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Math and Games for Kids, Teachers and Parents. Math lessons and fun games for kindergarten to sixth grade, plus quizzes, brain teasers and more.

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Math Game Time - Free Math Games & Worksheets for Kids & Teachers

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Math Game Time offers free math games, worksheets, homework help & videos for teachers, parents & children. Start enjoying cool, fun math games online today!

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ABCya! • ABCya! • Learning Games and Apps for Kids

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Educational games for grades PreK through 6 that will keep kids engaged and having fun. Topics include math, reading, typing, just-for-fun logic games… and more!

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The most comprehensive phonics-based reading program available for early learners.

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The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Daytime Emmy-nominated, Storyline Online, features celebrated actors reading children's books to inspire a love of reading in millions of children worldwide.

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The Global Storybooks Portal is designed specifically for teachers, parents, and community members around the world. It makes 40 selected stories from the African Storybook available in major national, immigrant and refugee languages of individual countries, regions, and groups.

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by your favourite authors

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Astronauts read picture books in space

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Story Time From Space | T2 Science & Math Education Consultants

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Read Aloud

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Unite for Literacy provides free digital access to picture books, narrated in many languages. Literacy is at the core of a healthy community, so we unite with partners to enable all families to read with their young children.

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"children song" "kids tv" "nursery rhymes" "song for baby" "kids songs" "children's music" "kids music" "wheels on the bus" "family finger" "itsy bitsy spider" "educational song" "first grade song" "math song" "addition song" "english songs" "toddler music" "patty shukla" "simple songs" "easy songs" "sing along" esl asd

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Children's songs for babies, infants, toddlers and elementary students. Learn counting, shapes, colors, the alphabet, right hand left hand, months of the yea...

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Super Simple Songs® is a collection of original kids songs and classic nursery rhymes made SIMPLE for young learners. Combining captivating animation and puppetry with delightful music that kids love to sing along with, Super Simple Songs makes learning simple and fun! Music is one of the most powerful teaching tools available for young learners.... Read more »

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A Fitness, Learning & Brain-Boosting Musical Blast!

Move and Freeze: Your children will love this very popular action song that has become an international HIT!

Children naturally love to sing, dance, move and freeze! Take a musical break, cross your mid-line, integrate your brain and boost learning with this fun action song. This is a great brain break song for children. It makes it easy and fun to take a quick energy break in the classroom. When children take a moment to sing, dance, move, and even laugh then they can return to their academics feeling happy, energized and renewed. More and more schools are realizing the significant values of brain breaks in the classroom. This brain breaks, action song is perfect for the preschool, kindergarten and elementary children. Also, those bad weather days when children can't go outside and play.

Move and Freeze
From the CD, Brain Boogie Boosters
by The Learning Station and Dr. Becky Bailey
℗© Monopoli, Bailey/The Learning Station

Lyrics:
Chorus:
C'mon, move and freeze. C'mon, move and freeze.
C'mon, move and freeze. C'mon, move and freeze.
Put your right hand on your left knee,
your left hand on your right.
Your knees move in and out.
Your hands stay tight.
Now keep on with your moving
but switch hands on your knees.
Keep on moving in and out till we say freeze.
C'mon, move and freeze. C'mon, move and freeze.
C'mon, move and freeze. C'mon, move and freeze.
Put one hand across your shoulder
one hand across your back.
Now jump in place. Do you like it like that?
Now switch hands across your shoulders
and switch hands across your back.
Now just be nimble, just be quick, just like Jack.
C'mon, jump and freeze. C'mon, jump and freeze.
C'mon, jump and freeze. C'mon, jump and freeze.
Everybody shake your body from your head down to your feet.
And don't stop shaking until we stop the beat.
Shake it to the east and shake it to the west.
Shake it, shake it, shake it with my friends who are the best.
C'mon, shake and freeze. C'mon, shake and freeze.
C'mon, shake and freeze. C'mon, shake and freeze.
Put your right hand on your head, your left on someone's knee.
Now turn once in a circle and buzz like a bee.
Now turn the other way, don't let go or lose your spot.
Keep turning left, keep turning right until the music stops.
C'mon, turn and freeze. C'mon, turn and freeze.
C'mon, turn and freeze. C'mon, turn and freeze.
"Alright, you can move now."

"Brain Boogie Boosters" is available in CD and Full CD Download . Full CD Downloads arrive in a zip file with all of the songs and a printable PDF with the entire CD booklet with lyrics and actions. Plus they are FAST, EASY and SAVE money too! Click here to read our CD download tips and directions.

Dr. Becky Bailey and The Learning Station unite to create interactive, fun, brain-boosting movement songs and activities that foster optimal brain integration. This collection of 19 engaging tunes includes stop and go activities that improve attention spans, breathing and stretching songs to disengage the stress response, and connecting songs that enhance impulse control skills. Take a musical break, cross your mid-line, touch your heart, inspire your soul, integrate your brain and boost learning with this incredible CD. Lyrics, movements & BRAIN BOOSTING activities are included.

Visit The Learning Station online where you can listen to song samples from our entire collection of award-winning CD's!

In a Hurry!

ALL Learning Station music is available for Download! Click here

Click here to download CD's from our "Simple Teaching Tunes" collection.

Full CD Downloads are fast, easy, save time and money! Also, they include a printable PDF of the entire CD booklet with lyrics and actions.

