Teaching kids about gratitude and thankfulness is important all year round. But we are especially cognizant of it towards the end of the year. So this was the perfect time for us to check out this new children’s book about thankfulness and use it to do some fun gratitude activities for kids.

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The Thank You Letter was written by Jane Cabrera. In this story, a young girl named Grace sits down after her birthday party to write thank you notes for all of her new gifts. But she doesn’t stop there. She continues writing thank you notes to everyone around her, including her cat. As she continues to spread kindness and gratitude to those around her, it soon cycles back to her with a sweet surprise from her loved ones.

The story is a great way to introduce the topic of gratitude to little ones. The text is simple, and the illustrations are adorable, showing all of the different notes that Grace wrote for the people around her.

Writing Thank You Notes

This book provides a perfect opportunity to teach kids about letter writing and the importance of writing thank you notes. Show kids how to start a letter with “Dear” and sign off with “love” or any other ending. Talk to them about how they feel when someone thanks them and talk about people that they can thank. Provide them with cards, markers, stickers, and other art supplies and allow them to create their own cards and letters.

Spreading Thanks

In the book, the little girl leaves little notes around for the important people in her life that she would like to thank. So we decided to do the same! My daughter loves secret missions and surprising people, so we decided to create little thank you notes and leave them in important places to thank people. She left a note for her grandmother saying “Thanks for baking with me” and left it on the mixer they use together. She also left a note for her grandfather thanking him “for working in the workshop with me”. I know they will love receiving the messages from her, and she loved leaving the notes for them to find.

Related Post: Acts of Kindness for Kids

Thankfulness Tent

We loved the tent full of notes in the story, so we decided to make our own Thankfulness Tent. We wrote notes about the things that we are thankful for, and we pinned them all over our tent. (Using the clothespins is also good practice for those little finger muscles!). It was fun to build the tent together and to read over all the notes we covered it with. You could also cover it in notes to other members of your family, sharing why you are grateful for them. It makes a great place to snuggle up and read books about gratitude together!

Related Post: Children’s Books on Gratitude

Gratitude Checklist

This free printable gratitude checklist offers lots of suggestions that will get kids thinking about what they are thankful for. Print out a copy and talk about it together, or walk around your house or your neighborhood to find answers for each suggestion .

What are your favorite gratitude activities for kids? Share in the comments below!

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