Thanksgiving is all about expressing gratitude. And what could be a better way to teach gratitude and thankfulness than a fun craft! Indulge in this Thanksgiving Tree Craft Activity For Kids to evoke the sense of joy, gratefulness and mindfulness.
This easy Thanksgiving craft is excellent for young kids who love handprint crafts. It uses commonly found craft materials that are, most likely, already available in your home.
Thanksgiving Tree Craft
Making this thankful tree is super easy. It makes for an excellent memento for kids to look at when they grow older and recall how little their hands once were!
Besides keeping your kids busy on thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Tree will allow them to pause and think of the things they often take for granted and be grateful for them.
This thoughtful craft can be easily converted to a Thanksgiving activity for the whole family (or classroom!) where every member gets to pen down things they are thankful for!
This handprint tree also doubles up as an easy fall craft for toddlers. It’s uses beautiful fall colours that are symbolic of the autumn season.
Supplies For Thankful Tree Craft
Glue gun with glue stick
- Sharpie
- Scissors
- Paint brush
- Brown Acrylic Colour
- Construction Paper – Red, Orange & Yellow
- Empty Toilet Paper Roll
- Skewers/ Barbeque Sticks
How To Make Gratitude Tree
1. Take an empty toilet roll and using scissors make fringes on one end of the roll to make the tree trunk.
2. Using hot glue, make lines of different sizes and patterns (like shown) on the toilet roll to make bark for the tree trunk. Set it aside and let it dry.
3. Once dry, bend the trimmed edges so that the tree can balance on them. This will help the thankful tree stand upright without falling.
4. Use brown acrylic colour or ordinary brown paint to paint the trunk of the thanksgiving tree. Set it aside and let it dry.
5. While the paint dries, take construction paper in autumn colours (we used orange, yellow & red) and trace out your child’s hand using a sharpie. And if you want to make it into a Thanksgiving craft for Family, let every family member trace out their handprint.
6. Cut out the handprints using scissors and attach them to skewers. These will make the tree branches.
7. Lastly, place the skewers in the tree trunk to set up the thanksgiving tree and invite your family to pen down their thankfulness notes on the handprints.
Place this gratitude tree on your thanksgiving table and invite everyone to pen down their gratitude notes.
And if you are looking for a simple yet thoughtful thanksgiving activity, make a couple of these thankful trees – one for every family member and let them write what they are thankful for each day upto thanksgiving.
This grateful tree activity is excellent for the classroom and much loved by teachers as well as students. Easy and mindful, it requires a few supplies and can be easily done with a large group.
Related: Check out more Grateful Crafts for Thanksgiving to make with kids and family!
On the eve of thanksgiving, read out what you are grateful for as you celebrate the spirit of Thanksgiving. Such crafts go a long way in instilling gratitude and thankfulness in kids and family.
More than often, small favours and things go unnoticed. But with this mindful and easy gratitude tree, everyone will get time to reflect and count their blessings.