Sand Person

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A Fitness, Learning & Brain-Boosting Musical Blast! Move and Freeze: Your children will love this very popular action song that has become an international HIT! Children naturally love to sing, dance, move and freeze! Take a musical break, cross your mid-line, integrate your brain and boost learning with this fun action song.

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The United States has a racism problem. The idea of tackling such complicated and hurtful topics in our homes and classrooms is daunting, but we can't look away. We MUST face it. Fortunately, we live in a time when technology provides resources, such as the anti-racism videos below, designed to support us as we navigate these difficult and painful conversations.

For Parents and Educators

It's crucial that you feel confident and prepared to lead important discussions about what it means to be not only "not racist," but resolutely anti-racist. Here are some resources to help you get ready.

Be Boldly Anti-Racist

Elementary school educator, Naomi O'Brien, asks: "How did I become boldly anti-racist? By following my mom's example. How can you be bold and set an example for your kids and students?"

How to Talk to Kids About Race

In a new episode of Home School, The Atlantic's animated series about parenting, author Jeremy Tisby offers advice on how to have a conversation with children about race, from experiential learning to watching classic animated films.

How I Teach Kids About Racism (Kindergarten and 1st Grade)

This video is about elementary school teachers sharing the lessons they teach each year to introduce the topic of racism to their kindergarten and first grade students.

How Parents Can Help Kids Understand the Protests and Fight Racism

Dr. Janet Taylor shares advice with parents who may be struggling to talk about racism and the unrest that has erupted after the death of George Floyd.

For Kids and Students

Whether you're curled up with your kids at home or leading a group of students, here are some educational anti-racism videos to help get the conversation started.

Let's Talk About Race

The Tutu Teacher made this video for kindergarten students. In the video, she discusses what racism is and how it's impacted the lives of Black and Brown people. She also reads aloud the story Let's Talk about Race.

Sesame Street: Color of Me Song

Sesame Street explores: "What is the color of 'you?' Is your skin color tan, light brown, milky white, or dark dark brown? Whatever color you are, be proud and sing along."

Sesame Street: Song: I Love My Hair

Sesame Street invites children to "...sing along and make the world aware that YOU love your hair!"

Systemic Racism Explained

Systemic racism affects every area of life in the U.S., from incarceration rates to predatory loans, and trying to solve these problems requires changes in major parts of our system. This video offers a closer look at what systemic racism is, and how we can solve it.

Discrimination Explained for Kids

In this video, Pop'n'Olly discover what discrimination means and provide a few examples. They also talk about discrimination and the law.

Sesame Street Explains Racism and Protesting

Sesame Street and CNN worked together to create the "Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism" town hall for kids and families.

Woke Read Alouds: Wings

In this video, Ki reads the story Wings by author/illustrator Christopher Myers. They take readers on a fun, animated, and thoughtful journey through the book, leaving time for think alouds and responses from kids. They also include reading strategies, resources, and tips for parents throughout. This resource serves as a full academic read aloud.

Kids Talk About Segregation

It's been 62 years since Brown v. Board of Education, but the percentage of racially segregated schools in the United States has been growing steadily over the past 15 years. New York has the most segregated schools in the country. This video talks to Bronx 5th graders about what segregation looks like today.

A Kids Book About Racism

This read aloud is, as the title suggests, a kids' book about racism. Inside, you'll find a clear description of what racism is, how it makes people feel when they experience it, and how to spot it when it happens.

A Kids Book About Belonging

This read aloud tackles what it's like when you feel like you belong to a group or family or team and what it's like when you don't. It addresses what it feels like when you don't fit in, or when others don't want you around. This book teaches kids how to belong to themselves and how that helps them belong anywhere.

SAY SOMETHING Read Aloud

This read aloud of SAY SOMETHING helps explain race to kids as well as the importance of speaking up.

Students Learn A Powerful Lesson About Privilege

Using a recycling bin and some scrap paper, this video showcases a powerful exercise about privilege. Do all students have the same opportunities?

Black Parents Explain How to Deal with the Police

Brave parents and their curious kids confront some of life's biggest and most uncomfortable lessons.

Film Kits for Classrooms

These classroom-friendly films and user guides will help you bring social justice topics to life. Incredibly, Teaching Tolerance offers these film kits for FREE for use in K-12 schools, public libraries, schools of education, houses of worship, and youth-serving nonprofit organizations.

Designed for in-service programs, this training tool for early grades educators profiles classrooms in which peace, equity, and justice are guiding themes. (Available for order.)

This film takes viewers to the very communities where heinous acts of violence took place, offering a painful look back at lives lost to lynching and a critical look forward. (Available for streaming only.)

The film tells the story of a courageous group of students and teachers who, along with other activists, fought a nonviolent battle to win voting rights for African Americans in the South. (Available for order.)

This special teachers' edition of the Oscar-winning documentary film tells the heroic story of the young people in Birmingham, Alabama, who brought segregation to its knees. (Available for order.)

A Time for Justice, an Oscar-winning documentary, captures the spirit of the civil rights movement through historical footage and the voices of activists who sat, sang, and marched. (Available for order.)
What anti-racism videos do you feel are important to education? Share in the comments below. Also, 19 Black Teachers on Instagram to Listen To and Learn From.

