful about that person.

At the end of two days, your chosen person gets to read each sticky note. Then they give back the empty container. We then go to the nearest candy or dollar store so you can pick something to fill the jar with to give to that person.

Pictures of Being Thankful

With a memory board, include pictures of everyone you are thankful of! Use sticky notes to write down things you’re thankful for, whether they’re little or big.

Gratitude Grab

Use a group of straws and a basket with topics of things to be grateful for. Drop the straws like pickup sticks and then one by one pick a straw up. If you move the other straws you have to name two things you are grateful for if you only get your straw without moving the others you name one.

Pick a category from the basket: grateful to a friend, grateful to a neighbor, grateful to the house pet. We have laughed and had fun playing this game until the end of December. Grab the full directions here.

Wreath of Thanks

Create a wreath of thankfulness! Copy the hands of everyone in our house on fall-themed colored construction paper.On the hands, write down things you’re thankful for, and then glue these to a foam wreath.

Thankful Letters

Write letters of gratitude or thankfulness to people you’re thankful for. The letter can have drawings with it or pictures. Mail them or hand-deliver them!

Thankful Tree

Create a thankful tree to visualize everything you have to be thankful for!

Chore Exchange

Show gratitude by doing someone else’s chore for a week! We can sometimes get so caught up in the business of our own lives, we forget what the other members of our family do. This is a great way to build empathy and do something from someone else’s perspective.

The Gratitude Hunt

There are many things outside the home that we are grateful for. The great smells from flowers, the trees and the animals so we go on hike. Each family member has a piece of paper and while we hike you write down all the things that you are grateful for. When we get home we review each list to see how many matches we have of what we saw today.

Baking Gifts

We are thankful for many people in our life! Bake cookies as a way to show appreciation to neighbors, teachers, policemen, firefighters, the library and who ever else you want to show appreciation to. Check out these 25 delicious Christmas cookie recipes.

 

Tablecloth

Utilize whatever drawing paper you have on hand to make a tablecloth for the children’s table for Thanksgiving. Add pictures or paint, and glue leaves on it. Then we add colored pens and begin to write things we have been thankful for since our last Thanksgiving meal. It makes a great tablecloth and other children can join in when they arrive for the meal!

Thankful Cards

Use index cards to write down the things you are thankful for before our Thanksgiving Meal. Try to make one for each person that is coming to dine with you for the big meal. Personalize them by drawing pictures or adding old pictures!

 

Thank You Chips

Each child is given a brown bag with 15 Bingo chips in it. As the day progresses, have them hand out chips as they tell family members what they are thankful for. They also get a chip if a family member catches them being kind. At the end of the day, gather as a family to see how many chips everyone has and talk about what you saw in your family that day.

Alphabet Thankfulness

Use this alphabet thankfulness game by Natural Beach Living for a Thanksgiving Scattegories! Print out the paper with the alphabet and have everyone write something they are thankful for, that starts with each alphabet letter.