Post sponsored by Alpha-Bits as part of the Mom it Forward Blogger Network.
In our time-crunched world, I’m drawn to activities that are festive, educational, and character-building. So as we continue our focus this month on gratitude, I came up with a craft that combines:
- character development
- snack time
- letter recognition
- sorting/ matching/word formation
- and a great gift for grandma
The Tree of Gratitude can easily be adapted to kids of varying ages. My 11 year old had just as much fun as my 6 year old. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Alpha-Bits cereal
- paint (brown, green, yellow) & brush
- glue
- a happy heart
My kids immediately started sorting the Alpha Bits cereal into rows of letters. With every ‘A’ that was lined up, an ‘A’ went into their tummy. The possible craft projects with these little letters were buzzing through my head…if we could just stop eating them. This whole grain cereal is delish! The shaped pieces can also help little ones become familiar with letters of the alphabet while challenging older kids to form words and expressions of gratitude. 
Begin by making the trunk of the tree with your forearm. We used brown paint on the outer side of your arm and then pressed onto paper.
Character Lesson – Our bodies are like a trunk of a tree. The bark protects the good things the roots absorb while also keeping harmful things away. How can we use our bodies to nourish and also protect our hearts?
Make the leaves of the tree with green hand prints. We filled in a few gaps with a paintbrush.
Character Lesson – We can use our hands to serve others.
Use fingerprints to add some leaves to the branches.
Character Lesson – Our fingerprints are unlike anybody else in the world. We are each made special and with purpose.
After the paint dries, spell out words of things that you are thankful for with the Alpha Bits cereal. You may help younger children with this step by writing out their words on a separate paper for them to duplicate. Glue their words of thanksgiving onto the branches of the tree.
Character Lesson – Our words are a reflection of our hearts. Let’s use words of thanksgiving and of encouragement for one another.
The Gratitude Tree can be a keepsake or a gift. Ours are proudly displayed on our playroom walls. Thanks for stopping by for craft time today. Allison
I am grateful for my readers. If you missed our Thanksgiving Advent post, you can learn how we use November to prepare our hearts for the indulgence of December here.
I’d also love for you to follow the House of Hendrix below. We have a great Facebook community and you can find us on Pinterest.
I cannot believe how much I love this activity! It’s tactile, it’s visual, it’s splendiferous… Tasty too! I’m sharing this with my friends.
Thanks Jackie. That made my day. Ok I busted out laughing that you have a Minecraft tab on your site. My son is part-Minecraft these days and it is all he thinks about. Yes, working through how much is too much at the moment. Thanks again for bringing a smile to my face.
That is SO cute and creative! My boys love anything that gets them good and dirty, this is right up there alley, haha! They’ll be wanting to “paint” pictures every night before their baths.
This is very cool! I’m sharing it with my preschool/Sunday school teacher friends. 🙂
Love, love it! what a great reminder that we are blessed! I am going to pass this along to our children’s ministry director! 🙂
What a unique tree of gratitude. How creative to think of this use of cereal letters! Thanks for sharing with Afterschool!
That looks fun and they are learning too.
Very cute idea! We did this campaign too and had lots of fun!
Gorgeous craft which is fun to do and teaches gratitude at the same time. Awesome! I’ll be featuring this as part of my round up on Monday. Thanks so much for linking up at After School!
Thanks Anna! Excited to check it out. Thanks for commenting.
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This is wonderful. I would love you to link to Creative Saturdays. Excellent ideas – love the trunk!
Blessings,
Janis http://www.janiscox.com Author of Tadeo Turtle
Thanks for putting in the link but you linked to Sunday Stillness not the Creative Saturdays. Here is the link http://www.janiscox.com/creative-saturdays-plastic-bag-printmaking/
Blessings,
Janis I hope this doesn’t go into your spam because of the link.
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Thanks for stopping by my site. I’ve been browsing your site and Love it too! This craft totally got my attention. What a clever idea!
I’m all about a handprint or footprint craft! I’ll be pinning this for sure.
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I loved this activity! I am the Director of a Before and After School program and we have a day each week devoted to Team and Character building. I created a lesson plan from your activity so we can do it with our youth. I added an objective and a “discussion” to the activity so we could share in with our children. I also gave you a by line with a link back to this article so others on our team can check it out. If you would like to see it, you can email me at [email protected]. (I can’t seem to attach it to this comment. 🙁 Thanks for your thoughtful and caring addition to educating youth!