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21 Anti-Racism Videos To Share With Kids

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The United States has a racism problem. The idea of tackling such complicated and hurtful topics in our homes and classrooms is daunting, but we can't look away. We MUST face it. Fortunately, we live in a time when technology provides resources, such as the anti-racism videos below, designed to support us as we navigate these difficult and painful conversations.

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Wilbooks is committed to providing your kindergarten, first grade, and second grade students with the highest quality children's books at the best prices.

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HAPPY TODDLER PLAYTIME - PLaY CReaTivEly WitH YoUr LiTtLe OnE

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Fun and easy learning activities, arts and crafts, and play ideas for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners and beyond!

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Convert any picture into a free jigsaw puzzle online.

"I'm a puzzle" is a free online jigsaw puzzle game that allows you to create and play jigsaw puzzles out of any picture. In the online puzzle creator you can select from the 8 different puzzle modes (Jigsaw puzzle, Hearts puzzle, Stars puzzle, Slide puzzle, Swap puzzle, Honeycomb puzzle, Mystery puzzle, and Math puzzle) and 5 difficulty levels (easy puzzle, medium puzzle, hard puzzle, very hard puzzle, supreme puzzle). It is mobile-friendly, works on any modern browser and requires no additional installations. "I'm a puzzle" is a totally free jigsaw puzzle maker and you can even share your custom-built puzzles with your friends.
"I'm a puzzle" online puzzle maker can create puzzles from your personal photos or any picture on the Internet. You can also browse our ever growing Puzzle Gallery. Come back everyday to play our daily jigsaw puzzle.
Learn how to Turn a picture into a puzzle.
Get to know our jigsaw puzzle Maker online. Find out more about our Free jigsaw puzzles.

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Convert any picture into a free jigsaw puzzle online. "I'm a puzzle" is a free online jigsaw puzzle game that allows you to create and play jigsaw puzzles out of any picture.

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The home of CBeebies. Watch programmes and play games for Go Jetters, Hey Duggee and Sarah & Duck.

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P4C: Activities to get Children Thinking | Learning and Development | Teach Early Years

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Teach Early Years magazine is the leading B2B title for early years teachers, practitioners and providers, offering expert advice on educating the 0–5s and operating a sustainable childcare business.

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Sight Words Book Land is a twist on the ever-popular Candy Land board game, incorporating some reading into the game play. The game gives children many opportunities for sight words repetition, while the board game format keeps it fun and engaging.

This game works best with children that are already familiar with the Candy Land game. Trying to learn both the game and the words at the same time can be too much, particularly for younger children.

The game is most fun when played in a small group of 2-4 players, but a child can also play the game by himself. As a bonus, younger (non-reading) siblings can play along as well. They simply move according to the colored dots on the cards, without having to read the sight words.
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The game requires just a few basic items: a game board, cards, and game pieces.

Book Land Board

Book Land Cards

Color Printer

Cardstock paper (approximately 110 lb / 200 gsm)

Scissors

Tape

Game Pieces (checkers, coins, blocks, etc.)

To make the Book Land board, print out a Book Land board on four sheets of cardstock paper. Trim the edges off the four sheets and tape them together with clear tape. Using tape allows the board to be folded for easy storage in your sight words file when not in use.

For the cards, either select one of the template files below, or use the Book Land Card Creator to create your own customized set of cards. Print onto cardstock paper and cut along the dotted lines.
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Play the game as you would regularly play Candy Land. Once you've cut out the cards, shuffle them and place them in a face-down stack. The players begin by placing their game pieces on the START arrow. The first player picks a card from the stack and has to read the sight word printed on the card. If they don't know a word or can't say the word in less than 10 seconds, then their turn stops and we do a quick correction to help them learn the word.

Video: How to Play Sight Words Book Land

Once the player has read the word correctly, they can move their game piece forward according to the colored dots on the card. For example: if the card has one green dot, move your game piece forward on the path to the first green dot you encounter. If the card has two blue dots, move your piece forward past the first blue dot to the second blue dot you come across on the path. Then the next player picks a card and takes their turn.

The game finishes when all the players get to the FINISH square, with the first player to the end being declared the winner. You do not have to land exactly on the last colored dot to finish the game.
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You can use the same game board every time you play Book Land, and simply print out new sets of cards as your child's reading skills improve. One set contains 54 cards. If you select a word list with fewer than 54 words, some words will simply be repeated.

4.1 Custom Book Land Cards

Use the Sight Words Book Land Card Creator to create your own custom set of cards. This generator lets you select from both existing sight words lists (e.g., Dolch & Fry) as well as allowing you to add custom words (e.g., current vocabulary words, names, etc.).

4.2 Blank Book Land Cards

4.3 Dolch Sight Words Book Land Cards

4.4 Fry Sight Words Book Land Cards

4.5 Top 150 Written Words Book Land Cards

To download a template, right-click and select Save As.

These Book Land boards and cards are provided under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Basically, you are permitted complete license to use the resources, provided you leave the attribution hallmark (our logo) on the resources. We would be happy to see the materials used in the classroom, in the home, as part of your tutoring business, or however you see fit. You do not need to contact us for permission to use the materials. We want you to use them!
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Sight Words Book Land is a twist on the ever-popular Candy Land board game, incorporating some reading into the game play. The game gives children many opportunities for sight words repetition, while the board game format keeps it fun and engaging. This game works best with children that are already familiar with the Candy Land game.

