How to Create a Gratitude Tree

With Thanksgiving arriving soon, my mind has been on gratitude. Particularly, how to incorporate gratitude into the hearts of my little ones.

I came up with an idea for a gratitude tree. A simple wall decoration that we can look at and remember what we're thankful for. This is also a great keepsake item because you can switch the leaves each year to reflect each child's changing interest. Obviously, I have toddlers, so you see things like Elmo, sippy cups and Thomas on mine!

Here's how you do it.

You'll need:
Construction paper with brown, red, yellow and green colors
Markers
Scissors
Tape or Glue

First, outline a tree trunk on brown construction paper. You'll most likely need two sheets for this, depending on how tall you'd like your tree to be. I outlined my tree trunk by drawing two straight lines on one sheet of paper and two curved lines on another sheet of paper. Cut your trunk out and drawn a few lines with a black market to give your trunk some texture.

Next, you'll make your leaves. I used a leaf template to save time. Just print, cut out the leaves and trace onto the colored paper. You'll want to make a few different types of leaves in varying colors for a vibrant tree.

After you cut out your construction paper leaves, it's time to get to the fun part, thinking about what you're grateful for. You can make this a fun family event by asking each member what they're grateful for. If you have little ones, be prepared to laugh at their answers! Little ones are grateful for the most simple of things and we can learn a lot from them! Write each thing you're grateful for on a leaf.

To set your tree up, tape your trunk to the wall. Then, arrange leaves on top of the tree. I arranged mine in a half circle with some leaves overlapping to create a more realistic look. You can also place some leaves by the sides of the trunk to make them look like they're falling down.

Be sure to take a picture of the tree each year or save a few leaves to see how your family grows in their gratitude.

How are you showing your gratitude this Fall?