If you’ve been following this blog for a while you know that expressing gratitude as a family is important to me. I’ve introduced family kindness tokens, established a routine of making New Year family kindness resolutions and every year in November we spend the month discussing ways we are thankful as a family.
I haven’t decided exactly how we are going to get creative with our thankful notes every day this year. I’m thinking a giant piece of paper on the wall maybe? I’ll be sure to share what we’re doing, either here on the blog or on my Instagram feed. (Note: this post contains affiliate links.
Family gratitude activities don’t have to be complicated. Of course you can sit around the table each night and share, “I am thankful for…”! However, if you want to a creative idea to do this November, or any time of year, here are a few suggestions. All are easy. All are fun. Enjoy!
Start a gratitude journal. I love this free printable version from Dirt and Boogers. The time spent filling it in together will create a family bond. Showing your kids that you value expressing and recording all that you are thankful for sets a positive example that will stick with them for life.
Create a thankful tree. We did this two years in a row. Stick some branches in a jar, cut out leaves, and each day kids and parents write down something for which they feel gratitude, and hang the leaves on the tree. You can see a terrible photo of our tree here, but feel free to make yours gorgeous!
Create a thankful wall. This was what we did last year and I still have the cards up on the wall. I love seeing it every day. One year we make painted thankful leaves from newspaper for our gratitude wall.
Create thankful cards. Download our illustrated thankful card coloring page printables designed by children’s book illustrator, Melanie Hope Greenberg. Kids can color them, write down their gratitudes and then either hang them on a tree, paste them in a gratitude journal or pass them out to family members.
More gratitude activities to be thankful for:
I love, love love this idea for thankful hearts from Let’s Lasso the Moon.
30 day gratitude printable from Coffee Cups and Crayons. The best part is the flexibility.
I like this idea to make a table runner so family members can write down their blessings.
Turn thankful leaves or cards into a banner by stringing them up. You can get printable leaf templates here.
Create a thankful jar like this one at Creative Family Fun or this one at Mama Miss which includes a free printable download.
I am thankful story window slide from Buggy and Buddy. Includes a free printable. If you want to extend this for a month, you could make a really, really long slide! (My kids would actually love that.)
Gratitude sun catcher from Sugar Aunts. Again, to extend the idea create a new petal every day.
Do you have any suggestions for family gratitude activities? How do you encourage your kids to be thankful and express gratitude?
Don’t forget about spending more time together as a family:
- Family activities for Black Friday
- Indoor family games (no board required)
- Creative and dramatic indoor family activities
Share these ideas with your friends on Facebook:
maryanne @ mama smiles says
I am trying to decide what I want to do for our thankful wall/gratitude activity this year. I like the simplicity and message focus of your cards.