Make a Thankful Tree with your Child this Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving (and really, the entire month of November) is a great time to reflect on what we are thankful for in our lives. I’m trying to teach my little one to think about being thankful, though that isn’t an easy concept for him to grasp as he just turned 3. I thought we’d do a little activity and talk about gratitude.

You know I love trees and using fall leaves in a craft, so I expanded that concept to make a Thankful Tree.

Making a Thankful Tree

Supplies:

Large white paper or posterboard for background (I used leftover packing materials)
Construction paper
Tape and/or Glue
Leaves from your yard
Scissors (preschooler safe scissors)

Steps:

First, I taped the white background onto the wall. Then I cut a rough outline of a tree from brown construction paper. I didn’t worry about it being perfect, just a base and some branches will do. I taped the tree to the background on the wall.

Next, I added a few real leaves from the yard. They look quite nice and helped make it feel like a tree.

Then, I cut out some leaves in various silly leaf shapes from fall-colored construction paper. I used some of the leftover brown and a bit of yellow.

The next step is important – I talked about being thankful for our family and for my little boy. I wrote down some words on the leaves, like his name, Mommy, Daddy. I asked him what he was thankful for, and he said “nuts” (which, to be fair, he was eating peanuts at the time) so I’m not 100% sure he understood the question, but the idea was planted in his mind, right?

Finally, I taped up the leaves with the words onto the tree.

Yes, the proportions aren’t quite right but this isn’t meant to be a masterpiece, but a bonding experience with your children. This thankful tree only took a few minutes to prepare, but this is perfectly wonderful for now.