Science has shown the benefits of gratitude. Here’s a game you can play at Thanksgiving or all year round to harvest the benefits with your little ones. Anytime is the right time to be grateful, but we may think about it more around Thanksgiving.
What is gratitude?
Oxford dictionary defines “gratitude” as “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.”
Some physical and emotional benefits of gratitude
There are oodles of scientific studies that show the benefits of gratitude, especially as a regular practice. Here are a few of them. (If you want to read more, check out this article from Harvard Medical School:
- Greater happiness
- More optimism and positive emotions
- New and lasting relationships
- Better physical and emotional health
- More progress toward personal goals
- Fewer aches and pains
- More alertness and determination
- Increased generosity and empathy
- Better sleep
- Improved self-esteem
Gratitude as a family ritual
I don’t necessarily think that the wee ones need a gratitude practice. They are filled with the wonder of the world all of the time. Just being with them can be a gratitude practice for us–if we pause and really take them in.
Yet creating simple daily rituals with your family can really help bring mindfulness to this wonderful gift of appreciating our gifts. It supports the adults and the children, too.
Below I share the game I played with the 3-6 year olds in my class during our Thanksgiving circle. You can play this game, too. But if prefer, you can make it into a ritual instead of a game. You can pass the pumpkin around the table before a meal, using the verse or not, and say what you’re grateful for as you hold the pumpkin.
If you want to do it all year round, maybe you’d rather choose a gratefulness stone to keep on the table and pass around at your chosen time. Before a meal is a good time, but do whatever works for your family.
The gratitude pumpkin game
As I mentioned, I used to play with my mixed-age kindergarten around this time of year–gratitude and a game all in one, now that’s something to be thankful for!
The game is a variation of hot potato, and it’s simple to play. You just pass the pumpkin around while saying the verse. Whoever is holding the pumpkin when the verse ends gets to say something they’re grateful for.
I never would force a child to say something. If they didn’t want to speak, we just passed the pumpkin along to someone who did. If the same person got the pumpkin twice, they could say something else if they wanted to. The third time, they gave the pumpkin to someone who hadn’t had a turn yet. And so we went until everyone who wanted to had a turn. It took a few minutes with 20 or so of us–but it was great fun!
The Verse
Here’s the verse I use but feel free to tweak it if you want:
Pumpkin, Pumpkin, round you go,
Where you stop, nobody knows.
But when you stop, it’s time to say
What you’re grateful for today.
More about gratitude in the video
What are you grateful for today?
What are you grateful for today? I’m grateful for you!
If you’d like more fall activities, check out my post on Autumn Circle Time.
If you want some parenting inspiration, check out my post on The parenting journey in poetry
Thanks so much for stopping by.
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