Thanksgiving Day is an annual Canadian holiday, occurring on the second Monday in October, which celebrates the harvest and other blessings of the past year. A celebration of being thankful for what one has and the bounty of the previous year.

Please join me for some Thanksgiving Songs and Rhymes .

You can listen to 10 Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston and Illustrated by Rich Deas here.

Mindfulness For Children – THE GRATITUDE TREE

Purpose: Gratitude, Positivity, Connection

Best for ages: 3+

 

What you need:

Colored paper to cut out leaves (double sided is nice for colorful leaves)

String or ribbon to hang the leaves on the tree branches

Scissors

Twigs or tree branches

Rocks to add stability to the tree

Vase

Grateful hearts

 

Directions

 

  1. Make a leaf cutout (or a few for variety) to use as your template. Here’s a PDF template from Jennifer Cooper at Classic Play. Trace the rest of the leaves on a bigger sheet and cut them out.
  2. Punch a hole at the top of each leaf and loop a piece of string through each.
  3. Put stones in a vase and stick the tree branch there.
  4. Have your child draw or write about things he is grateful for on the leaves. If they are too young, you can write for them. You could also find some old photos and make a visual tree instead of writing things down.
  5. You can make a few leaves of your own to model the concept for your child.
  6. Hang the leaves from the branches
Have fun counting your blessings as a family!