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Teaching a toddler to be thankful is so difficult. My 2 1/2 year old is pretty good about saying thank you, but the meaning isn’t quite behind it yet. When we pray with her, we ask her what she wants to pray for and she almost always answers “everything”. According to this article on teaching kids about gratitude, kids don’t fully understand gratitude until they are 4-7 years old. Since my daughter won’t magically become thankful at that point, I try to model thankfulness and teach her what I can through crafts. This Thanksgiving toddler craft was a great way to do that at her level. We have also made Morse code thankfulness bracelets.
I got this fun craft idea from a gratitude tree craft tutorial. I tweaked her idea to make it work for my daughter. Since my toddler is too young to read, we used pictures instead of words. I also used orange paper and wider leaf shapes to give it more of a fall/Thanksgiving feel.
How to Make a Gratitude Tree as a Thanksgiving Toddler Craft
Supplies:
- Cardstock– orange or whatever color you want your leaves to be
- Leaf cookie cutter (optional)
- Hole punch
- Glue stick
- Yarn
- Small branches
- Mason jar, cup, vase, or something similar
Prep:
First, my daughter and I went outside to find branches to make our tree. We couldn’t find any on the ground, so I cut a few off a tree that needed trimmed. Once we had the branches, I tied them together with yarn and placed them in a mason jar.
Next, I asked my daughter what she was thankful for. As she told me things, I searched for pictures of them. When we had quite a few, I printed them off and cut them out. Here is what my daughter said she was thankful for:
- Baby brother, Mommy, Daddy, and Rajah (the cat)
- Lumpy (her elephant lovey- check out these lovey-centered crafts)
- Bible class
- Glue and Leaves (we just finished making this turkey craft, so they were on her mind)
- Pizza, Water, Chicken, Berries
- Potty
- Books
- Zoo
- Play-Doh
Then, I made the leaves. If your kids is older they can definitely help with this. I traced around a leaf cookie cutter on a piece of orange cardstock to get my leaf shape. You can also freehand the leaf shape or use a template like this leaf template. I traced and cut out 16 leaves. Afterwards, I hole punched each leaf near the stem. Be very careful, it is easy to punch your hole too close to the edge. Lastly, I cut 16 short strands of yarn.
Creating:
After finishing all that prep work, my daughter got to join back in and glue. I handed her the pile of leaves and thankfulness pictures to glue together. She loves using glue sticks, so after reminding her to glue on the white side of the pictures, I let her do the rest.
After my toddler finished gluing her thankfulness pictures on, she helped me thread the yarn through each leaf. She threaded, I tied, and she hung them on her tree.
Outcome of Thanksgiving Toddler Craft:
I know I say this a lot, but my daughter loved this craft. It is on our dinner table and she has pointed it out at least once every meal that we have eaten since. One dinner my husband was even able to get her to eat more by promising to show her specific leaves as a reward. She has also started saying things like “I am thankful for Mommy”. So, this craft was a huge success! Let me know in the comments how it turns out for your family and the silliest and sweetest things that your kid is thankful for.
