2 Unique Activities to do with your kids this Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving less then a week away, I thought I would share a few unique activities with you, that I have created. Not only will you leave the post with instructions and printouts. But you will also leave feeling more thankful than when you came.

Thankful Leaves

Last year I came up with a great idea. I made 2 leaf templates and had the kids help me trace them onto construction paper. Here is the free printable template for the Thankful Leaves. We then cut them out and laid them in a basket with a roll of tape and a few pens. Each time we felt thankful for something we have, we took a leaf, wrote what we were thankful for and taped it on the front door. We will be doing this again this year. I didn't have construction paper, so I used decorative paper. I think they came out so pretty!

Thankful Leaves are a wonderful way to remind your children and yourself of all the little things we have to be thankful for. So many of us take for granted the little things. These leaves help bring thankfulness back to our hearts.

 Psalms 105:1 O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.

Helping Hand Bag

My children and I like to make these bags whenever we can and keep them in the car. Part of being thankful for what you have is also sharing with others. We take just brown paper lunch bags and decorate them. Just sit down with some crayons or markers and draw away. Put a bible verse on the front or something simple like a smiley face. Then we like to fill them with a few goodies. Usually we put a bottle of water, a granola bar, maybe a piece of candy and then a handwritten note. We want the people that we give these bags to, to know that they are special and loved. We hope our little Helping Hands Bags lift the receivers spirit and spread the love of Jesus Christ. 

Here is a poem that I wrote that you can print and put inside your bags if you would like.

1 John 3:17-18 ESV 

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.