Thursday, November 18, 2010

Teaching Children to be Thankful

This week for our stART (story+ART=stART) project we read the book Thanks For Thanksgiving by Julie Markes and made our own thankful turkeys. 


I think I'm fairly fortunate with my children, they say "thank you" quite a bit.  Each night when I make dinner, whether it be something elaborate like thanksgiving dinner or something as simple as hot dogs and french fries, my kids will say thank you.  They might change it up a bit and say thanks for making dinner mom....or thank you for this food....or this is my favorite thing, thanks mommy.   But every night, without fail at least one if not all the kids will remember to thank me. 

It's nice to feel their gratitude.  It makes me feel appreciated and who wouldn't like that.  It's that simple thank you, that has led into other feelings of thankfulness.  Now, while they don't thank me for all the other things that I do around here...endless trips to the school to drop off forgotten things, being their taxi service, cleaning the toilets, etc.  I do know that they are thankful for that and me (at least I hope so). 

For our craft, I helped Nathan make a "Thankful Turkey".  We used scrapbooking paper for an added flair and pretty much free handed everything and then I asked Nathan to tell me what he was thankful for.  Somehow, I was left out until the end.....hmmph! Here I was making a craft with him and he almost forgot to be thankful for me - Unless, he thought he was being cute and trying to mess with my head.  Yeah, that sounds good, well go with that one!).







Nathan is thankful for....

his brothers and sisters
his teachers
the food he eats
his strong Daddy
projects and crafts
turkey on turkey day
all his books
pie, cupcakes and cookies
and last, but I hope not the least....his Mommy

And, speaking of being thankful - I'm thankful to my friend Penny, who gave us a bunch of scrapbooking and other crafty fun stuff.  Thanks again Penny!

Linking to.....



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Shibley Smiles

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi! I stumbled upon your blog and I love it! I'm going to have to try the Thanksgiving craft with my own daughter (always looking for new ideas!)

Check my blog out if you get the chance-
http://www.hearthstory.blogspot.com

Kyrstin said...

Great Turkey - he has a lot to be thankful for!

Becky Fyfe said...

What a cute idea! I love doing a craft that gets the kids thinking about what they are thankful for. :)

MandyE (Twin Trials and Triumphs) said...

Our girls are 22 months old, and they're saying "please" really frequently, even without being reminded. They've just started to volunteer "thank you" from time to time...and it really melts my heart. Baby A has said it at least once a meal for the past two or three days, when I've given her more of something on her tray. And it was so cool for me to hear Baby B thank Baby A for giving her a piece of her banana!

At this age I don't know that they can grasp the concept of being thankful, but they're getting some good practice with their manners in the meantime.

I never mean to wish away our girls' babyhood...but I am really looking forward to being able to do some of your crafts with them. Thanks for the continued great ideas!

RedTedArt said...

Wow, that is a lovely way to say thanks - the Turkey came out so cute and love how you added a message to each feather!

Thank you for linking up to Kids Get Crafty! Always appreciated to have you visit!

Maggy

Unknown said...

The turkey is so cute. When JDaniel and I thank God for things, fruit chews are on the top of his list.

Unknown said...

The turkey is so cute. When JDaniel and I thank God for things, fruit chews are on the top of his list.

Aimee said...

Super cute! I love that they are so appreciative of you...struggling with that at my house unfortunately.

Christy Killoran said...

Very nice turkey!

3G=Growing Godly Girlz said...

What a cute turkey! You are so blessed to have children with gratitude in their hearts. Bravo, Mama!
Found your blog through stART linky. I hope you can drop by our little corner-we'd love to see you!
Blessings,
Aria
http://growing3godlygirlz.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

I am going to watching for scrapbook paper to go on sale after seeing how well your project turned out.

I tweeted about this post as a thank you for linking to Read.Explore.Learn.

Ginny Marie said...

What a cute and easy project! I already have all the supplies...that's the kind of craft I like best!

Jenn said...

That is really cute! You have a beautiful family.

Thanks for hopping with us for Mommy Madness! I'm following you and hope you'll follow back. Looking forward to reading your blog! :D

Have a great weekend!
Jennifer

Eastlyn and co. said...

Great project! I love the added touch with the scrapbook paper. I don't always remember thanking my mom for everyday things as a kid (conversely, I do remember complaining about things such as meatloaf), but I sure try to convey my appreciation for everything she did for us now that I'm grown with kids of my own. I think you're already ahead of the curve if your kids are kind enough to thank you for making them food, even as simple as hot dogs and fries! They appreciate all you do, but they won't tell you 'til they're grown and gone and have to do all of those things themselves!

LitLass said...

Great idea! I think we might do this one.

We're pretty good with the thank yous here, but once in a great while I'll get "Mommy, I don't like your dinner, but thank you for making it for me."

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Great project - the turkey turned out really nice.

That has to be my favorite Thanksgiving book for the year, too.

Jessica said...

What a great project, I may try that with my little ones although they don't quite get the subject yet... I can only imagine what their "thankful" list will include!
Happy SITS Saturday!

Unknown said...

Great Project, awesome turkey.
Nice blog you got here.
Check out mine at http://www.quotes4u2read.blogspot.com
Best Regards!!!