Each year during the Thanksgiving season we try to do activities that help us remember all that we have been blessed with. For several years we have made a Thanksgiving Thankful Tree and it’s become a favorite family tradition and one of the best Thanksgiving decorations.
Making a Thankful tree is so simple and it’s a great way to see visually how blessed we are.
A Simple Lesson in Gratitude
This thankful tree craft is a favorite Thanksgiving Tradition for my family and it involves the entire family (kids of all ages) to make it beautiful.
It’s the perfect activity for any age and can teach such a powerful Thanksgiving lesson about having a thankful heart.
Each year when we put up our tree I love to talk to my kids about how the large tree trunk templates (or DIY tree trunks) aren’t very beautiful.
It can even be hard to tell if the tree is even alive when all that we can see is a trunk and branches. I compare this to how when we aren’t grateful we can look like a tree without its leaves (unhappy and see a life full of challenges).
But as the tree gets more and more leaves the more beautiful it becomes, just like the more thankful we are the more beautiful life becomes and the happier we are. Share how when we are thankful for the things we have we can look like beautiful fall trees.
Making Your Own Thankful Tree
You can make your thanksgiving tree a few different ways. We have done it a couple of different ways over the years.
Some people like to use small branches and use string to hang the leaves from a “tree”. I haven’t ever done our thankful tree this way.
For the first couple of years, I used brown mailing paper I picked up from the dollar store to make our tree. Now I love using a large engineer printable thankful tree.
DIY Thankful Tree (Brown Paper Tree)
To make the tree trunk and branches I like to use brown mailing paper that comes in a roller at the dollar store (you can also use brown construction paper.)
First, cut out something that looks like the trunk of a tree and then use the scraps to make branches. Don’t worry if your tree doesn’t look amazing it will soon be covered in leaves.
Printable Thankful Tree
If you don’t want to make your own tree you can print one (it’s a lot faster and easier).
Last year we printed a large engineer print (size 36×48) Thankful Tree and it’s now one of my favorite things! I love how simple and easy it was to put up the printed tree on November 1st and I love the way it looks.
You can get the in the shop (or at the bottom of this post) and then just order the print from Staples or any other print shop.
Hanging the Tree
I used clear scotch tape to attach the tree to our wall, but you could easily make your Thankful tree on a bulletin board.
When choosing where you want to make your thankful tree I would recommend picking somewhere the whole family will see it often.
I like to put our tree on a wall in our living room or kitchen so we can see it multiple times each day and remember how blessed we are.
Thankful Leaves Printable
We use the printable leaves you can get at the bottom of this post printed in a variety of fall colors. The leaves for our thankful tree are usually red, orange, and yellow.
Some of the leaves are blank and you can write anything you’re thankful for on them. Other leaves have a suggested topic to get you thinking more about all that you have.
The leaves have topics like Something Outside, A Talent Something I have Learned, A Smell, and more.
Print out as many of the pages of leaves as you want. I printed them on colored printer paper, but you could print them on white and have the kids color them if you prefer.
You can print a set of leaves for each family member in a specific color. For example, mom’s leaves are red, brother’s are orange, dad’s are yellow, etc. Or you can print the pages of leaves on several colorful papers and then have the cutout leaves in a bowl and let everyone pick them out randomly.
Once the leaves are printed it might take a while to get them cut out, so turn on a movie and enjoy watching while you cut out leaves.
I like to have a bowl or basket full of cut-out paper leaves on the table with pens and glue sticks ready for everyone to write on/ draw on whenever they want. This way our tree is continually getting more and more beautiful all month long.
Gratitude All Month Long
Now that your thankful tree is ready you can add leaves to it all month long and make it a fun month-long tradition.
Each day we are taking some time to write down things we are grateful for and add them to our paper gratitude tree. By the end of the month, we have a beautiful tree bursting with color and little things we are thankful for.
Making this easy Thanksgiving craft each year has been a great activity to help our family have grateful hearts and remember what’s important during the holiday season.
Thanksgiving Day Tree
If you don’t want to do this thanksgiving tree for the whole month you could easily have it be an activity for Thanksgiving Day. Make or print the thanksgiving tree trunk and then get the leaves ready.
When you’re setting the Thanksgiving table for dinner place a leaf or two at each person’s place along with something to write with. Have everyone write something they are thankful for on the leaves.
When everyone sits down for Thanksgiving dinner you could go around and have everyone share what they wrote and put their leaves on the tree.
Free Printable Gratitude Leaves
Use these printable gratitude leaves to make your own gratitude tree this Thanksgiving. Please keep these printables for personal use.
There are 7 pages of leaves, page 1 has blank leaves, and the other 6 pages all have questions for you to answer with something you’re grateful for.
Some years I only print page 1 multiple times, other years I like the prompts. (you choose what works best for your family.) Happy Thanksgiving!
More Fun Activities for Thanksgiving
Gratitude ABC’s – Use the Gratitude ABC’s free printable as another fun (and easy) gratitude activity during the Thanksgiving season.
Thanksgiving I-Spy Coloring Pages – These free printables are a perfect Thanksgiving activity. Keep the kids busy while you’re cooking dinner or any other time throughout the month.
Thanksgiving Dot to Dot – Pick one (or do all) of these 10 different Thanksgiving Dot to Dot free printables.
Save this post on Pinterest!