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How were these built?

All our experiments are all built with freely accessible web technology such as Web Audio API, WebMIDI, Tone.js, and more. These tools make it easier for coders to build new interactive music experiences. You can get the open-source code to lots of these experiments here on Github.

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Music is for everyone. Play with simple experiments that let anyone, of any age, explore how music works.

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KeepVid YouTube Video Downloader works on a wide range of platform and supports 1000+ sites

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Wanna download videos from a wide range of websites instead of being limited to just two or three websites? YouTube, Ted, Vimeo, Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, some downloaders may only support some of them, while this YouTube Converter supports them all. Download YouTube videos mp4 with KeepVid and from up to 1000+ websites, meeting almost all your needs.

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KeepVid YouTube Video Downloader supports a wide range of platforms including Android, Mac, iOS, Win, and more. Therefore, you can use any browser and device to visit KeepVid without worrying about the compatibility issue. On top of that, unlike many other video downloaders, KeepVid remains the original cover, title, and duration when they download videos off YouTube so that users could find and organize downloaded files more easily and pleasantly.

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When you look for an Online Video Downloader to download YouTube videos MP4/MP3, what matters most to you? Maybe a simple-to-use tool is far from meeting your expectations. We believe that high speed would probably be a big plus for user experience. Therefore, we spend much time improving our download speed to provide a better user experience.

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When you download any YouTube video through this YouTube video downloader 1080p, you are always allowed to select the highest possible quality for download. For those UHD and HD videos, we also support you to download them with the same quality. However, some laptop screens do not support 4k videos. In this case, downloading a 4k video is relatively pointless. This YouTube Downloader online provides a list of options about video quality for you and we hope you could find the most proper one.

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KeepVid supports YouTube to MP3/MP4 which are supposed to be the most frequently used formats for audios and videos. In this way, you can download both of your favorite videos and music and easily play them on your device. When you download any YouTube video through YouTube Video Downloader online, we always offer you a list of quality so that you can choose the one you need.

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YouTube Video Downloader - KeepVid.ch [Updated 2020]

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KeepVid YouTube Video Downloader works on a wide range of platform and supports 1000+ sites Wanna download videos from a wide range of websites instead of being limited to just two or three websites? YouTube, Ted, Vimeo, Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, some downloaders may only support some of them, while this YouTube Converter supports them all.

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Full Screen Online Dice! Great for Classrooms when you need a random number. Pick 1 to 100 Dice for a great random result!

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10 Early Years Science Activities EYFS

1. Sink or float

2. Will it dissolve

3. Magnet maze

4. Discovering magnification

5. Homemade marble runs

6. Weather station

7. How do plants grow

8. Crazy cornflour slime

9. Magic dancing milk

10. Colourful capillary action

Children are naturally drawn to science-based activities. Added to the fact that they appeal to their innate curiosity and desire to make sense of the world, the best early years science activities are often hands-on (and sometimes messy) and produce exciting (and sometimes unexpected) results. What's not to like?

It's ideal to tap into this natural enthusiasm as early on as possible by including science activities in preschool settings. Helping to establish a love of science at a young age is beneficial in many ways:

* It fosters the desire to explore and experiment
* It helps develop analytical and problem-solving skills
* It nurtures an understanding of cause and effect, trial and error
* It helps develop an understanding of the world
* It supports the development of communication and collaboration skills
* It expands vocabulary
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A quick search online will produce endless ideas for suitable early years science activities for children; we've chosen some of our favourites based on the ease of set up and the range of scientific concepts explored. You can adapt them according to the age of the children involved; with younger children there may be safety considerations (eg choking hazards) and with older children, there may be opportunities to extend their learning (e.g. by getting them to record their results).

Early Years Science Experiment Ideas:

1. Sink or float?

This is a classic science activity that explores the principle of buoyancy and can be done with even very young children. Get a large container (eg a bowl or plastic box), fill it with water, and with the children collect a range of objects from around the nursery. The children then take it in turns to drop an object into the water - after guessing whether it will sink or float.

2. Will it dissolve?

This activity teaches children about solubility, specifically whether a given substance will dissolve in water. You'll need several small, transparent water containers (e.g. plastic or glass cups) and a range of substances to test (e.g. sugar, oil, salt, food colouring, rice, flour, vitamin tablets). Before dropping each substance into a cup ask the children to guess whether it will dissolve or not.
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3. Magnet maze

For this activity, you'll need some paper plates, pens/ crayons and magnets. Give a paper plate to each child and ask them to draw a 'maze' on it (NB older children may be able to attempt an actual maze but for younger ones a squiggly line is fine). Use a pair of magnets to navigate along the line - the one below the plate moves the one on top.

4. Discovering magnification

This is a nice easy activity that you can set up and leave the children to explore on their own (or in small groups). You'll need a tray (or shallow box/crate), a selection of objects with interesting details and/or textures, and a few magnifying glasses. To extend this activity you could ask the children to draw some of the details/patterns that they find.

5. Homemade marble runs

For this activity you'll need some tape and a collection of things like cardboard tubes, plastic bottles and egg cartons. You could ask the children to contribute by bringing in recycled materials from home, and use this as an opportunity to have a discussion about recycling. Use these materials to assemble a marble run together, exploring principles such as the effect of gradient on speed.

