Cincinnati Family Magazine

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March 28, 2024

The Thankful Tree

November is one of my favorite months. The leaves are beautiful colors, we celebrate my son’s birthday, gather with family on Thanksgiving, and complete one of my favorite family traditions. We like to teach our children about being grateful for all of the things that they have and the things they get to do. So, every November we create a Thankful Tree.

I purchase a roll of packaging paper and my kids get to use their fine motor skills to tear the paper to make a tree trunk and branches. We tape the pieces up on a door in our house. Each day I ask my kids and my husband what they are thankful for. I write down their answers on leaves (that I purchase at Michaels) and then write down what I am thankful for on one too. We then each put our leaf up on the tree.

At the beginning of the month our tree is bare, but by the end of November we have a beautiful tree full of leaves that display the things we are thankful for. When my kids were younger I used pictures of things that they liked to help them choose what they were thankful for since they didn’t have the language skills to share themselves. Now they are both able to do it independently. So far my daughter is thankful for juice and kitties. My son is thankful for Lego’s and Cincinnati Family Magazine!!! It is amazing to see how their responses change as they grow older. I look forward to the rest of the month to hear what they are thankful for.

 

About the Author

Tina Pratt

Tina Pratt is the mom of two littles. She is a former PreK- 5 special education teacher that now works as a behavior coach. She enjoys being a tourist in her own town and finding ways to embed lessons into everyday fun!