5 Creative Ways To Cultivate Gratitude In Your Home
I have found that choosing to live with gratitude brings me joy. Taking a moment to stop and see all that I have been blessed with can change my perspective on life. Teaching children to be grateful for even the simplest things in life is a positive way to shift their focus from what they don’t have or what they want, to seeing how they are already blessed.
Children learn fast and though they may start expressing gratitude for the little things like the breakfast they had that morning, the treat they had the night before, or their bed they sleep in, even these things are of great importance. Soon they will be realizing how blessed they are with their family, friends, and their home.
With Thanksgiving around the corner, it is the perfect time to make a visual project that can help children develop an attitude of gratitude. When I was young, my mom came up with a few ideas that I will share today as well as some other ones that I really love. We used these for several years until we all made gratitude lists or journals of our own. I still love these ideas and I believe they help children and adults focus on how blessed they really are every single day.
These projects can be started on or around Thanksgiving Day and kept up throughout the year. I personally love keeping these projects going all year long as gratitude should be an every day practice and not just for the holiday season.
At the end of this post I’ve also included a few books and movies for the whole family that inspire gratitude and welcome the Thanksgiving season!
Gratitude Projects
Gratitude or Thankful Tree
One of our first projects was a gratitude tree. We made a tree out of brown construction paper and carefully put it on the wall using sticky tack. Next we cut out leaves using different colors of construction paper that we wrote on what we were grateful for and added to the tree. We left this one up all year and it filled the entire wall! It was a wonderfully colorful display!
I love this one from Naturally Grateful!
This one from simply2moms is very simple!
Another way to make a gratitude tree is to place some branches in a planter or vase and make leaf ornaments or tags to be written on and added to the tree.
Gratitude Jar
This idea is so easy- simply get a glass or plastic jar and have the kids decorate it with stickers or fancy paper. Next make slips of paper or cards that can be written on and folded. We made this one to be left out all year. It was quite fun to see it filling up and then overflowing!
This post from Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers shows how to make a gratitude jar.
This gratitude jar comes with the cards and is just beautiful to set up on your table!
Gratefulness Rocks
Another great idea is to collect or purchase flat rocks to paint. Then with your kids, paint on the fronts and the backs and write with paint pens anything they are grateful for. These can then be used to make your own rock garden or even decorate the Thanksgiving table!
This post from Teach Kids Art is a good one on how to make grateful or thankful rocks.
Gratitude Journal
Making a gratitude journal for the whole family to write in is also a great way to share things we are grateful for. It can be passed around at meal time and each person can write in it at their own time. Or each person can have their own journal to write in what they are thankful for.
This post from Coffee, Pancakes, and Dreams shares a simple way to make gratitude journals and also includes some great gratitude prompts.
I also found this three-minute gratitude journal which is a great start for your kids if you want something that already has lots of ideas to encourage writing things they are thankful for.
Gratitude Door
This idea is super simple. Just take a roll of butcher paper and attach it to the back of a door in your house. Next draw some pictures of pumpkins, turkeys, and anything else you’d like. Keep some crayola markers nearby for you and your kids to write what you are grateful for! Over the year watch how that paper fills up!
This is a similar idea from Teachers Pay Teachers.
All these ideas are ways to remind us what we have to be thankful for throughout the year. Reading all the things we are grateful for aloud, maybe even on Thanksgiving night, is a great way to bring the family together. Living with gratitude every day encourages peace and joy even during the hardest times. We do have so much to be grateful for!
Books that Encourage Gratitude
Enjoy these books that encourage thankfulness and joy during the Thanksgiving season!
Kids books
The Gratitude Tree
by Sarah DeLeon
Bear Says Thanks
by Karma Wilson
The Blessings Jar: A Story About Being Thankful
by Colleen Coble
Thanks for Thanksgiving
by Julie Markes
A Cranberry Thanksgiving
by Wende and Harry Devlin
Give Thanks to the Lord
by Karma Wilson
Books for mom
One Thousand Gifts
by Ann Voskamp
Exceeding Gratitude for the Creators Plan
by Dr. James P. Gills
Movies that Inspire Gratitude
Here are some great family movies that teach wonderful lessons in being thankful for our families and for even the simplest things we have. I’ve also added a few others that are perfect for this time of year.
I hope this post encouraged you with ideas on making gratitude become more present in your home.
Enjoy reading these books and curling up on the couch to watch a good movie during this cozy season!
Feel free to share with me more ideas to implement gratitude in the home!
Many Blessings and Happy Thanksgiving!
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
Psalm 107:1-3 ESV
