Teaching gratitude to our kids is something that we always seem to be working on. November is, of course, a great time to focus on being thankful but really, it is a topic that can be addressed at any time of the year.
We watched a great video for our home church lesson this past week but it could be shown to kids at any time that you want to do a little mini lesson on gratitude. I like to use videos as a jumping off point for a discussion and that’s what we did with this.
The Lesson:
Before showing The Thanksgiving Chair video, you might want to explain to younger children that every time the man sees a chair and moves to sit in it that he is stopping to think about his blessings. Then, ask them to pay attention to all the different situations so that you can talk about it afterwards.
After the video, you can have a great discussion:
- What were some of his feelings in different situations?
- What happened when he stopped to think of his blessings?
- How would things be different for us each day if we stopped to think of our blessings?
- What could we do to help us remember to stop and think about our blessings?
The Thankful Chair
After watching the video and discussing, you might want to designate a chair in the house as your family’s “Thankful Chair”. It could be one in a usually quiet place or maybe one that’s outside in nature. You could print up a sign as a reminder, like we did. (Get the free printable here – print, put in a sheet protector, and use yarn or string to tie to the chair.)
Encourage each person to spend time in the Thankful Chair every day. You might even set up a system where each person has a specific time to sit in the Thankful Chair or send them there for a few minutes when they need an attitude adjustment. But I’d give them a chance to do it on their own first.
We have a little table next to our chair and it has family picture books on it (good for little kids). We’re also going to add some scriptures to it that has some gratitude verses marked so they have something to look at and reflect on while they’re sitting there (good for older kids).
It’s been just a few days, and each day I check in with the kids I’m surprised to find out that they’ve used it on their own. And each time they talk about it, I see a happy expression come to their faces. Pretty cool, huh?
If you’re looking for more easy, home-church lessons, click below . . .
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