6. Weather station

There are lots of great activities for learning about weather - here are just a few: a) Make wind chimes (eg out of plastic bottles or beads) and hang them up outside; b) Make a wind sock (eg out of strips of waterproof material taped around a plastic ring) to work out the direction of the wind; c) Make a rainwater collector (eg out of a plastic bottle with the top cut off) to measure rainfall.

Alternatively, this weather kit from Wesco is a great way to encourage slightly older children to learn about weather and take an interest in measuring and taking recordings.

7. How do plants grow?

This is more of an ongoing science activity, but if you choose quick-growing seeds the children won't have to wait too long before they start seeing results. Cress is the classic quick-growing plant (and lends itself to creative uses, eg as hair for a monster), but how about trying sunflowers (good for measuring growth against a wall) or pumpkins (to tie in with seasonal activities).

8. Crazy cornflour slime

This activity is a bit messy but really fun and hands-on; children love exploring the strange properties of this cross between a liquid and a solid. For best results use a large shallow container that you can put on the floor, like a sand/water tray. Mix together cornflour and water until you have a slime consistency. Try punching the slime - it instantly turns solid. Roll some slime into a ball in your hand and then stop - it turns back into a liquid.

9. Magic dancing milk

For this activity - an engaging introduction to chemical reactions - you'll need a shallow dish, full-fat milk, food colouring, cotton buds and washing up liquid. Pour some milk into the dish, add some drops of food colouring, then dab with a cotton bud dipped in washing up liquid. Use a few different colours at the same time for maximum impact, and try dabbing in different places.

10. Colourful capillary action

Show how water moves up through plants using food colouring. This activity works particularly well (and quickly) with celery, but you could also use white-petalled flowers. Put some celery sticks (preferably with leafy tops) in separate glasses of water, then add different colours to each glass. Within an hour or two the celery will change colour as the dye moves up through capillary action.

Got any other science activities for early years that you'd like to share? Comment below!

To understand why science education is so important in early childhood, read our article on the benefits of early years science education. To browse all our childcare activities, click here.
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Sink or float Will it dissolve Magnet maze Discovering magnification Homemade marble runs Weather station How do plants grow Crazy cornflour slime Magic dancing milk Colourful capillary action Children are naturally drawn to science-based activities.

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The Ministry is migrating nzmaths content to Tāhurangi. Relevant and up-to-date teaching resources are being moved to Tāhūrangi (tahurangi.education.govt.nz). When all identified resources have been successfully moved, this website will close. We expect this to be in June 2024. e-ako maths, e-ako Pāngarau, and e-ako PLD 360 will continue to be available.

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At wordtorque, we believe all educators deserve the opportunity to deepen their own understanding of English orthography. New insights will help each teacher, from K-12, be more effective in doing what they love most - empowering students.

We offer professional development that supports agency in critical thinking, vocabulary, reading and spelling, across all subject areas. Through scientific investigations of the structure of words, uncover the logic of the English spelling system and build a bank of tools and strategies you and your students can use to analyze, synthesize and find relationships among words.

Join a workshop in Bangkok, or participate in training @yourschool, and give your students greater control of their language, literacy and thinking skills.

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wordtorque | professional development in English orthography

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Word Inquiry workshops in Bangkok and at your school supporting student agency in critical thinking, vocabulary, reading and spelling, across all subject areas.

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We usually show our gratitude to others when we feel indebted to them, when we have benefitted from their actions, and when we want to make our feelings towards them known.

Showing gratitude is sometimes a required or expected thing, but at other times, a spontaneous "thank you" to someone who has unknowingly made our day. On most occasions, we show gratitude to bring the good feelings we have been gifted back to the gifter.

While it is admirable to want to share our gratitude and good feelings with others, we rarely stop to think about what giving others our gratitude does for us.

As it turns out, it does quite a lot for our brains and mental wellbeing.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Gratitude Exercises for free. These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients connect to more positive emotions and enjoy the benefits of gratitude.

Research shows that gratitude can (Morin, 2014):

Help you make friends. One study found that thanking a new acquaintance makes them more likely to seek a more lasting relationship with you.

Improve your physical health. People who exhibit gratitude report fewer aches and pains, a general feeling of health, more regular exercise, and more frequent checkups with their doctor than those who don't.

Improve your psychological health. Grateful people enjoy higher wellbeing and happiness and suffer from reduced symptoms of depression.

Enhance empathy and reduces aggression. Those who show their gratitude are less likely to seek revenge against others and more likely to behave in a prosocial manner, with sensitivity and empathy.

Improve your sleep. Practicing gratitude regularly can help you sleep longer and better.

Enhance your self-esteem. People who are grateful have increased self-esteem, partly due to their ability to appreciate other peoples' accomplishments.

Increase in mental strength. Grateful people have an advantage in overcoming trauma and enhanced resilience, helping them to bounce back from highly stressful situations.

With all of these benefits to practicing gratitude, your next question is probably "How do I do it?"

If so, you're in luck! Read on to discover some of the most popular exercises and activities for this, as well as tips to cultivate your own gratitude practice.

13 Most Popular Gratitude Exercises and Activities

There are infinite ways to show our gratitude to others, to ourselves, and to a higher power or even "the universe" itself.

