November: Building a spirit of gratitude
Building a spirit of gratitude and thankfulness in the kids in our lives can be very difficult in the world we live in. What seems to be starting earlier every year, Christmas toy catalogues, commercials targeting kids and talk of Santa lists starts. This earlier start leads to Thanksgiving getting overshadowed more each year by Christmas decorations, music and shopping, we encourage you to focus the rest of your November on thankfulness and gratitude in your family, through experiences and creating memories together.
How can you have these experiences and create memories to embed this spirit in the special kids in your life? Here are a few ideas, some taking only a couple of minutes and others much longer. The best part is that these ideas can come from you or as new adventures from Adventure Santa!
What else have you done to have fun & build memories while creating a spirit of thankfulness?
Building a spirit of gratitude and thankfulness in the kids in our lives can be very difficult in the world we live in. What seems to be starting earlier every year, Christmas toy catalogues, commercials targeting kids and talk of Santa lists starts. This earlier start leads to Thanksgiving getting overshadowed more each year by Christmas decorations, music and shopping, we encourage you to focus the rest of your November on thankfulness and gratitude in your family, through experiences and creating memories together.
How can you have these experiences and create memories to embed this spirit in the special kids in your life? Here are a few ideas, some taking only a couple of minutes and others much longer. The best part is that these ideas can come from you or as new adventures from Adventure Santa!
- Start each dinner taking turns sharing what you are most thankful for that day.
- Print out the download 10 Days of Thankfulness drawing sheet and have the kids draw a picture every day of something they are thankful for. Review together on Thanksgiving the 10 drawings made by the kids. Grown-ups can do their own thankfulness countdown drawings too!
- Volunteer Together – find a local charity and spend time volunteering together. Talk with the kids about how their time spent on that volunteer activity has helped others.
- Write thank you letters or draw thank you pictures for the important people in the lives of the kids – teachers, neighbors, family, etc.
- Choose a neighbor who may need some help around their house and together, offer to help them out.
- Play the ABC thankful game – together, go through the ABCs and name something you are grateful or thankful for that starts with each letter of the alphabet.
- Send the kids on a Thankful Scavenger Hunt using the download here.
What else have you done to have fun & build memories while creating a spirit of thankfulness?