A precious friend of mine first explained the concept of a Thanksgiving Tree to me last year when Cub was just a year old. I loved the idea of it and decided that this year we would give it a go. Of course, as is par with the start of the holiday season (and just the day-to-day happenings in our house), I promptly forgot. What jogged my memory was seeing a picture of that precious friend and remembering how much she inspired me to be a good Mom and to teach my kids as much and as often as I could. Then Voila! I remembered the Thanksgiving Tree.
I'm sure many of you know what it is, but in case you haven't heard of it, I want to pass it along just as my friend did to me. Firstly, you take orange, red, and yellow construction paper to create "leaves". I made a simple template by drawing a leaf on some cardstock and cutting it out to trace.
Cut out as many leaves as there are days leading up to Thanksgiving (or do the whole month of November, if you'd like!). Since Thankgiving falls on November 25 this year, I cut out 25 leaves.
You can get creative in making the trunk and branches of the tree. I've seen toilet paper rolls, paper mache, and construction paper. I used a stick.
Every day in November, write one thing you are thankful for on one of your "leaves" and attach it to the tree (store the unused leaves separately). Because we didn't get going on this until November 8, we had eight leaves we needed to write and attach. For households with more than one child, you can do one specific color of paper per child, or per family member! This is Cub's Thanksgiving Tree, so all of the leaves are his. He came up with eight things and I attached them to the tree.
I love the Thanksgiving Tree because it is a constant reminder of not only Thanksgiving itself, but of the importance of thankfulness every day.
A heart of gratitude is a precious one. My desire for Cub is that he remembers to be thankful in all things and in all circumstances.
Hopefully, this little tree will help him along the way.
What a great idea and message to teach! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of this, but I will be promptly copying next year!
ReplyDeleteThat is such a cute idea, and such a great way to reinforce the message of the season. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLove this! Saw the same concept in a magazine recently where they cut out a huge tree trunk/branches out of brown paper and hung it on the wall for displaying the leaves. Guess we might have to graduate to that as our families grow through the years! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic idea! I can't wait to share it with my friends who have kiddos!
ReplyDeleteLove this idea!! I want to do it even though I don't have any little ones quite yet!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this! I am always looking for new ways to teach my baby boys to be more appreciative. I long for them to be good people! Such a great way of showing thankfulness! Thanks again!
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