However, it can be tough to get started without practical ideas. These gratitude exercises and activities are some of the most well-known and proven ways to practice and enhance your gratitude.

1. Journaling

Writing down a few things you are grateful for is one of the easiest and most popular exercises available.

The purpose of the exercise is to reflect on the past day, few days, or week, and remember 3-5 things you are especially grateful for. In this way, you are focusing on all the good things that happened to you in a given set of time.

What is the appropriate amount of journaling one should do per week? Some people propose doing it every day while others suggest once per week. The arguments against doing it every day are that it can be tedious and forced. It becomes a practice you feel you should do or need to do instead of something you want to do.

When journaling becomes a banal task and not an enjoyable practice then you need to adjust the amount of journaling you do.

Besides the benefit of focusing on the wonderful things, this practice actually can increase your quality of sleep, decrease symptoms of sickness, and increase joy (Marsh, 2011).

It is important to cater your practice to what you need. Perhaps journaling every day for a short amount of time works for you, but over time, it feels better to journal every Friday.

Paying attention to what you are grateful for becomes easier as you practice it.

Imagine your life without the things or people that matter to you, before you begin writing. That should definitely boost your gratitude barometer.

2. Gratitude Jar

The gratitude jar is a stunningly simple exercise that can have profound effects on your wellbeing and outlook. It only requires a few ingredients: a jar (a box can also work); a ribbon, stickers, glitter, or whatever else you like to decorate the jar; paper and a pen or pencil for writing your gratitude notes; and gratitude!

Step 1: Find a jar or box.

Step 2: Decorate the jar however you wish. You can tie a ribbon around the jar's neck, put stickers on the sides, use clear glue and glitter to make it sparkle, paint it, keep it simple, or do whatever else you can think of to make it a pleasing sight.

Step 3: This is the most important step, which will be repeated every day. Think of at least three things throughout your day that you are grateful for. It can be something as benign as a coffee at your favorite place, or as grand as the love of your significant other or dear friend. Do this every day, write down what you are grateful for on little slips of paper and fill the jar.

Over time, you will find that you have a jar full of a myriad of reasons to be thankful for what you have and enjoy the life you are living. It also will cultivate a practice of expressing thanks.

If you are ever feeling especially down and need a quick pick-me-up, take a few notes out of the jar to remind yourself of who, and what, is good in your life.

3. Gratitude Rock

This exercise may sound a little silly. You may be thinking, "A rock? How can a rock help me practice gratitude?"

The secret to this exercise is that the rock is a symbol, a physical object you can use, to remind yourself of what you have.

The instructions are about as simple as instructions can be: just find a rock!

Make sure to pick one you like, whether you like it because it's pretty because it is smooth or has an interesting texture, or because you picked it up from a special place. If you have another small object you'd rather use instead, feel free to substitute that for the rock.

Carry this rock around in your pocket, leave it on your desk where you will see it throughout your day, or even wear it on a chain around your neck or your wrist.

Whenever you see it or touch it, pause to think about at least one thing you are grateful for. Whether it's something as small as the sun shining down on you in this moment or as large as the job that allows you to feed yourself or your family, just think of one thing that brings you joy or fulfillment.

When you take the stone out of your pocket or off of your body at the end of the day, take a moment to remember the things that you were grateful for throughout the day. When you put it on or in your pocket again in the morning, repeat this process to remember what you were grateful for yesterday.

Not only will this help you remember the things you are grateful for, but also it can trigger a mini-mindfulness moment in your day. It will bring you out of your head and into the present moment, giving you something to focus your attention on. It can also act as a switch to more positive thinking.

When you flip this switch multiple times a day, you will likely find that your average day has become much more positive.

4. Gratitude Tree

The gratitude tree is a great activity for children, and it can also be effective for adults who are open to experiencing a childlike sense of fun and wonder. You will need several double-sided colored sheets of paper, string or ribbon, scissors, twigs or tree branches, some stones or marbles, a vase, and a sense of gratitude.

Step 1: Make one or more leaf cutouts to use as a template for your leaves. Trace leaves on your colored paper.

Step 2: Cut out the leaves, punch a hole at the top of each leaf, and loop your string or ribbon through each hole.

Step 3: Put the stones or marbles in a vase and stick the tree branch or twig in the middle.

Step 4: Have your (or your child) draw or write things that you (or your child) are grateful for on the leaves. You can also use photographs if you'd like.

Step 5: Hang the leaves from the branches, and behold your gratitude tree!

This activity is easy and results in a pretty reminder of the things that bring you or your child joy throughout your daily life. It may be intended for kids but there is no age limit on finding creative ways to cultivate your gratitude, so get to drawing!

Here's a quick how-to video on the gratitude tree:

5. Gratitude Garden

The gratitude garden activity is a good activity to follow creating gratitude trees. This is also intended for children, but adults can certainly follow along to get into the gratitude spirit.

Follow these steps to journey to the gratitude garden (All Done Monkey, 2012).

1. Start the Journey: Stand up in front of the group, with the Thankfulness/Gratitude Tree in clear view. Explain that you are all going on a trip to the Grateful Garden, but to get there you have to go through three dangerous places. (Insert a word other than "dangerous" if more appropriate to the age group). The Thankfulness Tree will help you get through each one so you can make it to the Grateful Garden.

