Thankful Rocks: A Visual Reminder to be Grateful
Thankful rocks are a visual reminder to kids to be grateful for what they do have instead of focusing their attention on what they don’t have. They are inspired by the book Being Thankful by Mercer Mayer.
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This week the PLAYful Preschool theme is gratitude. The team has lots of great posts on this topic! I hope you will check them all out below.
We are always working on character development with our kids and having gratitude is one of the most important character traits we want them to have. I am sure many of you can agree. We want our kids to realize that being thankful for the things you have is so important. We want them to understand that there will always be more things to want and you will only truly be satisfied when you focus on being appreciative for what you do have instead of the things you don’t.
As a result, I love finding books that drive that message home. I was so happy to find the book Being Thankful by Mercer Mayer! Evan has really been into the Little Critter books he writes. They are written and illustrated in a way that is engaging for young children and this book did not disappoint.
Materials Needed:
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Being Thankful by Mercer Mayer
A rock
Paint
Paintbrush
Activity Details:
The first thing I did was read the book. Little Critter constantly wants more, bigger, better and isn’t appreciative for what he does have. It takes a trip to his grandparents’ farm to make him realize that it is the simple things in life that make it great. His grandparents show him their thankful rocks and even give him one of his own.
I make sure to read with animation and really emphasize the points I want him to internalize. We even stop to discuss certain things that are said in the book.
After we read the book and discussed it, I told Evan that we were going to make our own thankful rocks so we could be reminded to appreciate what we have. He was very excited to have a thankful rock just like Little Critter.
I brought out the rocks, some crayola paint and paintbrushes. Then we painted the tops and sides of our rock. We let them dry and then flipped them over to paint the bottoms.
Now the whole family has a thankful rock to serve as a visual reminder to be grateful!
Check out all the other PLAYful Preschool posts below!
The Giving Tree- An Attitude of Gratitude in Preschool from The Preschool Toolbox
Literacy Activities: Giving and Being Thankful Ideas from Growing Book by Book
Teaching Kids Thank You in Different Languages from Still Playing School
Thankful Rocks: A Visual Reminder to Be Thankful from Mom Inspired Life
Gratitude Sensory Bin from Learning 2 Walk
Gratitude- Put Your Best Foot Forward Footprint Activity from Capri +3
Gratitude Sensory Jar from Tiny Tots Adventures
Non-Verbal Ways to Show Gratitude from Life Over C’s