Thanksgiving in real life: 3 fun gratitude activities for kids

Updated – Originally published November 8, 2022

There are a lot of reasons to love Thanksgiving. Food, family, football, a long weekend off from work. Did we mention the food?

It’s also a unique holiday — how many other holidays are rooted in a single virtue? Our country’s early leaders established it as a national holiday so clearly they thought gratitude was important. What they may have only understood intuitively has since been proven with research. 

According to UCLA Health, practicing gratitude can positively impact our mental health conditions. Expressing gratitude can lessen anxiety and depression, help improve heart health by decreasing blood pressure, alleviate stress, and improve sleep.

Is technology making us sadder?

While we have plenty of reasons to be thankful this year, depression and other mental health problems might make it difficult to feel gratitude. 

While mental and emotional health are complex — there isn’t a single cause or simple solution — technology does appear to be playing a huge role in our happiness today, especially for young people. 

Social media is linked to depression

Depression from social media is a pressing issue. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, a study found that there’s a clear link between social media use and depression — depressed people tend to use social media more.

Carol Vidal, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H,, researcher of the study, said, “We found that if you tended to be a person who was depressed, you were a person also spending more time on social media,”

Excessive screentime

What’s on the screen does matter, but excessive screen time in general is proving problematic. According to Dr. Thomas Joiner at Florida State University, “There is a concerning relationship between excessive screen time and risk for death by suicide, depression, suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts.”

Research shows the negative impact of too much screen time. A 2023 study found that excessive screen time can stunt children’s “cognitive, linguistic, and social-emotional growth” and “can also lead to problems in social-emotional development, including obesity, sleep disturbances, depression, and anxiety.”

Cyberbullying 

Bullying is not a new problem, but digital technology has made it easier for bullies to reach victims and harder for victims to get away from it. And the anonymity of many online platforms makes it easier for kids to bully who otherwise wouldn’t. Read more about the facts of cyberbullying.

According to Pew Research Center, in 2022, 46% of teens reported experiencing “at least one of six cyberbullying behaviors.” Older teen girls were more likely to experience cyberbullying. 

Technology can have other impacts, even outside of these severe threats. According to The New York Times, researchers have discovered that “technology and loneliness are interlinked.”

Modern technology is itself something to be grateful for. But without the right technology for their maturity level, or the right tech education, it can quickly become the opposite — and cause us to become disconnected from each other.

Connect in real life

This Thanksgiving when you gather with your family members, consider disconnecting from devices and making a bigger effort to connect in real life. 

Try setting a “tech-free” hour — or, if you’re feeling brave, make it longer — to keep everyone off their phones. Connect over cooking or dinner — or take advantage by doing some fun family crafts.

To help make connecting both meaningful and entertaining, we’ve pulled together a list of fun and easy activities for practicing gratitude. 

These gratitude games are a great way to teach your children and adolescents how to unlock the power of gratitude and make the most of Thanksgiving.

Gratitude jar

Grab a glass jar and let the kiddos decorate it however they want (what really matters is what you’ll put on the inside). Take a piece of paper and cut it into small strips and have each child write down one thing they’re grateful for that day. 

Then keep the jar in a visible place in your home and have your kid add a new strip to the jar every day until Christmas. Just like that you’ve turned a single day of gratitude into a full season of gratitude.

Gratitude scavenger hunt

This is a great activity idea for active kids who might not be as affected by the “turkey hangover” as the adults in the house. Teach gratitude in a fun way by creating your own list to keep the kids moving or use this free printable download from All Natural Adventures.

Gratitude pumpkin craft

This is one of our favorite thankful activities for elementary school-aged kids, from The Moffatt Girls blog.

1. Cut an orange piece of construction paper into strips (you could also color a white piece of paper if you don’t have construction paper on hand).
2. Write one thing you’re grateful for on each strip.
3. Glue the front ends of each strip together and back endstogether to form a pumpkin shape.
4. Use green paper to cut out a couple leaf shapes and a strip for the stem. Roll the strip so it curls then glue that and the leaves to the top of the pumpkin. Add the child’s name and date and it becomes a combo gratitude journal for kids + time capsule you can save.

These three activities can just be a jumping off point for your own ideas. There are countless other ways to help kids get into the attitude of gratitude.

Even something as simple as reading gratitude books for kids together can be a great alternative to more screen time. The key to a happy, gratitude-filled Thanksgiving is connection.

And food. Let’s not forget about the food.