I reflected on this thankful activity in the classroom with the hand-shaped leaves. I thought, how did I teach the kids about being thankful? And how can I teach my three-year-old daughter, Annie, about being thankful?
Modeling. While working with young children, it really comes down to modeling; setting an example for the children. It’s also important to talk to the children in a way so that they can relate to what you’re saying.
I found that as adults, we can naturally model and set an example to the children about being thankful for something or someone. It can be a natural part of your conversations and daily life.
For example, a cup of colored pencils fall down off of the table and on to the floor. Without being told to do so, your child quickly goes to the pencils on the floor and picks them up, puts them back into the cup and puts the cup back onto the table.
You naturally say to your child, “thank you” for picking up the pencils. But you can also extend this further and say something like, “I am so thankful for you, and your hard work. I appreciate you and how you help and clean up.”
Ask them what they’re thankful for. Additionally, we can teach young children about being thankful by asking them what they’re thankful for. Be natural and talk about it as a part of your day using real examples.
You can give examples and say:
- I am thankful for food because it makes me strong and it gives me energy.
- I am thankful for our cat because he likes to sit on my lap and cuddle.
- I am thankful for our car because it helps us to get to different places, like to music class and to the playground.
- I am thankful for daddy because he loves us and cares about us so much.
Then, you can ask your child, what are you thankful for? Why?
What was your favorite part of the day? Another thing I used to do with the children in the Montessori classroom was to ask everyone, “What was your favorite part of today?”
We did this every day, at the end of the day “good-bye” circle. We would go around the circle and one by one, the children would share their favorite part of the day. It became a daily ritual and the children always looked forward to this. It became so important to them.
Teaching young children to reflect on their favorite part of the day is a wonderful way for them to articulate what they like and appreciate. It’s a daily exercise to help them to think about what they’re thankful for.
This is something you can do at home with your child. I am starting to do this with my daughter, Annie at bed time!
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In time to try with my kids. We often practice give me three things you are grateful of. This is so important to practice gratefulness and raise self sufficient children. Starts in all these subtle ways.
Lovely idea of the thankful tree, my son will love this 🙂
I love this! It is such a simple activity, but it also will have a big impact!
This is such a simple yet meaningful activity. Thanks for sharing!
I love this activity for teaching your kiddos to be thankful! We just checked out a couple of books at the library about Thanksgiving and what it means – this is how I will be sharing and teaching them about thankfulness this year!
Such a great idea. It is so important to teach our kids gratitude.
I love this idea of teaching kids to be thankful while also making it into a craft. Most kids learn by hands-on activities and this does just that. It makes a wonderful project that is fun to display as well!
I love this idea! Such a fun way to teach young children about gratitude. I’m excited to try it with my son. Great post!
This is such a fantastic idea for creativity and acknowledgment of what we are thankful for.
I love those watercolor leaves. What a fun and beautiful idea for the Thanksgiving holiday.
This is not just an activity for kids but it also teaches them the value of thanksgiving. We always say our thank you’s every bedtime prayer but putting it on a wall would be a great reminder too.
such an inspiring and thoughtful project for families and classrooms too.. thanks for sharing
I am reading this book called raising Grateful Children and I couldn’t agree more that we have to model gratitude with our children. The activity is a great place to start too. Love it.
This is so cute. I love the idea of a thankful tree.
I’m so glad you mentioned to write with some tips to the left and to the right because I totally wouldn’t have thought of that when writing. Great project!
I love thankful trees! We haven’t done one in a few years. Thanks for the reminder!
Very nice project!
Blessings,
Laurie
Ridge Haven Homestead
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I love this idea! I’ll have to try making a tree with my daughter.
This is such a great idea! My kids would love it❤
I love the look of the leaves! They are so pretty and not the typical fall tree look. Very nice!