So much of the frugal lifestyle is filled with cultivating a sense of appreciation for life’s simple pleasures. A nice side benefit of learning to be grateful for what you already have — you’ll save money!! Yay for saving money! It’s never too early to start encouraging your kids to express thankfulness and gratitude. Here are five inspiring, yet simple ways to foster gratitude in kids of all ages:
1. Make Gratitude a Verb — Kids can express their gratitude with an active twist by making a Gratitude Activity Jar — a favorite November tradition in our household!
2. Be a Good Role Model — Let your kids see you actively recording your own gratitude lists. Rhythm of the Home shows ideas on Sharing Gratitude.
3. Cultivate Gratitude Through Crafts — I love this Gratitude Tree project! See the full tutorial over at Nitty Gritty Pretty.
4. Display Your Gratitude Lists Proudly in the Home — Finding Home shares a chalk cloth table runner for giving thanks — younger kids can draw pictures instead.
5. Start Cultivating Gratitude at an Early Age — I adore this idea from Allie at No Time for Flashcards to make hand-painted thank you cards – perfect for even the littlest crafters!! See the full tutorial at No Time for Flashcards.
Speaking of gratitude, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for all of our lovely readers who visit our little bloggy blog! Thank YOU!!! Exciting news — we are getting close to post #1,000 here on Frugal Family Fun Blog, and we have LOTS of reader appreciation goodies, awesome GIVEAWAYS, and of course fun & frugal projects in the works!!! You won’t want to miss it!
Wishing you and your family a weekend filled with many thankful moments!!
Dear Valerie,
I like how in the gratitude tree, somebody is thankful for both freedom AND fruit snacks. That just about covers all of the really important things, right?
Love,
Mark
Hey, when you’re two, fruit snacks are a BIG deal! 😉
Excellent tips, Valerie! Thanks for sharing as always 🙂
Mark, you made me giggle-snort in front of my kids and cat 😀
You’re welcome, Anya! Mark always makes me laugh too! lol
Mark’s comment made me laugh. It’s so hard sometimes to focus on simple things that make us thankful. Yesterday Anna said that she is thankful because I am not running a fever. So sweet 🙂
Awww… so sweet! Anna is such a doll!!
Thanks for the feature, it is so appreciated! Great group of tips, thanks for sharing! Laura
You’re welcome, Laura! I love your project!! 🙂
Great ideas. We did a thankful the last 2 years and it was nice to have out and read. I really like the chalkboard table runner!
Fantastic!! I think having a thankful tree or something similar on display in the home makes it a lot easier to remember all the wonderful reasons we have to be grateful! 🙂
Valerie, My fav is your last. Cultivating gratefulness at a young age and learning to send thank you cards or e-mails or hallmark cards to those who have given to the kids is such a great way to encourage kids to be grateful and to show it. Thanks for a fun but thoughtful post.
Thanks so much, Becky! 🙂
I personally am thankful for fuzzy socks. They are keeping my feet warm right now.
Yay for fuzzy socks!!! 🙂
What great ideas! It is so important to learn gratitude. I would love it if you would share this at my Sharing Saturday Link Party at http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/2011/11/sharing-saturday-4.html. Thank you!
Thanks, Carrie! I’ll try linking up!
This is just what I needed to read, Valerie! I’ve been searching for good gratitude ideas and your round-up has it all. Oh, and I’m especially grateful for your wonderful, giving blog.
We have done homemade thank you cards for teachers and I really feel like they appreciate them more than they would a store bought card. These are all wonderful ideas and so appropriate for this time a year as we all slow down to be thankful. Vicky from Mess For Less
Love this! I shared this post and your blog on my Sunday Blog Share this week.
Love this! I’m going to try to link up to this with my post on 11-17! 🙂