Gratitude Activity

A Grateful Heart

As I was trying to think of something I could do to help my kids be thankful this November I came across an idea. I modified it a bit and this is what I came up with. (I did this with our young women group as well.)

 I made several of these little heart boxes. On both sides it says, "A Grateful Heart." Inside I put as many Hershey Kisses as would fit. I then told those participating that the idea is to learn to recognize and be grateful for someone when they do something nice for us. This can be done throughout the month of November, the week of Thanksgiving, or even Thanksgiving Day.

1. Recognize an act of kindness, service or likewise
2. Tell that person how much you appreciate what they have done for you
3. Present them with one of the Grateful Heart boxes and treats to show your gratitude
4. Write in your journal what that person did for you and why it touched you
5. Be quick to recognize future kindnesses and acknowledge them
6. Thank Heavenly Father for those acts of kindness towards you
7. Strive to be kind to others

YW Gratitude Journals

Grateful = The Quality of Being Thankful

 

What a great definition of grateful!

It is a quality that each one of us can develop in our lives.

In honor of Thanksgiving, this month I made a gratitude journal for each of our young women. This gratitude journal is somewhat like a smash journal. The idea is that it is a bit crazy with different shapes and sizes of paper, different colors and patterns, etc. 

 

I am happy to report that the girls adored the books :)

I included several quotes on gratitude, writing prompts about gratitude, a pocket containing scripture references about being grateful, and an LDS conference talk entitled  "O Remember, Remember" by Elder Henry B. Eyring. (Click on the title or here to view the talk on the lds.org website.) I shrunk it down and fit 4 on a page then folded each page in half and added it into the front of the journals. It is a 4 page talk.

 These books are a 4 x 6 size. I would recommend that as the smallest size or you can do a 6 x 6 to give them a bit more room to write. The first picture on this post is a 6 x 6 one that I made as a test run. It was less expensive to make the 4 x 6 and they were still cute.

 The idea behind these gratitude journals is that the girls write about as many things as they can throughout the month that they are grateful for. The girls were then asked to being their journals on a certain Sunday to share some of the things they had written.

 This is one of my favorite parts of the journal. It is a page with butterfly sticky notes that instructs the girls to write one thing they are grateful for about each member of their family on a sticky note and then put it on a mirror or door or somewhere that individual would see it.

 Learning to be grateful for that which we have is an important attribute to develop. Empowering the girls to see the good in their lives will help them recognize the hand of God in their life and that will bring peace and happiness.

For those of you interested, I used a machine "the Cinch" to bind the books. It worked like a charm:) Love my new toy.

May we all remember the things we are grateful for this holiday season and see the good in our lives!

Back-To-School Gift

I just love my Beehive class. They are such cute girls. It seems like Junior High can be so much fun, but can also be a bit scary. 

I decided to make something for each girl for the first week of back-to-school. My idea began when my own children were telling me how much they liked SOBE drinks. At the grocery store I went to that day, SOBE's were on sale. I grabbed enough for each girl and went home to figure out what I could do. This is what I came up with:

I opened up President Hinckley's book "Standing for Something" and started to find quotes and advice I could give the girls. I also used some scriptures and decided my theme would be,

"SO, BE.."

At the bottom after: 

SO, BE teachable

SO, BE Strong

SO, BE sure to speak kindly

SO, BE loving

SO, BE happy

I ended with

SO, BE Christ-like.

I found the cute chevron paper at the silhouette store and printed it at home. The tag also came from the silhouette store. I printed the saying out and glued it to the chevron tag. I put each SOBE in a clear bag and tied the top at the side hooking the tag on. I think they turned out cute. I hope the girls like their gift.