Our top priority is providing peace of mind to our current parents and community. View updates on how we are keeping our school and students safe.
Cultivating thankfulness within your preschooler is an important step in your child’s development. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, November is the best time to start reflecting with your child on the people, moments, and things that they are most thankful for. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are a few activity ideas for you to try in order to begin practicing thankfulness with your young one.
Thankfulness Placemats
Using a sheet of construction paper or legal paper, help your preschooler write and draw the things and memories that he or she is thankful for, regarding each member of your family that will be present for Thanksgiving dinner. Perhaps your child wants to highlight how thankful he or she is for trips to grandma’s house, or playtime with a particular cousin. Make each decorative placemat unique, then laminate them as a distinctive gift for your loved ones on Thanksgiving.
Build a Gratitude Journal
Journaling can be a great way to record memories, as well as important events that impact your child’s life. Using a small notebook, encourage your preschooler to write about their experiences and what they are personally thankful for. Since many preschoolers don’t have a great grasp of writing just yet, play with the idea of an art journal, where they draw pictures of their happy moments and memories from the past year. As an added bonus, you can encourage your child to keep up with their “Thankfulness Journal” year-round, so you can have a guide to reference next year when reflecting on positive memories.
Thankfulness Window Tree
Many family blogs encourage the creation of a “thankfulness tree,” which can take many forms—often created as a large cardboard tree with paper leaves with thankful items and memories written on them. For the parent on a budget, get a window crayon or dry-erase marker and draw a tree on your dining room window. Over the course of the month of November, add leaves to the tree by encouraging your child to share things that they are thankful for at every family dinner and writing the things on the leaves. By Thanksgiving Day, you will have a fun decoration to share with the entire family!
Construction Paper Turkeys
Never count out this classic Thanksgiving craft. Using brown, yellow or orange construction paper, trace your child’s hand and cut out the silhouette. Your child can add decorations to the turkey’s head (the thumb) such as eyes and a beak with a crayon or by gluing on additional construction paper. Then, encourage them to write the four things they are most thankful for this year on the fingers. Additional feathers can be added to your turkey by gluing more construction paper of varying colors between and behind the fingers.
Want to learn more abouT Kids ‘R’ Kids Learning Academy of North Sugar Land located in Sugar Land, Texas? Our mission is to provide secure, nurturing, and educational environments for children ages 6 weeks – 12 years. We help children to bloom into responsible, considerate, and contributing members of society. For more information, give us a call or stop by for a tour! We’d love to get to know you and your family.