thankful

Teaching Gratitude!

7 Simple Ways to Teach Gratitude this Thanksgiving!

Looking for ways to teach your kiddos what it means to have gratitude? This time of year is certainly a trigger for chatting about the many blessings we all have. 

Like many of you mamas out there, life in our house just gets BUSY.  

Taking the time to simply pause and reflect on what we’re truly grateful for definitely takes a minute or two–especially when your spinning 50 plates on your hands all at once…while talking on the phone to the dentist! 

No worries!

Below are some fun, ADORABLY simple ways we’ve found to help your kids focus on more than just talking turkey this upcoming holiday season.

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Source:  The Moffatt Girls. 

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1. Create a Gratitude Pumpkin-ONLY 4 Supplies Needed!

The image above in this post is one of my favorite new crafts we created last week! Check out this simple, decorative way to start speaking with your kiddos about gratitude! 

Create it:

Materials Needed:
*orange and green construction paper
*stapler/staples+-
*scissors

Directions:
Step #1
Cut out 8 pieces of orange contraction paper into 1 inch strips.  You will also need to cut out 2 leaves and 2 skinny strips of green contraction paper for the vines.

Step #2
Brainstorm with your kids about tings they are thankful for AND why they are thankful for those people/things.

Have your kiddos write something they are thankful for on each strip of orange construction paper.  

Be sure to leave about a 1 inch space on the sides of the strip so the writing isn’t covered up when stapled together.

http://themoffattgirls.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/IMG_2294-1.jpg

Step #3
Use a stapler or tape to attach the orange strips at the top and then at the bottom to form a pumpkin.

Step #4
Add your leaves and green vines. 

You can roll up the green construction in a paper to help curl the vines.

2.Being Thankful–Rocks!

This is an awesome activity inspired by my local library! Get your kiddos thinking about the wonderful things they are truly thankful for, then write them down on keepsake rocks! This activity is one that will last for years to come!

Create it: 

Materials Needed:

    • Flat Rocks–the flatter the better so that writing makes it easy! 
    • Orange or Yellow paint–could be acrylic or even simple water-based paints.
    • Permanent Sharpie Marker–black works best but other darker colors would be great too.
    • Mod Podge indoor or outdoor Mod Podge–depending on where you want these to be displayed.

 

      

Step 1: 

  • Set up a “safe” painting space ( we used our hard wood floor and newspaper).
  • Paint the rock on one or both sides

Step 2: 

  • Let the rock dry for as long as possible. You will need it to be completely dry before applying the Mod Podge.
  • While they dry: brainstorm a list of different things/people/places you’re thankful for with your kids.
  • Ask your kiddos why they are so thankful for these things.
  • You can also play the Gratitude Game (below) 

Step 3:

  • Apply Mod Podge with a paint brush in thin layers. The Mod Podge will look white but will dry clear.
  • NOTE! Mod Podge can take several hours to a full day to dry depending. No worries! Just have the kiddos add what they are thankful for at the Thanksgiving Day Table or at anytime you gather together!’

Step 4:

  • Take the Sharpie marker and recap what you spoke about with your kids!
  • Have your kiddos choose people or things that they are most thankful for and begin writing!

My “littles” had so many ideas –we had to create several thankful rocks to fit everything! 

 

With Thanksgiving heading our way, I love to do things to remind my kids of the many blessings we have. There is so much in our lives to be thankful for. I created this little Gratitude Game to play with them, and we have been having loads of fun with it! What is The Gratitude …

Source:Teach Beside Me

3. The Gratitude Game:

You can also play a great game called the “gratitude” game  based off of the classic “pick up sticks” game while you wait!

Create it: 

  • Print up the free printable above by Teach Beside Me
  • Gather multi-colored sticks like these or we actually used crayons for this! 
  • Simply follow the suggestions on the print up to play or create your own game! Such fun! 

 

7 great ways to teach gratitude

Source: Parents.com

4. Gratitude (I’m Thankful for) ABC Book 

This is absolutely adorable and, honestly, you can make this with your preschooler or your grade school kiddos!

Think of different things your thankful for and follow the alphabet! You can use this sheet to get you started: 

7 Ways to teach gratitude

Source: Natural Beach Living.com

 

4. Thankful Post Cards

Thankful postcards

Source: Parents.com

How great is it to get something in your mailbox every now and then? 

This is absolutely ADORABLE and it can be created with simple materials found in your own home! 

Create it:

Use card stock or construction paper with some Thanksgiving picture cut outs and messages from your kiddos and you have a beautiful Thanksgiving creation made right from home! Yay! 

 

 

thanksgiving crafts

Source: Our Good Own Journey

5. Create Your Own Thankful Tree

 

I LOVE this idea! We’re using the inside of our front door for this one but you could easily “dress up” an otherwise blank wall with this great craft.

The best part is, you only need 4 things to make it! 

