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Thanksgiving Gratitude Activities: 14+ of the Best and Most Meaningful

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Inside: Help your kids focus on what they’re really grateful for this November with these 10 meaningful Thanksgiving Gratitude Activities your family will love.


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Teaching our kids to be grateful and to appreciate the list of things they have in their lives is a year-long endeavor.

Gratitude is not meant to only be taught once a year. For the concept to really sink in, gratitude can’t only be taught in November on thankful turkeys like Pinterest might have us believe.

Related: 15 Meaningful Ways to Teach Our Kids to Be Grateful Year Round (Not Just at Thanksgiving)

But, Thanksgiving is a good time of year to kick our gratitude efforts up a notch.

To pause before the craziness of December and really focus on and celebrate what we are thankful for.

To make those cute turkeys and pumpkin projects and thankful trees to list out what we’re grateful for.

Thanksgiving can be a time of reflection when we help our children remember what they’re truly grateful for: both the “big stuff” like family, and friends and our home, and the “little stuff” like their favorite stuffed animal, their must-watch TV show, or chocolate ice cream.

Gratefulness big and small is worth it, even if our kids are mostly grateful for Paw Patrol and trick or treating.

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Why we should teach our kids to be grateful and use these Thanksgiving Gratitude activities:

Research has shown that people who are grateful, people who stop and purposefully take time to be thankful for what they have are happier.

And the same is true for our kids.

And when we talk about being happier, we’re not only talking about I-got-to-watch-Paw-Patrol happy. Being grateful leads to truly being joyful. Because people-and kids- who spend time focusing on being grateful find happiness from within.

True happiness.

Because they know a good thing when they see it and they appreciate it.

Related: How to Teach Kids to Be More Grateful

Thanksgiving Gratitude Activities:

There is definitely no shortage of adorable and meaningful ways to showcase what we appreciate and are truly grateful for.

Especially for Thanksgiving.

Choose a couple this fall and start some new family traditions:

My family’s favorite way to share what we’re thankful for is to create a Gratitude Pumpkin. Every night in November, we write a few things we’re thankful for on a pumpkin until our whole pumpkin is filled and ready to sit in the middle of our Thanksgiving table.

Get the directions for the Gratitude Pumpkin here.

Thanksgiving Gratitude Activities like this Gratitude Pumpkin is a favorite family tradition #thanksgiving #gratitude #beingthankful #begrateful #raisinggratefulkids

Grab a printable version of the Gratitude Pumpkin here, which is perfect for schools or to keep what you’re children are most grateful for long after the pumpkin rots. 

This Gratitude Pumpkin helps you write down and focus on what they're thankful and grateful for. This is a great Thanksgiving gratitude activity for classrooms and families 

You can also make a Paper Pumpkin from Faithful Little Hands and have your kiddos write what they’re thankful for on each little strip of paper.

Gratitude paper pumpkin for Thanksgiving

Help your kids tell each person you’re grateful for why they’re grateful for them with these printable Gratitude Kindness Notes:

Gratitude Kindness Notes to give to family and friends to tell them why you're grateful for them.

Practice ways to be more grateful for the upcoming December gifts with this Gratitude Role Playing “Fork Game.”

This Interactive I am Grateful Emergent Reader is a great way to focus on all the things we’re grateful for. 

Transform sticks from your yard and paper leaves into this sweet Thankful Tree from Meaningful Mama.

Thankful Tree from Quirky Mama is a great Thanksgiving gratitude activity

Instead of paper leaves, you can use your kiddo’s hands to create this Thankful Handprint Tree from Fun Handprint Art. I love how they wrote a different thing to be grateful for on each finger!

Thankful Handprint tree for Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving Gratitude Photo Scavenger Hunt from KC Edventures with Kids is a unique way to get your kids more creative with their thankfulness…and they can document what they’re grateful for on your phone or on a family camera!

Use this Thanksgiving gratitude photo scavenger hunt as a unique November family activity

Use the photos of what you’re thankful for and create this super cute Thankful Placemat from Meaningful Mama your kids can use year-round to remind them of what really matters.

Thankful placemats to showcase what we're thankful for year round.

Create a new family tradition and paint your family’s handprints and what they’re thankful on this Thankful Tablecloth from Your Modern Family.  The best part is you can add to it each year and watch your kids’ hands grow.

This thankful tablecloth is a sweet Thanksgiving Gratitude Project for families.

I love acrostic poems and this “Thanks” Acrostic Poem from School Time Snippets that kids can use to write down what they’re most thankful for is adorable!

Acrostic Poem of "thanks" to help kids figure out what they're most grateful for.

We can’t celebrate Thanksgiving without turkeys and these Thankful Turkeys from A Dab of Glue Will Do are super cute! Let your kids fill up their feathers with what they’re grateful for.

Thankful turkeys are great for kids to write what they're thankful for this Thanksgiving

And if your kids can figure out what they’re thankful and need a few ideas? Use this Thanksgiving Word Search from Meaningful Mama and have your kids search for and circle what they’re grateful for.

Thanksgiving word search

And last, but certainly not least, you can read books about being grateful with your children.

Thanksgiving Books About Being More Grateful:

0060510986

0448422867

1400322499

Year-Round Grateful Books:

1426332750

0316181013

B00RWS1JEE

0824953975

1518788904

0310761409

1519307845

Help your kids practice being more grateful during November with these Thanksgiving Gratitude Activities.

Which ones are you going to try this year with your kids?

Want the Gratitude Kindness notes right now? Grab them here:

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Comments

  1. Michelle Schoonover says

    October 20, 2021 at 12:28 pm

    I would like your Kindness Gratitude Cards, please.
    Michelle

    Reply

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Welcome to Coffee and Carpool: Raising Kind Kids.

I’m Nicole and am a recovering elementary school teacher, a mom to three super busy kids, and the founder of The Raising Kind Kids Club where we share strategies and resources with busy parents and educators to intentionally focus on kindness, family connection, and bullying prevention.

We have hundreds of paid and free done-for-you resources to make teaching kindness and social emotional learning to kids easy, fun, and hands-on. Email me at nicole@coffeeandcarpool.com if there’s a resource that you wish you had.

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