Blog Post Five - Whispers of Thankfulness

Welcome to my fifth blog, featuring thankfulness. It includes fun activities and creative crafts by Aimee, Buddy, Jed, and Cara, who are the characters in my stories. This blog focuses on the fifth story, "Giant Frogs," the last story in the book, “Tiny Whispers.” When children learn the importance of gratitude, they acquire valuable life skills that foster kindness in their homes, schools, and communities.

Check out Cara's Friendship Snapshot activity towards the end of this blog. Just click the BIG RED BUTTON. Cara can't wait for you to complete this fun printout about how you're spreading friendship.

What is Thankfulness and Why is it a Whisper?

Thankfulness is a whisper that softly tells you to be grateful for what you do, what you have, and who you are. The gift of thankfulness brings benefits to children, enriching their lives in countless ways!

• Thankfulness makes children feel good about their lives.

• It fosters optimism and hope for the future.

• It helps children develop coping skills.

• It encourages children to enjoy healthy habits in eating, exercising, and sleeping.

• It benefits children by helping them set and create goals.

• It improves children’s relationships and helps them make new friends.

Buddy, Jed, and Cara are catching giant frogs.

 Enrichment Games, Crafts, and Stories that go with the story, "Giant Frogs."   

Aimee’s Thanks-a-Lot Collage

Collage art is a fun and creative way for children to express their gratitude. Aimee enjoys participating in this activity. Creating a collage can be an individual or a group project. To create a collage, gather colorful paper, magazine cutouts, glue sticks or liquid glue, age-appropriate scissors, and sturdy cardboard for a base to glue pictures onto. You can also include stickers, glitter, buttons, and other decorating items to add finishing touches.

Start by demonstrating to the children how to tear paper around an item carefully. If tearing is challenging for younger children, cutting with safety scissors will work too. Children enjoy this activity while developing their hand-eye coordination.

Show the children how to layer their artwork by gluing different art pieces together along the edges, making sure there are no wrinkles. Guide them in arranging the pictures, encouraging them to slightly overlap each piece of art to fill in the spaces on the cardboard or cardstock. Fold and glue down any hanging edges, or cut them off to create a polished look.

For a longer-lasting piece of art, brush a coat of glossy Mod Podge over the entire design. Allow it to dry thoroughly for a durable finish that will be enjoyed for years to come.

Buddy’s Fun Charades for Grateful Kids

Write several words or phrases on pieces of paper that children are thankful for. Fold the pieces of paper and put them in a homemade THANKFUL JAR. Here are examples of the words and phrases that Buddy is thankful for.

·        Ice cream cones

·        Friends make me happy

·        Vets help pets

·        Playing in the sand

·        I love the library

·        Music

·        Drawing pictures

·        Pizza

Buddy loves the game of Charades. The objective is for the group to guess a word or phrase about a person, place, or thing that children are thankful for. Show the children how to play Charades by acting out a word or phrase, without speaking, using gestures, facial expressions, and body movements to give clues. Explain to the children that each player has a specific amount of time to act out a word or phrase to keep the game exciting. (2 minutes is recommended)

1.   Start by having the oldest child draw a slip of paper from the Thankful Jar and encourage them to act out the word or phrase. (Whisper the word or phrase to those players who need help with reading.)

2.  Encourage all of the other players to guess what is being acted out.

3.  If the players guess the word or phrase within the time limit, the group receives a point.

4.  The person to the left of the player who had a turn acting out a word or phrase goes next.

5.  Once a predetermined number of points is reached, reward the group with a healthy snack or a surprise activity.

 Jed’s Grateful Talk Activity

Jed created this activity to get to know his friends at school, in his neighborhood, and at church better. He discovered that by asking them questions, they loved talking about what they're thankful for. He hopes you'll give it a try.

• Name two people who make you smile.

• Which food do you wish you could eat for dinner every night of the week?

• When it’s hot outside, what is the name of the tree that you’d like to sit under?

• What cookies do you love more than any other cookies in the whole wide world?

• When you wake up in the morning, what are the hobbies that you can’t wait to continue working on and learning more about? (A hobby can be a sport or an activity involving music, art, hiking, fishing, writing, knitting, reading, dancing, etc.)

• When you’re outside on a cold, blistery day, and your fingers and toes are stinging, which cozy, warm rooms do you look forward to spending time in?

• When you are feeling sad, name a kind person who makes you feel better?

Cara's Friendship Snapshot

Press Click Me for your free copy of Cara's Friendship Snapshot. At the far left of the Friendship Snapshot page, go to File, then Print. ENJOY!

Click Me

Cory’s “Love A Lot” Stories

Discover these engaging, kid-friendly books that explore thankfulness! They help children appreciate thankfulness as an essential character trait. Each story provides valuable lessons to inspire young minds to be considerate and thankful.

Gratitude is My Superpower by Alicia Ortego

The Gratitude Jar by Katerina Liu

The Gratitude Goggles by Andrea Mendoza

Gratitude Ninja by Mary Nihin

Thankfulness by Kerry Ogedegbe

Gratitude = Happiness Activity Book by Kory W. Kutzler

Let’s Talk about Kindness and Gratitude by Julia Emote

Spring is near, a thankful time of the year.

Please share my post with your family and friends, and look forward to my next post, “Echos of Friendship.”

Sharing love,

Nana/Vicki