Create it: 

Materials Needed: 

  • Construction paper or card stock
  • Roll of paper or just tape together smaller sheets of construction paper for trunk! 
  • Markers
  • Tape

  Sticky Note Door Hanger

Source: Parents.com 

6. Door Decor: Daily Thank You Note! 

Adorably simple way to express gratitude every day! Grab some Post it’s and create a door hanger! 

 

 

Kindergarten Arts & crafts Activities: Write Secret Messages

Source: Education.com

7. Secret Messages of Thanks

We did these “secret” messages during the week leading up to Valentine’s Day last year and it was a big hit! 

Your kiddos will LOVE getting secret message pumpkins, turkeys or leaves on their doors every morning! 

Easy craft and really gets kiddos thinking about gratitude for others!

Create it: 

Materials needed: 

  • White construction paper–cut into turkeys, leaves, pumpkins or whatever you would like!
  • White wax crayons
  • Newspaper
  • Water soluble paint (tempera paint or watercolor paint) 

Have your kiddos brainstorm different things about others in their family that they are thankful for.

(i.e. I’m thankful for my little brother because he hugs me every morning and it always makes me smile). 

With white crayon, have your kiddos write out on construction paper (or you can write it for them), their secret message. 

They can tape them onto the bedroom doors for others to “decode” later that day or the next day. 

To decode them, simply use the watercolor paint with any of their favorite colors and “wash over” the white crayon! 

The wax in the crayon resists the paint and the message will stand out against what is already colored in! Yay!

Everyday (this could be for a whole month, a week or however long you would like!), have your kids write secret thank you messages to display on bedroom doors or other spots in the house each day.

In the morning, during breakfast or another family time, you can have your kiddos “decode” their thankful messages to each other. 

What a great way to start the day! 

These are all such awesome ways to teach gratitude so create one or choose them all!

Remember: the key is to reinforce gratitude in a hands-on way with your kiddos! 

Do you have a favorite activity that teaches/reinforces gratitude?

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Celebrating Moms and ‘Difficult’ Women Everywhere!

First off…Happy Mother’s Day to all! Hoping all of you enjoyed your day: celebrating the amazing women who helped to give us life or brought light to our lives. I wanted to take this opportunity to send a heartfelt “thank you” to all of those women who have made astounding impacts on our lives everyday…those seen and those who are, literally, behind the scenes.

Picture of the cover of In Praise of Difficult Women

Breaking the Rules…

“Difficult” Women

I was  scrolling through the news feeds on my phone this afternoon, (during naptime of course), when I came across an amazing article on National Geographic titled : Difficult Women Who Wrote Their Own Rules. This article is an interview with the Karen Karbo, the author of In Praise of Difficult Women. Her book focuses on a select group of twenty-nine women who were really anything but “difficult”. Instead, it celebrates women who were portrayed, through the eyes of society, as “difficult”. Despite criticism, these women stayed true to themselves, and continued to shine. They  followed their dreams, wrote their own rules and created a life they loved. I wanted to send this article out to all of you as I was so deeply inspired by these carefully selected women; some of whose stories I knew and others, I only briefly glimpsed at.

Karen Karbo, the author of this amazing book, speaks so profoundly, not only of the women she has highlighted, but to all women. To you and to me. To your daughters, your grandmothers, your moms. Her words are so poignant that they prompted some serious self-reflection. I began to think “what am I doing to act on my dreams? Where am I in the stages of crafting a life that I love?

 

If you don’t care too much what people think, you risk being called a difficult woman because you’re not staying in your lane or doing what is expected of you. For the most part, any time a woman doesn’t do that she can be called difficult. When a woman inconveniences somebody she can be called difficult. A woman who believes her own needs, goals, and desires are at least as important as everyone around her risks being called difficult.(Karbo)

What is “Difficult” and Why is it Women?

How much of the above quote made you pause and say “wow-nooo kidding?!”  I mean, how easy is it for even women to call other women “difficult”. How often have you heard “oh, she’s difficult to work with” or “watch out, she’s difficult to talk to”. Why? Have you ever asked why these women who you were warned about, (or warned others about), were so “difficult”? Perhaps these woman just have a different way of thinking and…HOLD ON…DON”T actually care about conforming to make others feel comfortable. Wow. Definitely a different way of looking at the term “difficult”, isn’t it? 

Would you consider women like Carrie Fisher to Ameila Earhart to be “difficult”?  Karbo’s book highlights these women whose lives were meticulously messy (all in best ways possible). She features J.K. Rowling (who she describes as  “scrappy”) and Rachel Maddow, ( a “brainy” lady who people passed by as a “know it all”). Certainly, being “difficult”, as Karbo reveals, might not make life easier. But it can make it more fulfilling–whatever that means for you.

Inspirational? Without a doubt. Motivational? The interview alone made me want to purchase the book. A must-read? In my opinion, ABSOLUTELY! 

   

LOVE What you see? Want more? We’ve GOT it! Check out ways for you to take those first steps so you can dream AND achieve (really–you can have your cake and eat it too) HERE: