A great day at school, the new bike sitting in the driveway, even our little brothers and sisters… It's always good to remind ourselves of what we're thankful for. Create a Thanksgiving Tree with your children, and fill your home with gratitude.

What You'll Need

• Construction paper in these colors: brown, green, yellow, orange and red
• Markers
• Clear tape
• Scissors

Making Your Tree

1. Pick an open wall in your kitchen (or any room that works for your family).
2. Use several sheets of brown construction paper to create a tree trunk and four or five large, empty branches.
3. Secure the tree trunk to the wall with tape, and tape the tree limbs to the tree trunk.
4. Cut out an assortment of leaves in different colors and sizes, enough so that each member of your family has about thirty leaves, and pile them into a leftover gift bag or a big bowl.
5. Leave this container of blank leaves on the kitchen table, as a reminder of your project.

Filling Your Tree

At dinner each night, give every family member a blank leaf. Then during the meal, talk about what you feel thankful for, and what you'll be putting on your leaf for that night. By the end of dinner, each person should have written something that they are thankful for on their leaf. Finally, tape each leaf to the branches of the tree.

Over time the tree’s empty brown limbs will fill with a bright, colorful display of your family’s reasons for giving thanks, helping your family remember all the wonderful things you can be grateful for!

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Linda Kastiel Kozlowski is a freelance writer. She is thankful for her husband, her two boys, and a simple paper tree.