Lawson Early Childhood School

This is a great time of year to practice and teach gratitude and kindness. Our Sea Lions learn these important concepts from watching the adults in their lives; if they see us being kind to each other, using manners, and being grateful, they will as well. Being purposeful in teaching them what these words mean is necessary, though. We say, “Use kind words,” or “Use your manners,” but they may not know what that means or how to do it. There are some easy things we can do to help them understand and practice gratitude.

Role play! With two stuffed animals, act out a scenario where one needs to say, “Thank you.” Then talk about how it makes you feel when someone shares gratitude–it makes us feel appreciated and loved.

Model it every time. When you ask someone for something or receive something, model saying, “Please” and “Thank you.”

Gratitude Scavenger Hunt: Go on the hunt outside or inside for something that you are thankful for, a favorite food, a loved one, a pet, a stuffy toy, sunshine. You can tie in some academics too by making it an alphabet gratitude hunt–find something for each letter!

Create a Gratitude Jar: Select a vase or Mason jar. On scraps of paper throughout the year, have each member of the family write or draw something they are thankful for. When the jar is full, go through each paper together and then start over!

Do Something for Others Day: Pick a day. Think of ways every member of the family can do something for someone else: offer to return a shopping cart to the store, help your sister clean her room, offer to help with the dishes, make cookies for the local nursing home. Doing for others fills our own bucket!

Watch these 2-minute ReadyRosie videos for great ideas on teaching and modeling gratitude and kindness.