Take the Thanksgiving Thankful Challenge as a Family

Already it’s November and on Facebook many are taking on the “30 day Thankful Challenge” this month. It’s wonderful to see the ol’ newsfeed filled with thoughts of warmth and love as people list daily what they are most thankful for in their lives.It’s a great idea, right? So why not take this idea and bring it back to the family? Obviously we’re fast heading towards Thanksgiving, but beyond that we are on a runaway train to the Christmas-list-building, I-want-everything-in-sight time of year. Now is the time to get the kids and the family at large thinking about all of the things they already have in their lives for which to be thankful.

One way to really engage the kids in the Thankful Challenge is via crafts. It’s a rare child who doesn’t enjoy busting out the markers, paint, glue, and glitter and this gives you an excellent reason to do so.

Thanksgiving – Thankful Challenge – Craft Ideas:

~ A thankful turkey – With your turkey head in the middle, create feathers out of construction to fan out behind your turkey. On those feathers have your children list things they are thankful for. Add a feather every day.

~ Handprint thankful wreath – Using construction paper in fall colors, trace your child’s hand (or the entire family’s hands) and cut out several handprints in a variety of colors. Using a marker, write messages of thanks on the hands. Next cut a wreath ring out of cardboard or poster board, glue hands around the wreath ring until full. Finish up by adding buttons, ribbons, or other decorative items of your choice along with a ribbon/string to hang your wreath.

~ Thanksgiving mural – This idea I like as an ongoing activity for the whole family. Starting with a poster board, print “We are thankful for…” in big, colorful letters, then go on a daily mission to find representations of the things each of you are thankful for to add to your board. You could even do this on a bulletin board to have hanging year round.

Finally, help your family fulfill the Thankful Challenge by incorporating a daily check-in game that has each member of the family sharing the highs of their day and what they’re thankful for. You could even borrow from the movie, The Story of Us and play the High-Low game where you list the best and the worst part of your day. Because let’s be real, without some of the low parts, we might not always appreciate the highs.

Let Simply Family magazine know how you’re participating in the Thankful Challenge on their Facebook page or in the comments section below.