Utilize these Gratitude Activities for Kindergarten to instill a sense of gratitude in your young students. Teaching children, especially those who are still developing their educational skills, can be challenging. The holiday of Thanksgiving is observed as a day of mourning by a significant number of Native Americans. I always use Thanksgiving as an opportunity to teach my students the importance of being thankful. Yet, we ought to practice gratitude every day of the year.
However, Thanksgiving provides a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge our blessings and express gratitude. Whether you are a preschool teacher, a daycare teacher, a home daycare, a homeschooler or a parent, you can use these activities to help instill a sense of thankfulness in your child. These activities can be done in a group, in a pair, with kids of different ages, and with one child.
How to Introduce and Grow Thankfulness in Kindergarteners
Discuss and talk about the little things that one can be thankful for by using the prompts that are located on the calendar that is located above. Encourage children to reflect on what they have to be grateful for on a daily basis, either verbally or in writing. This calendar is a practical way to get kids to think about thankfulness.
Create a Thanksgiving Tree for your home. The Thanksgiving tree page and the leaf page should both be printed out. If you would also like to print out the example, you can do so. On each leaf, have the children either draw a picture, write a word about something they are thankful for, or write a sentence about something they are thankful for. After that, the children can cut out the leaves and adhere them to their paper thankful tree however they like. Hang it up and put it on display so that everyone can admire it.
Have very young children compile a list of their top five preferred playthings. Have a conversation with them about the toys, why they like the toys, and why they are grateful for the toys.
Physical Movement Games as Gratitude Activities for Kindergarten
One more thing that families and classes can do is go on a walk together around the neighborhood and talk about things they see and why they are thankful for those things.
For example, point your finger towards a bird or tree. Then ask if any of the children know why they might be thankful for birds. You can also ask children if they like anything they see that is a specific object. For example, maybe they like a car they see. You can also ask them what color they like that they can see.
As the children observe things like cars and colors, talk to them about what the benefits of those are, and why we are happy to have them.
Point out things of interest the children can see along their walk. Then, use that as a point to talk about why we like it and why we are thankful for it.
You can even bring up many subjects to talk about that kids might be thankful for. The school bus, teachers, recess, or anything else that the students are interested in, that they can talk about being grateful.
Incorporate Physical Activities As Gratitude Activities for Kindergarten
Instruct the child to point at something they like. Then the child gets to go over to that object, and say why they are grateful for it.
After that, they can hop in place three times before going back to their seat. This way, children can get their wiggles out while practicing how to be thankful at the same time with this kindergarten gratitude activity.
Play this video as an introduction to Thankful Activities that shows what it means to be thankful in a kid-friendly way.
In this November Thankfulness Pack, print out the activities to easily assist in helping kids interact with the idea of thankfulness and gratitude.
The University of Michigan Health department says that talking about gratitude, is a way for parents to help their children learn gratefulness. Both the November Thankfulness Calendar, and the Thankful Tree pack, are tools to teach your children to be grateful.
These “print and go” preschool activities are a hit with parents. Help your kids develop an attitude of gratitude and keep them occupied during a hectic time.
With these gratitude activities for kindergarten, I provide parents and other caregivers with a variety of options to help them keep their children happy.
These Thanksgiving activities for preschoolers are also awesome because parents can print them off and take them to the place they are spending Thanksgiving at.
These printables help preschoolers and kindergarteners develop an attitude of gratitude. Just print, grab and go and have a great activity prepared to keep kids keep learning without feeling bored.
With a variety of different printable Thanksgiving activities for kindergarteners, caregivers have a multitude of options to meet their children's varying interests. These activities give kids practice for vital learning skills, teach gratitude, all while keeping kids occupied on Thanksgiving day or another time.
Maintain this attitude of gratitude right up until the holiday season! Even after Thanksgiving has passed, we can keep up the practice of expressing gratitude by talking about “One Thankfulness a Day.” You could talk about the things you are grateful for from the day during the routine of getting ready for bed.
This practice not only fosters an attitude of gratitude, but it also trains the mind to be more optimistic before one goes to bed, which is a skill that benefits one as an adult as well.
Read about how my Thanksgiving Preschool Kids Activity bundle learning benefits here
