Cornucopia of Thankfulness

November is definitely a time when our thoughts are centered around what we are thankful for. This activity provides that focus for children while building fine motor skills as well as pasting skills.

Supplies Needed:

• Cornucopia printout: http://www.archjrc.com/childsplace/thanks.html
• magazines
• scissors
• glue
• construction paper

Activity

• Have your child color the cornucopia and glue it to the construction paper.
• Have your child go through magazines to find things they are thankful for and cut them out. 
• Have your child glue those things into the cornucopia. 

Thanksgiving Turkey Card

This is a cute gift to give people at Thanksgiving time--I am thinking Grandparents or parents if you teach young children.

You make a cut out of the child's hand. Then you have the child list things she is thankful for and write them on each finger/thumb. You then add a head, eyes, etc. The poem says:

This isn't just a turkey,

as you can plainly see.

I made it with my hand,

which is a part of me.

It comes with lots of love,

especially to say,

I hope you have a very

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Raising a Grateful Child

Our city has a great newsletter that comes out each season and usually features great articles. Since most of you don't have the opportunity to read them, I thought I'd share with you the most helpful tips and parts of each article from the Winter Issue . The first article was entitled "How To Raise a Grateful Child" and was written by Kristen Carter from YMCA/Early Discoveries in the Winter 2010-2011 GrowSmart Newsletter.

"It is more than just good manners for children to express thanks and show appreciation when they are grateful. Studies indicate that the happiest children are those who feel and appreciation for life regardless of their financial or personal situation. They are also more joyful, determined, optimistic, resilient, healthier, and even less stressed!" (I know that's true for me, too!)

So here are some tips from Kristen about how to improve the "attitude of gratitude:"

• Make a list of things you are grateful for, with each family member participating.


• Blessings/Grace- helps foster an atmosphere of thankfulness.


• Thank you notes- This is true for gifts, but also helping them with writing thank you letters to others that have been meaningful, helpful, or encouraging.


• Set limits- Avoid overindulging w/ material items to learn to appreciate what they have. "A little sacrifice causes us to miss things that we take for granted and helps us to be humble and grateful."


• Offer service- Volunteer together! Some examples: homeless shelter, nursing home, SPCA, shopping for a food pantry,etc. This helps build an appreciation for their blessings.


• Set an example- Thank people!! This includes your kids, sales people, the mailman, etc. Look for people doing good deeds and point it out to your children.

Some recommended books for stories about gratitude and having a grateful heart from the article:

The Very Greedy Bee by Steve Smallman. "One day the very greedy bee finds a meadow full of flowers and decides to keep all of the pollen for himself. He ends up so full that he cannot fly. It's getting dark and he doesn't know how to get home unless he flies. With the help of some friends, the greedy bee is able to return home safely, learning that it is better to share."

Little Bear's Big Sweater by David Bedford "This is a story reminding us to be grateful for our siblings. Little Bear is excited to get his brother's hand-me-down sweater but upsets Big Bear when he falls and gets it dirty. Big Bear refuses to play with Little Bear, but a solo seesaw experience makes him realize how lonely he is without his brother."
Thank You Bear by Greg Foley. "Bear has found a present for his friend Mouse, but by the time Bear shows it to him, he is not convinced of its value. Everyone Bear has met along the way has devalued his gift, causing him to question if Mouse will like it. Unlike everyone else, Mouse is thankful for his friend's thoughtfulness and agrees that the gift is the greatest thing ever."

Thankful Basket

This is an activity we did last year, and we will be repeating it this year. It is quite a simple way to help teach your children (and remind yourself!) about being thankful for what you have.

November is a logical time of year to do this activity since it is Thanksgiving, but there is never a wrong time to focus on gratitude.

PREPARATION

• Get a basket or some other container
• Cut up small pieces of paper

ACTIVITY

We did this for one of our Family Home Evening Lessons. You could do it as a lesson with the family, or simply start it with your family one day.


The way this works is each night (or each morning if that works best), each person in the family says something they are thankful for.


You then write on a piece of paper the item and put it in the basket.


At Thanksgiving, you can look and see the many things your family has to be grateful for. 

Whenever you first start an activity like this, it can be hard to think of something new after the standard answers have been used up. But you soon find that it is hard to stop thinking of the blessings you have once you start to focus on them.

Thankful Drawing

Last year, my husband came up with this idea. It was a great way to get little children to focus on things they are thankful for. If doing thankful things every day all month sounds overwhelming to you, try this out.

AGE RANGE
If your child is old enough to make marks on a piece of paper, she is old enough for this.

SUPPLIES

• Large piece of paper
• Crayons, markers, paint...whatever you want to draw with

ACTIVITY

1. Put the piece of paper on the floor
2. Have everyone in the family gather around the paper and draw pictures of things they are thankful for. Help your children think of things. Announce what you are drawing. If your child wants you to draw things for her, then go ahead and do it.
3. When everyone is done (you might want to set a time limit ;) ), have everyone talk about what they drew.
4. We coupled this activity with a lesson on what it means to be thankful.

PHOTO
Here is a photo of our masterpiece last year. Brayden was almost 3.5 and Kaitlyn was 18 months old. The items you can recognize were drawn by my husband and I (okay, mostly my husband ;) ). You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

Blessing Basket

I have been contemplating Thanksgiving over the past few days. I have decided that having Thanksgiving at this time of year is a great blessing to us. It is a great opportunity to reflect on all that you are thankful for. Then you can build up a reservoir of gratitude to fight off the greed that can creep in on you at Christmas time!

I love the saying, "The Best Attitude is Gratitude."

This week, we are learning about Blessings and being thankful. We are starting a new Thanksgiving tradition this year. It is the blessing basket.

AGE RANGE
Old enough to talk. But if your child is not old enough to talk, don't let that stop you and your spouse from doing this in front of your baby. Babies understand long before they communicate.

SKILLS TAUGHT

• Gratitude

SUPPLIES

• Strips or squares of paper
• Pen/pencil
• Basket (or some other container to hold the strips of paper)

ACTIVITY
This is how we are going to implement this:

1. Each night, we say a family prayer together. As we kneel to pray, go around in a circle and list one thing we are grateful for.
2. Write each one on a piece of paper. Let the kids draw pictures of the item if they want to.
3. Put the paper in the basket.
4. On Thanksgiving, read all of the many blessings you enjoy.

When I was in college, I kept a gratitude journal. Each night, I listed three items I was thankful for--three blessings in my life. At first, it seemed difficult to come up with three new things each night. As I did it over time, however, it was hard to pick just three. As we focus on the blessings we have in our lives, we come to recognize all that we have. You see what you focus on. I believe the blessing basket will be a great way to help my children develop the attitude of gratitude.