Growing Gratitude

11/22/2022

"Gratitude is the understanding that many millions of things come together and live together and mesh together and breathe together in order for us to take even one more breath of air, that the underlying gift of life and incarnation as a living, participating human being is a privilege; that we are miraculously, part of something, rather than nothing."
~David Whyte

There are many studies that show the benefits of incorporating a gratitude practice into children's lives (and their caretakers!). Scientific research shows that people who make noticing, feeling, and expressing gratitude a part of their daily routine experience many helpful results: improved emotional intelligence, better sleep, high self esteem, positive mental health, healthier relationships, and a stronger immune system to name a few.

Here are some ways to develop a gratitude practice with children:

Modeling Gratitude - By noticing, appreciating, and using descriptive language to express what we feel grateful for we are helping to create fertile ground for gratitude to flourish. As teachers we are very aware to model gratitude by noticing and appreciating the little humans around us as well as our environment and the wonders of the natural world. By using vivid descriptive language that emphasizes the positive we are supporting a rich vocabulary and reinforcing that we are blessed to live in this beautiful world together. What you focus on grows.

Gratitude Rituals - We love to incorporate daily rituals that focus on gratitude. We sing a gratitude song before we eat together and share what we are grateful for while we are eating. At the end of our day we share something that we especially liked about our day. We also have a kindness jar that the children or teachers add pom poms to when we notice another child being helpful or kind. At home families can express gratitude at dinner or before bedtime. Writing thank you cards is a wonderful gratitude activity - even younger kids can make a drawing and learn the art of expressing thanks.

Gratitude Games - Make gratitude fun and play games that reinforce an attitude of gratitude - see some of our examples below.

Gratitude Journals - Keeping a gratitude journal is a powerful tool to create more awareness of our blessings and express gratitude.

Being Helpful and Making a Contribution - Involving children in the work that goes into daily living helps them to better understand why gratitude is important. The children help to take care of our garden, tidy up our environment, and prepare healthy food together. We love to see their self esteem blossom as they make a contribution.

Read Books About Gratitude - Kids learn so much from stories and picture books. Selecting books that focus on expressing thanks helps to support a thriving gratitude practice. We love "The Thank You Book" by Mo Willems, "All the World" by Liz Garton Scanlon, and "Bear Says Thanks" by Karma Wilson.

Gratitude Journals

Keeping a gratitude journal together is a great way to grow our experience of all the wonder and joy in our lives. Adults and older children can write out the words, younger children can copy writing and draw what they love on to the page.

These gratitude journals are a great example of how differentiated learning works in a mixed age environment. Differentiated learning refers to an approach to education whereby teachers adapt the materials and the way they teach to maximize the learning of every student in the class.

Gratitude Games

Gratitude games are even more fun when the kids help to make them! You can find this gratitude game in the back of your Thanks Book.

The younger kids are learning colors and growing fine motor skills while the older kids are learning about grammar and the properties of nouns. All ages benefit from focusing on gratitude!

"Gratitude is liberating. It helps us to realize that we are sufficient, and that realization frees us."
~Joanna Macy

If you lose your color dice or are looking for ways to keep the game fresh, try this mystery bag version where we pulled colored sticks from the bag with our eyes closed.

Say What You Love is another fun gratitude game we often play together to inspire kids to focus on what they are grateful for - some kids will get really enthusiastic with their heartfelt appreciation: " I love my mama! I love ice cream! I love the moon! I love dragons! I love coloring! I love hugs! I love swimming..." The joyful expression is contagious!

Gratitude Yoga

Here's one of our favorite poems to move our body to:

I bow to Mother Earth
I lift to Father Sky
I open to the wind
and the clouds floating by
I welcome the rain
that flows to the sea
I honor the kindness
in you and in me

The Thankful Pumpkin

To make our Thankful Pumpkins we took turns writing or drawing what we are thankful for on the pumpkin. It makes a great centerpiece for the dining table!

Thank You Letters

Inspired by this sweet book where Bear writes to all her favorite nature friends, we wrote thank you letters to people we love.

Daily Gratitude

Everyday before snack and lunch we sing together:

Give thanks to the Mother Earth
Give thanks to the Father Sun
Give thanks to the plants in the garden
Where the mother and the father are one

Gratitude Soup

This soup is perfect for the chilly weather and a great way to consider what goes into the food we eat. So much to be grateful for!

Ingredients:

2 carrots, chopped 1/2 moons
1 delicata squash, de-seeded, chopped small cubes
1 sweet potato chopped small triangles
1 purple turnip, chopped small cubes
2 cups collards, chopped bite size
1 cup dinosaur kale, chopped bite size
1 cup sorrell, chopped bite size
1 handful rosemary, chopped fine
1 handful parsley, chopped fine
1 handful sage, chopped fine
2 TBS coconut oil
Salt to taste

Instructions:
Sauté the root veggies and half of the fresh herbs with a pinch of salt until their fragrance is released. Add the greens, another pinch of salt, and add water just to cover the veggies. Bring to a boil, then cook on a low simmer for about 20 minutes until all the veggies are tender. Add salt to taste and garnish with the other half of the fresh herbs.

When encouraging the kids to eat new vegetables we love to ask them questions to help them feel more friendly with new foods:

Can you see any of the vegetables we picked from the garden?
Can you smell any of the herbs from the garden?
Do you see any shapes in the soup?
What happened to the color of the purple turnips?
Taste your soup, would you like to add more salt or fresh herbs?

Making a Contribution

Kids love to make a contribution by cooking together, cleaning up, and helping each other throughout the day!

Self Regulation

Having a hard time feeling the gratitude? We find that breathing and singing are the some of the fastest way to shift back to a state of appreciation!

Balloon Breath

Ho'oponopono

This ancient Hawaiian prayer makes a beautiful song to sing together and uplifts the vibration of any situation:

I love you
I'm sorry
Please forgive me
Thank you

"The simplest and deepest way to make who we are at one with the world is through the kinship of gratitude. Nothing brings the world of spirit and earth together more quickly. Sometimes just giving thanks for the mystery of it all brings everything and everyone closer. Take a chance and openly give thanks, even if you're not sure what for, and feel the plentitude of all that is living brush up against your heart."
~Mark Nepo

Turkey Tail Tag

A turkey twist on our favorite fox tail game - decorate a clothes pin, tape on some feathers, attach to your tail area, and chase your friend's tail!

Popcorn Party!

Shucking dried corn is an excellent activity for developing the small muscles of growing fingers - kids are especially motivated when they are contributing to a popcorn party!

Older children helping younger children is an empowering benefit of mixed age learning!

Chocolate Banana Bread

Cooking class is a wonderful medium for learning how to read a recipe, adding fractions and cooperating together.

Homemade Playdough

STEAM Experiment

What's your hypothesis? How many drops of water do you think you can get on the top of a quarter with out it spilling off? Most of us thought between 5 and 10 but WHAT!?! 48 drops was the highest! The surface tension holds the water into a huge bubble!