6 Easy Ways to Teach Kids to Show Gratitude this Easter
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Easter is a season of joy, renewal, and appreciation. It's also a perfect opportunity to teach kids about gratitude in fun and meaningful ways. When we show gratitude, it isn’t just about saying “thank you”, it’s about fostering a mindset of appreciation and kindness that can positively impact their wellbeing and relationships.
You can use the excitement of Easter to encourage kids to acknowledge the good things and learn to show gratitude. Teach them that being thankful and expressing gratitude is key for nurturing relationships and improving happiness. You can easily incorporate simple gratitude activities into Easter traditions.
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Relationship lessons are an important part of a valuable set of social-emotional skills that enhance wellbeing, and this is where kindness and gratitude come in. These positive values are a powerful force that can have a profound effect on, well, everything!
Kids need to learn how to use them. That means appreciating the positive character traits and actions of people who are important to them. It means showing that they care about others by making them feel good about themselves. It's about being able to show gratitude and kindness to foster meaningful relationships.
Learning to be grateful naturally involves showing kindness towards oneself and others. That’s why the two go hand in hand. These skills nurture emotional intelligence and add to a wellbeing toolbox students will access throughout life.
In fact, teaching kids to be kind and thankful is also an effective and no-cost way to support behavior management and strengthen your classroom community. And by using fun, engaging gratitude activities for kids, you’ll not only boost their mood you’ll also help them feel more connected and supported.
Expressing gratitude is associated with a host of mental and physical benefits. Studies have shown that feeling thankful can improve sleep, mood and immunity. Gratitude can decrease depression, anxiety, difficulties with chronic pain and risk of disease.
What is Gratitude
Before starting your activities to teach kids to be grateful, remember that they may not always understand concepts like gratitude without guidance. We can’t assume they know what it means to be grateful just because they’ve heard the words. To clear things up, you can start with a discussion about what gratitude is.
Start with a simple group discussion. Make it engaging and invite kids to share their own thoughts and feelings. This helps them process the concept and feel ownership over their learning.
Explain that gratitude is more than just saying “thank you.” It’s about recognizing the good in our lives, appreciating the people who support us, and expressing appreciation in ways that build stronger, more compassionate relationships. Helping kids understand this sets the stage for deeper emotional growth and a stronger sense of connection.
Here's a kid-friendly explaination you might like to read:
"Gratitude is when you notice the good things in your life and feel thankful for them. It’s about saying “thank you” when someone helps you or does something kind and showing that you appreciate people and what they do for you."
After you've explained the meaning of gratitude, ask questions like:
In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.
It's interesting to hear how students define gratitude and to explore their different perspectives. Take a moment to do a quick show of hands, or invite discussion to see who agrees or has a different take.
To make the concept more relatable, ask them to give real-life examples of gratitude from your classroom. Encourage them to reflect on how they show appreciation, whether it’s saying “thank you,” helping a friend, or just offering a smile. You can also ask them to notice when their classmates show gratitude and how it makes them feel.
Challenge your students to become more mindful of gratitude throughout the day. Encourage them to pause and really feel thankful when someone helps them or gives them something. The more we help children tune in to these moments, the more naturally gratitude will become part of their daily lives.
Ways to Teach Kids Gratitude
1. Create a Family Gratitude Jar
A gratitude jar is a simple but powerful way to help kids recognize and appreciate the good in their lives. Give them a jar and small slips of paper and ask them to write things about each their siblings and parents that they’re thankful for. They can take their jar home and read the notes with their family at Easter.
2. Read Books About Gratitude
Books can be really useful teaching tools. They can help visual learners to grasp the concept of gratitude and encourage conversations about why gratitude is so powerful and how to show it.
After reading, discuss how the characters demonstrated thankfulness and how the lesson can apply to their own lives.
There are a few terrific books (affiliate links) that highlight gratitude you might like to consider reading during your morning meeting.
3. Show Kids What It Means to be Grateful
When they see you praise someone and express your appreciation for good work or behavior, students are encouraged to follow suit. You can promote an attitude of gratitude by helping kids see the positive attributes in their classmates or the little things that contribute to having a good day.
Routinely point out things you're grateful for during class. Ask students to share something they're thankful for during morning meetings.
Another fun thing is a class gratitude jar (similar to the family jar above) or personal gratitude journal.
Journalling can be as simple as writing a few lines about what kids are grateful for that day or you can ask them to focus on their relationships and the positive behavior of their peers. Ask them to write down 3 acts of kindness they observed, 3 ways someone made them feel good, or something they're happy they achieved.
In an experimental comparison, those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events
4. Teach Kids to Give Compliments
When students complement one another, it can help build positive relationships in your classroom. Feeling appreciated and valued can boost confidence and self-esteem to encourage more positive interactions. This can have a positive effect on academic performance as well as social, emotional, and physical wellbeing.
- How to Give a Compliment
Be specific and genuine when praising. Rather than saying that's a "great job", go into detail about what students did well and what was admirable about what they did or the way they did it. Make sure the praise comes across as sincere, heartfelt, and not forced.
Research shows that gratitude is linked with feelings of reward, improved sleep, and decreased depression and anxiety. There are measurable benefits to mental health and interpersonal relationships when humans feel gratitude.
- Be Timely and Respectful
Give compliments as soon as possible after the event or behavior happens. This ensures the child feels recognized and appreciated in the moment. Praise should be respectful and not be centered around someone’s appearance or clothing.
Compliments can be verbal, written, or given through gestures such as a smile or thumbs-up.
5. Make this Easter Card to Compliment Someone
Do you students like crafts? Then they'll love this Easter compliments card activity!
Students will be lost in the moment as they consider the positive attributes of classmates and loved ones. They get to choose someone to make a card for and add complimentary words to Easter eggs they glue on coloring pages with a bunny, chick, or Easter basket.
They can even use the clipart to make their own designs. This is a fabulous activity for helping students identify positive character traits and get in the habit of looking for them.
6. Have a Gratitude Scavenger Hunt
Turn gratitude into a game by creating a scavenger hunt where kids find objects that make them feel happy or thankful. Challenge them to find:
Keep the Compliments Going
Keep reinforcing your compliment activity well after Easter is over with these fun bookmarks that double as a kindness challenge! It gives students such a buzz pretending to be a secret agent as they sneak off to the library to hide compliment bookmarks for unsuspecting schoolmates to find.
This activity is a hit with all ages. They'll be begging you to do it again and again!
You will notice that most of these activities are not Easter themed. Though you can feed off the buzz of Easter to encourage students to reflect on what and who they are thankful for, gratitude should be practiced every day.
Use the ideas to encourage some Easter gratitude but also to help students get into the habit of being thankful each and every day.
