As we lead into Thanksgiving, November is such a great month to work on gratitude and focus on things that we are thankful for. It is so great that Thanksgiving lands right before the December season of giving and receiving. It’s so important for our kids to remember that they already have so much, and in return, can give so much. One way to stay focused on what matters is to play gratitude games.
In the past my family has really enjoyed so many activities around the dinner table to focus on what we are thankful for. The dinner table is a great place to talk about things because of the busy lives we live. It’s often the only time and place that we sit together as a family and have real conversations. We have done everything from a thankful tree, placemats and even a thankful tablecloth. This year, I wanted to change it up and make it a little more exciting and hands on. I found two “grateful” games that can be played with the entire family during that lovely time at the dinner table.
GRATITUDE COLOR GAME
This game is super quick and easy and can be reused over and over. Gather a jar of ten or more colored sticks. Really any solid color object can work (crayons, popsicle sticks, markers, straws, etc.)
Make a color coded chart to leave on the table. For example:
RED: Name a person you are thankful for
ORANGE: Name a place you are thankful for
GREEN: Name a food you are thankful for
BLUE: Name a thing you are thankful for
PURPLE: Name anything of your choice
Each person can pull a colored object from the jar and answer the question on the chart that matches!
GRATIUTUDE DICE GAME
This one may be for a little older kid as you will need to add or count the dice BUT you can also keep it simple by just doing one dice or let the little kids roll as you add for them. Make another chart for each number that can be rolled with dice. Answer the question that is listed on your number.
- Name a food you are thankful for
- Name a holiday you are thankful for
- Name a song you are thankful
- Name a skill you are thankful for
- Name a thing in nature you are thankful for
- Name a tradition you are thankful for
- Name a famous person you are thankful for
- Name a family member you are thankful for
- Name a game you are thankful for
- Name a place you are thankful for
- Name anything you are thankful for
Of course, any of these can be changed to fit you children and family. It is a great way to explore new things to be grateful for and just a good excuse to talk about this topic as a family.