2. The Frowny Forest: The first stop is the Frowny Forest. Have the kids all mimic you as you frown, cross your arms, and hunch over. There is a lot of wind in the Frowny Forest, so mimic being tossed about by the wind, turning back and forth as if you are trying to fight it. The only way to leave the Frowny Forest is to feel happy again, so ask the kids to shout out things they are grateful for (using the Thankfulness Tree as a prompt). After they have named a few things, mimic great relief, with a big smile.

3. The Sad Swamp: But, oh no! Just beyond the Frowny Forest is the Sad Swamp! Hunch over again, swing your arms down low, and walk (in place) in big, heavy steps, as if walking through mud or water. Again, have the kids shout out things they are grateful for, so you can all leave the Sad Swamp.

4. The Mad Mountain: Past the Sad Swamp is the Mad Mountain. Have them imitate you as you pretend to climb up the mountain with great effort, making angry faces. Again, have the kids shout out things they are grateful for, so you can all feel happy again.

5. The Grateful Garden: Finally, you have all arrived at the Grateful Garden! What a good job they have done! To celebrate, everyone can do a Happy Hop!

Going through each of these negative emotions can be a fun and interactive learning opportunity for kids. For older children (or young-minded adults!), you can even add in a few other, more complex negative emotions, like the "Disgusted Dock" or the "Petty Pier."

To read these instructions, click here.

6. Gratitude Box

The gratitude box is a thoughtful way to share your feelings with loved ones and cultivate your own sense of gratitude.

This is another easy activity that requires only a box, some paper, and a pen or pencil to write down gratitude messages. You can make the box yourself or buy one, the prettier the better!

On the paper, write down a heartfelt message of gratitude to your loved one. If you're not sure how to start, here are some suggestions to begin your message:

1) "Thank you for..."

2) "What I love about you..."

3) "My holiday wish for you..."

You can also collect messages from others about your loved one, to pack the box with multiple messages of gratitude and love.

Place the message(s) into the box, wrap it up or put a bow on it, and give it to your loved one as a special gift, to both your loved one and yourself.

Read more about gratitude boxes here.

7. Gratitude Prompts

Gratitude prompts are a great way to get started, continue your practice, or kick-start a stalled gratitude practice. This is also a relatively simple exercise, with only one instruction: fill in the blank!

These prompts provide several ways to begin a gratitude statement, with infinite possibilities for completion. They cover multiple senses, colors, people, and things. The goal is to identify at least three things in each category that you are thankful for.

The prompts include:

I'm grateful for three things I hear:

I'm grateful for three things I see:

I'm grateful for three things I smell:

I'm grateful for three things I touch/feel:

I'm grateful for these three things I taste:

I'm grateful for these three blue things:

I'm grateful for these three animals/birds:

I'm grateful for these three friends:

I'm grateful for these three teachers:

I'm grateful for these three family members:

I'm grateful for these three things in my home:

I'm grateful for these three people who hired me:

Etc.

This simple exercise is a great way to identify all the things you are grateful for. To see all of the categories and examples for each category, click here.

8. Gratitude Amble

This exercise only requires your sense of gratitude and a pair of feet or wheelchair.

When you are going through a particularly rough time, try cleansing your mind with a gratitude walk. Just as the combination of meditation and gratitude can combat stress or increase feelings of wellbeing, walking with a gratitude focal point can offer the same remedy.

Walking is therapeutic in itself.

It has health benefits like increased endorphins that decrease stress, increased heart health, and circulation in the body, decreased lethargy, and decreases in blood pressure. Couple this activity with a grateful state of mind and you are bound to nurture a positive mind and body (Rickman 2013).

The goal of the gratitude walk is to observe the things you see around you as you walk. Take it all in. Be aware of nature, the colors of the trees, the sounds the birds make, and the smell of the plants. Notice how your feet feel when you step onto the ground.

The effects are more potent when you can enjoy a gratitude walk with your partner or a friend. In this way, you can show them an appreciation for being able to spend the time walking together.

9. Gratitude Reflection

Reflection is an important part of mindfulness meditation and the cultivation of a sense of self-awareness. These practices can lead to an enhanced sense of wellbeing, among other benefits, although enhanced wellbeing is enough of a benefit for most of us.

To practice gratitude reflection, follow these steps (Still Mind, 2014):

1. Settle yourself in a relaxed posture. Take a few deep, calming breaths to relax and center. Let your awareness move to your immediate environment: all the things you can smell, taste, touch, see, hear. Say to yourself: "For this, I am grateful."

2. Next, bring to mind those people in your life to whom you are close: your friends, family, partner.... Say to yourself, "For this, I am grateful."

3. Next, turn your attention onto yourself: you are a unique individual, blessed with imagination, the ability to communicate, to learn from the past and plan for the future, to overcome any pain you may be experiencing. Say to yourself: "For this, I am grateful."

4. Finally, rest in the realization that life is a precious gift. That you have been born into a period of immense prosperity, that you have the gift of health, culture, and access to spiritual teachings. Say to yourself: "For this, I am grateful."

10. Gratitude Flower

The gratitude flower is similar to the gratitude tree, except that instead of creating leaves of gratitude, we create flower petals of gratitude.

Start by cutting out a circle from colored paper. Yellow is a popular color for this piece since it will be the center of the flower.

