In this world where there is so much greed and entitlement trying to find its way into our kid’s little hearts, it’s important for us as parents to show our kids the importance of a thankful heart.
Thanksgiving is the perfect time to instill thankfulness and gratefulness in our children. It is also a great opportunity to spend time with family. We head up to my mom’s house each year for Thanksgiving along with my sibling’s families.
We spend a lot of time together playing board games, reminiscing, cooking, going through old photos, watching movies, sledding, and laughing until it hurts.
None of these things cost money, but they are a huge investment in our children as they learn the value and importance of family. Working and playing together in an atmosphere of love is the best way to instill thankfulness in a young child!
Remember this Thanksgiving that amongst the business and preparations, little eyes are watching how you interact with those you love and learning.
The question is what are you teaching?
Now I want to leave you with a few activities of the best activities I have found to keep kids busy while dinner is being prepared. That is of course if they don’t want to be in the kitchen helping.
Thankfulness Printable Placemat
Pumpkin Pie Play Dough
Thanksgiving Coloring Placemats
I would love to hear how your family spends Thanksgiving!
Jennifer Kasianides via Facebook says
I bought a wooden cut out tree on cleanance at Micheal’s, my daughter painted it brown, and each year we spend the weeks leading up to Thanksgivng writing down what we are thankful for each night at dinner (one per person) and putting foam sticker leaves on the tree- then we review them all as we take it down and start decorating for Christmas!
April Keener via Facebook says
My 3 year old son and I made a Thankful Tree. Printed out a picture of a tree and cut out some leaves. On the leaves we wrote what we’re thankful for and taped them onto the tree. His first three things were pizza, macaroni and cheese, and chicken nuggets 🙂
April Keener via Facebook says
My 3 year old son and I made a Thankful Tree. Printed out a picture of a tree and cut out some leaves. On the leaves we wrote what we’re thankful for and taped them onto the tree. His first three things were pizza, macaroni and cheese, and chicken nuggets 🙂
Kristi Landry Deen via Facebook says
I take a canvas or art board and paint a cool back drop by dragging layers of painting, sponging and what not and write/stencil we are thankful 2011 then give each kid a sharpie to write and sign what they are thankful for and then we hang it over the fireplace, kids luv it and it is thought provoking!
Deanne Haggerty says
I take every oppurtunity to teach my kids to be thankful, not just Thanksgiving. Recently I had my son, 13 and his friend, 14 write Thank You notes to our neighbor(in his 70’s) who lets my family hunt on his property. While we have thanked him verbally many times, the hand written notes really made him happy and think quite highly of the boys! It also made the boys feel very good about themselves!
Thanks for letting me share. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
MindWare says
I live in MN so sometimes Thanksgiving can be brutally cold, however I don’t thin kit will be too bad this year. Because of this we will all probably be outside playing in the snow. Like you mentioned, sledding and making snowman are fun activities that help promote family time.
angie says
we never miss the parade on T.V. visit with friends, eat, and have lots of fun before we know it the day is gone