8 Inspired Gratitude Activities and Games Perfect for Thanksgiving

Seeking gratitude activities and gratitude games for your family this Thanksgiving? Here are 10 great Thanksgiving gratitude activities to pick from!

You can talk about these at Thanksgiving dinner or use them as a way to have a Thanksgiving game or two. During the holiday season, fun activities that are all about gratitude can help to reflect about the past year. This is an easy way to start a new family tradition or a Thanksgiving tradition that the whole family can do. This is one of the best ways to slow down and appreciate the simple things and use these meaningful Thanksgiving activities.

Last year I told you all about my obsession with holidays and making them meaningful.  You can read all about that here when I was obsessing about Elf on the Shelf.  Seriously, I was a crazy person.

And, well, I still might be.  But I feel like I might be able to pull off some real holiday awesomeness this year.  And let’s be honest, I was off to a bang with Halloween.  Seriously, how cute are those costumes!

And I totally pulled those off just three weeks after we added our fourth and final mini person to our family.

Next up is Thanksgiving.  I’ve never really been able to choose between Thanksgiving and Christmas for my favorite holiday so I usually just wrap them together in glorious, warm & toasty, ooey-gooey, holiday goodness.

This year I’m on a hunt for the next great Thanksgiving family tradition.  Here are my top contenders for this year, which are all awesome Thanksgiving gratitude activities.  I may pick one.  I may pick two.  Maybe I’ll do them all!

Gratitude Activities

Gratitude Rocks!

I might love this one best just for the pun potential.  I also love the kid involvement.  Finding rocks.  Painting them.  And my kids will love reorganizing them, stacking them, and on and on. 

Now with my oldest in kindergarten, the potential to include some of her sight words is fantastic too. Check out more details on Teach Kids Art.

Thankful Tree

We have all seen this in various forms but it is still a fantastic idea. 

Premeditated Leftovers posted this version and I like the potential (again) for sending my kids outside to collect branches from our property to make the “tree”.  Then my older kids can cut out leaves. 

Writing on the leaves once a day (or so) would require mom and dad’s help since my kids are little but I think we would just wrap our dinner time conversation around this activity.

Thanksgiving Wreath

I really love this alternative to a Thankful Tree (posted by eclitic_chica on flickr.com).  It’s amazing!  And I think I already have everything I would need: wreath form, clothespins (from the time our dryer broke and we hung loads of laundry back and forth across our playroom), and paint/markers. 

Totally doing this starting tomorrow!

Gratitude on the Wall

I like this idea but I think my kids would need to be older so they could write on the wall themselves.  If we tried this now I think my kids would mostly spend time erasing it. 

But Lisa Jorgensen from Making Life Blissful has an awesome idea for a gratitude activity.

Gratitude Game

I think Teach Beside Me’s idea for a Gratitude Game (Pick up Stix) is fantastic and an awesome twist on Family Home Evening during the month of November. 

I also love that it lets me use up extra straws – we somehow end up with boxes of straws in our pantry and I don’t even remember buying them . . .

Gratitude Journal & Prompts

(from left to right: Gratitude Journal, Journal Prompts & More Journal Prompts)

So you would think that these ideas would work best with older kids.  But check out my post about scripture journaling.  My kids love it! 

I read the scriptures and journal – and they color along with me.  Just pick the topic for the day, discuss, then let them color away while you journal.  Perfect!

I read this little ebook – Thanksgiving Heart: Cultivating Gratitude in Young Children All Year Round – a few years ago.

It isn’t really a “Thanksgiving” book as she intends for you to use all year-long as you work to instill gratitude within your own heart and in the hearts of your family members, but it does include a printable 30-day scripture and activity guide you could do all November (or December) long.

Plus it includes printable thank you cards and printable gratitude journals, and even 30 service project ideas.

Gratitude Photo Challenge

I did this on Facebook a few years ago.  I’m honestly not very good at things that require posting every single day.  But now that my kids are of the age where they love posing for photos . . . I think this would be a blast. 

And what a great way to share gratitude, and your adorable kiddos, on social media.

Gratitude Scavenger Hunt

I saved my favorite for last, of course.  Simple Acres Blog posted this idea. 

Anything that gets my kids involved and also lets them move their bodies is high on my favorites list.

Talking about meaningful ways where little things matter is a great way to start a daily practice. Any of these thankful activities are sure to create special memories during the Thanksgiving holiday. Make sure at your next family gathering you have some delicious foods, and give yourself plenty of time for reflection. During the season of plenty, it’s a good time to slow down and remember to be thankful.

Which of these gratitude activities are you going to try?

P.S. If you want fun Thanksgiving songs, games, and activities to do with a bunch of kids, check out this Thanksgiving playgroup party post for great ideas!