Thankful Tree for Thanksgiving Gratitude

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This is a super simple (and fun!) thankful tree to help you get into the thankful spirit this Thanksgiving by focusing on gratitude with your kids.

Get into the spirit even more with these Thanksgiving Conversation Starters.

We did it for the first time last year, my older girls were 6 and 4, and they loved it so much that I knew we had to do it again.

Here is our finished Thanksgiving Thankful Tree from last year.

All you need to make this Thankful Tree is:

• a brown paper grocery bag (or whatever material you will use to make your tree)
• construction paper in fall colors
• tape
• scissors
• pencil

We used a paper grocery bag to create our tree, but if you don’t have one on hand there are lots of other options. You could use brown construction paper, draw or paint a tree on a really big piece of paper, or even use lightweight cardboard (like a cereal box). Use whatever you have on hand.

Last year, I did most of the work creating the Thankful Tree, but this year, at 7 and 5, I felt like Izzie and Emma were ready to take more ownership of the project.

They took turns cutting the sides out of a paper grocery bag to form the tree trunk.

Izzie (7) then drew branch shapes on the remainder of the bag and Emma (5) cut them all out.

Then they worked together to tape the trunk and branches to our basement door.

I helped them trace leaf shapes onto the construction paper. They cut out a bunch of leaves in different fall colors.

Izzie made a sign out of the last piece of the grocery bag that says, “We Are Thankful For…” and hung it above the tree.

We keep the leaves, a pen and tape in a baggie.

Every morning in November, we each write something we are thankful for on a leaf and hang it on the tree.

Last year, I didn’t include Hannah but now that she is almost 3, I think she is old enough to talk about it in basic terms – What makes her happy? Also, her sisters get so into it that she will be excited too.

Besides the gratitude conversation, this activity also provides a great learning opportunity.

Hannah and I will practice her colors every morning when she is choosing her leaf.

I will challenge Izzie to spell everything herself when she writes her leaf.

Emma is working hard on her writing in kindergarten, so she will love to write her leaf by herself.

I love starting our day talking about gratitude. The sincerity of their answers is so sweet, even when they are being silly.

What are you and your family thankful for?

from Hands On As We Grow http://ift.tt/2zDq12C