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Below are three easy ideas for cultivating thankfulness in your kids (and adults) through the month of November. Make it a point to point out how every good and perfect gift comes from the Father above.
(1) Gather thanks in a jar. Cut strips of paper for recording thanks and make it a point to add to them daily throughout the month of November. Hang or place the jar in a high traffic area so that you are reminded to add to the jar and ponder God's goodness to your family daily. Literate children can be encouraged to add their own items of gratitude throughout the week. It would be extra memorable to gather the family once a week to reflect on the recent additions from the previous week. You could even incorporate a time of prayer with thanksgiving for each of these gifts from God to your family.
(2) Craft a gratitude wreath or centerpiece. Encourage your family to write things they are thankful for and fashion it into a simple thankful wreath or centerpiece. You could even allow each of your kids to create their own wreath for hanging in their room or in a central area of your home for everyone to enjoy. An idea for a mantel centerpiece is to hang papers with items for which you are thankful, strung in-between an empty frame. Here is a gratitude wreath that was easily created with simple leave shapes glued around a circular shape.
(3) Create a thankful tree. You can create a 3-D or 2-D tree throughout the month of November by adding items for which you are thankful to the leaves of the tree. I always kept it simple by cutting out simple leaf shapes at the beginning of the month and having them available to add lists of items for which we are thankful each day. We pasted a simple brown tree trunk shape on the wall and taped leaves onto the tree daily. On Thanksgiving day, be sure to review these with the family and then pray in thanks to God who has allowed all of these blessing to flow into your lives.
For more ideas on centering your Thanksgiving on the gratefulness we owe to our Father God, please see my earlier post at: https://brunkle1990.wixsite.com/website-3/post/the-religious-roots-of-thanksgiving
. See also the next post on cultivating thankfulness in kids at
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