Thank Your Way Through the ABC’s

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Every year around November I start to feel the need to refresh the thankfulness in our home. Lately, I have noticed grumbling, complaining, and ungrateful attitudes. And, not just in my kids.

Unfortunately, I’m just as guilty of having these character flaws creep up on me as my kids are.

I love building gratitude activities into our homeschool days and November is just the time to do it with Thanksgiving coming up. Below, are a few ways we’re working on gratitude in our home this month.

 

 

Filling our Hearts with Gratitude

The first activity we did was as a family. We started recording all of the things that we’re thankful for inside a heart outline.

 

 

We sat down as a family and added some things we’re thankful for to our heart page and then hung it on the wall. Leaving room for those little spontaneous moments of gratitude. An answered prayer, a reprieve from illness, a new friend.

My kids colored in the little hearts while I filled in words around their hands.

I found that just doing this short activity as a family really helped set the tone in our home for thinking about thankfulness. And, it also made it easy for my kindergartener to understand the concept easily when we started her ABC book.

 

 

Thanking your Way Through the Alphabet

For a fun literacy activity, I made a printable book so my kindergartener and I could thank our way through the ABC’s together.

I love the idea of a book that has to be done in pieces over time. I find that spreading activities like this out over a few days or a month gives kids the chance to respond to the idea more organically. Making connections in their minds between their lives and the blessings in them.

 

 

Each day your child can write or dictate to you a few things they are thankful for that start with that letter of the alphabet. So, for example on letter A, my daughter chose apples, alligators, affection, and art. Then she drew a picture on the back to represent her love of making art and her gratitude for it.

With 26 letters to work through you can complete it by Thanksgiving by doubling up a few times. But, you can also miss a few days, which always happens to us, and still have it finished by the end of November.

 

 

Assembling your book

You can print out your book leaving all the back pages blank or you can print it out with the drawing prompt on the back of all the letter pages.

After your child writes what they’re thankful for on the front they turn over the page and draw some of those things. It is a great literacy activity that is simultaneously building a thankful heart in your kiddo.

We plan on using a hole punch to attach the pages with string when we’re done.

It doesn’t take much time each day to complete one letter, so you can easily add it to whatever else you’re doing. And, once your book is complete your child will have it to read over and over again. Grab these printables below for free through November 30th, to start using them with your family.

 

 

These printables are free through November 30th!

GRAB THEM HERE>>>>>THANK YOUR WAY THROUGH THE ABC’S

 

What are your favorite ways to cultivate gratitude in your home?

I hope these activities help you connect with your kids and help you clean up any ungrateful attitudes in your home this November.

Heidi