My Blessings Tree Thanksgiving Craft

Don't skip the "Thanks" in Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is a special holiday in the United States. But it’s easy to skip the “Thanks” part and skip right to the “Giving” part as Christmas approaches. 

Want a way to nurture thankfulness in your grands and in yourself? Let's make a My Blessings Tree!

What a preciously simple activity to do with your grands. 

How to Make a My Blessings Tree Thanksgiving Craft

You probably have all the supplies around the house to make this one happen. Pull out the Construction Paper, Scissors, Colored Markers, and Glue Stick. Boom, you are ready to go.

The tree trunk and branches are made by laying the child’s hand down, fingers spread on brown Construction Paper. OK, so it can be whatever color they want, no need to be a fuddy-duddy and limit a tree trunk to being brown! 

Draw around the hand and arm and cut out the shape. 

Glue the tree trunk to another sheet of Construction Paper. We used white, but other colors could work well too. I had a few pieces of oversized Construction Paper for this, and the larger size was nice.

Watch out for falling leaves!

Next, you or your grand will draw and cut out a bunch of leaves. You can see the shape we drew. This shape is easy to draw and easy to cut out with Scissors. But you can be creative and do all kinds of shapes if you want. 

Tip- Draw the leaves fairly large, especially if the child is young. There is more room to write or draw and it doesn’t take as many to make the tree look full of leaves.

What are You Thankful For?

Use your Colored Markers to write or draw pictures of the things you are thankful for. Be willing to help a young child to spell words and names.

This is a great time to encourage your grand and yourself by remembering the many things you have for which to be thankful. Stretch your boundaries and ponder what you may have missed being grateful for lately.

I know many have difficult situations in life. There are still things to be grateful for. This is a good exercise to do whenever the day feels “blue”- “count your blessings” as my mother used to often say. Many times, this can shift the mindset and bring a spark of joy to the heart.

I love how my grand remembered to put herself on her My Blessings Handprint Tree! Don’t you? 

More Ideas to Nurture Gratitude

This same activity works as a wall poster. With a piece of white butcher paper or poster board and Construction Paper you can make a My Blessings Tree Thanksgiving Craft that everyone can contribute to before digging into that turkey meal. Hand everyone a leaf or two and have them write down a blessing and glue it on the poster. Do another round before dessert. Cultivate gratefulness.

Another great craft for this is the WTN post on the Count Your Blessings Gratitude Jar. You could continue this one all year long and then pull out the blessings and read them next Thanksgiving. My friend did this with her Sunday School class one year and it was a real success. The kids asked for it each week- “Don’t forget the Blessings Jar!”.

And I can't forget to tell you about the WTN post on a Gratitude Photo Wreath to use to display pictures of loved ones in all year long. This is one of my favorites. I need to get mine out and update the photos on my wreath.

So…what are YOU thankful for?

Pour a cup of coffee or tea and ponder this question. It will be a blessing to you, I promise.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to share crafts with YOU, my friends around the states and around the world.

You are a blessing to me.

If you try this craft, let me know! Go ahead and leave a comment, rate it, and tag a photo with #WelcometoNanas wherever you post.

Enjoy!