Showing posts with label gratitude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gratitude. Show all posts

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Gratitude and Thanksgiving




Music: Children All Over the World (CS 16) and I am Glad for Many things (CS 151).

Attention Getting Activity: I set up a bowl of water, a 1/4 measuring cup, and a glass goblet (inside a plastic container) on the table. I read Psalms 23:5 and we discussed what it meant to have so many blessings that our cup would overflow. We each took turns pouring water from the bowl into the cup and naming something we were thankful for. We each went several times until the cup overflowed with our gratitude. The boys loved the water splashing over.



Lesson:Using the Children's Scripture Stories, we read the story of the 10 Lepers. We talked about how only one came back to say thank you. I asked how he thought Jesus felt when only one said thank you. Then we talked about how Jesus felt when someone did say thank you. We showed on our fingers how many did say thank you and how many did not.



Activity: I have a flannel board Thanksgiving set that we used to tell the story of the first Thanksgiving. You could use the internet to print out pictures of your own to tell the story or get a book from the library. (If you choose to do this lesson at a different time of year, skip this part altogether).


Game: We played a turkey hunt game using turkeys I printed on different pieces of colored construction paper. We picked up the turkeys and said something we were thankful for that was the same color as the turkey we picked up. If you do this at a time other than Thanksgiving, you could just hide pieces of colored construction paper and play the same way.



Art: We made Mayflower boats as seen below.



Snacks: Make turkey cupcakes.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Thanks and Giving Tree


As we focus on our blessings this month of Thanksgiving, our family is creating a Thanks and Giving Tree. Each night before bed time we each write one thing we are thankful for on a leaf and on the other side one thing that we did to help someone that day. We have a fun time coming up with our many blessings and recognizing the service performed by one another. This is our tree about mid-month. It should be completely full by Thanksgiving Day. We will take off all our leaves and read our blessings together that day.

Thanks to Chocolate on my Cranium for the idea. They have a print off of a tree worksheet so that each family member can make his own, instead of a big family tree, if you would like. This just worked better for my preschooler and toddler so they would have more room to write.