With Thanksgiving right around the corner, now’s the perfect time to find ways to give back to your community and teach your child the importance of gratitude! This time of year is often full of family traditions, delicious meals, and quality time spent with one another. However, Thanksgiving is also the perfect opportunity to create new yearly traditions of practicing gratitude and thankfulness with your child!
Donate Old Clothes
As you know, children outgrow their clothes scarily fast in their younger years, likely leaving you with lots of clothing that you no longer need. Instead of throwing away these clothes, try finding a local Goodwill, Salvation Army, or homeless shelter to donate your gently used clothing to – it’s a great way to de-clutter and give to those in need!
Practice Daily Gratefulness
A simple way to practice daily thankfulness is to ask your child to write down one thing they’re grateful for each day of the week. It can be anything from friends, to family, to food, to their favorite stuffed animal. Collect all of these gratitude notes and make them into a paper garland or journal for safekeeping!
Make Thanksgiving Cards
Making Thanksgiving cards with your child is a great activity to encourage gratitude. Let your child decorate their cards however they’d like and encourage them to write a little note inside for someone whom they’re grateful for this year. Even better, make homemade cards to donate to local hospitals or retirement homes!
Bake Treats to Give Away
Baking together is a great bonding activity for you and your child, and they’ll love the opportunity to stir some batter or roll cookie dough into balls! Try baking a few batches of cookies to give away to your child’s favorite teacher, bus driver, or school custodian
Research shows that gratefulness is a learned trait in children, and experts suggest that kids as young as four can begin understanding gratitude and the act of being grateful for things and people in their lives. No matter how old your child is, it’s never too early to start teaching them the wonders of thankfulness and showing appreciation for the important people in their life!
Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland childcare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.
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