On the circle, write "Things I'm Thankful For" or write your name or family name, or even an overarching thing you're grateful for (i.e., "my family").

Next, use a template or freehand cut to create flower petals. You can use several different colors for a bright and vibrant flower, or the same color for a more uniform looking flower.

On the flower petals, write down things you are grateful for. These can be things like the sunny weather, having wonderful parents, or a promotion at work.

Glue or tape these petals to the center to create a flower. This is your gratitude flower!

11. Gratitude Letter or Email / Gratitude Visit

This might be the most powerful gratitude exercise. Write a hand-written letter to a person you are particularly grateful to have in your life.

Be detailed. Express all the wonderful qualities about this person, and how they personally have affected your life for the better.

If you have the time personally deliver this letter to the person yourself.

Do it unexpectedly. Your level of gratitude should skyrocket, as you observe the bliss the receiver gets from your generous act. It will probably be one of the greatest gifts you will ever receive.

The positive effects of this gratitude exercise were researched and carried out by Kent State professor Steve Toepfer, associate professor in Human Development and Family Studies.

In his 2007 study, his undergraduate students experienced enhanced levels of life satisfaction and happiness, as well as decreased symptoms of depression. Toepfer's goal of this study was to determine the psychological benefits, if any, for the authors of these gratitude letters (Vincent, 2007).

The results of this study are quite straightforward. If you wish to increase your gratitude and happiness levels then intentionally script letters to inspiring people in your life.

If you are feeling down and maybe even depressed, you should most certainly give this practice a try. For an even further joy boost hand deliver your letter to the receivers so you can witness the receiver's reactions for yourself.

This activity can be either an email or a letter which you can send off in the mail or deliver personally.

Think about a person who has recently done something good for you, to whom you have not yet expressed your gratitude. This person may be a friend, family member, coworker, teacher, or mentor.

Try to pick someone who you can visit within the next week if you are practicing the visit component.

Next, write them an email or letter. Use these guidelines to write an effective and grateful letter:

Write as though you are addressing the person directly.

Don't worry about getting your grammar or spelling perfect (unless you are sending the email/letter to them).

Describe what this person has done that makes you grateful, and how they have impacted your life. Be as concrete as possible here.

Describe what you are doing in life now, and how frequently you remember their act of kindness or generosity.

Try to keep your letter to about 300 words or so.

If you are writing an email or a letter to be mailed, go through the letter to make sure it is clear and you get the intended message across. Hit the "send" button or drop it in a mailbox.

If you are delivering your letter in person via a gratitude visit, follow these steps:

Plan a visit with the recipient. Let him or her know you would like to meet with them to share something, but be vague about what you have to share.

When you meet this person, let them know that you are grateful and that you would like to read them a letter you wrote expressing your gratitude. Ask that he or she does not interrupt you until you are done reading the letter.

Take your time reading the letter. While you read, pay attention to the reactions of both you and the recipient.

After you have read the letter, listen to his or her reaction to the letter and be ready to discuss your feelings together.

Remember to leave the letter with this person when you leave.

If you are located far away from this person, you can arrange a phone call or video chat instead.

12. Meditation

Gratitude meditations are a double-whammy for wellbeing. You are performing two of the most impactful happiness practice at the same time.

Meditation isn't always easy especially when the mind is aggressively wandering and distracting your attention, but if you practice this kind of mediation consistently be prepared to experience incredible upgrades in gratitude and joy.

Unlike a normal meditation where intentionally become aware of your breath and keep your mind clear, during a gratitude meditation you visualize all the things in your life that you are grateful for.

It is important to give each person or item the concentration it deserves. You can take the time to go through all the people you are grateful for or all the physical objects you are grateful for.

I like to simplify this sometimes and show gratitude for the things that are often taken for granted: the ability to breath, hands to touch, eyes to see, legs to walk and run, etc. There are numerous advantages to meditating. These advantages magnify when you take the time to target your reasons for gratitude.

Spend some time really taking stock of the things you are grateful for and I am certain you will feel much better afterward. It is a powerful exercise.

13. Collage

This is similar to the gratitude journal, except you are going to take pictures of all the things you are grateful for. This gives you the opportunity to visualize your gratitude.

Try taking a picture of one thing you are grateful for every day for a week. Notice how you feel. Take a look back at the pictures every week. You don't have to find grandiose things to be grateful for. A simple picture of a flower will do.

The more you do this the easier it will be for you to spot out the things you are grateful for. You will no longer take these simple things for granted.

Perhaps you will document multiple pictures in a day. After a given time period put all your pictures together in a collage and simply be grateful for all that you have.

A Gratitude Trick That Marie Forleo Learned from Robert Emmons

The following video shows the results of a USC study where students kept a gratitude journal for 10 weeks. Watch what happened when the three groups had different prompts-and results.

If one of the three prompts mentioned in the video resonate with you, why not give it a try? If not for 10-weeks, for two weeks? You might be surprised with the slow and steady benefits this simple tip brings.

Gratitude Exercise: The Can of Beans

The following gratitude exercise was invented by Seph Fontane Pennock. For this exercise you're going to need:

Many of us can buy a can of white beans without thinking much, let alone the food many of us are fortunate to put into our bodies. For this exercise, we invite you to have a meal of a can of beans. Nothing else that night. Just the beans.

There's no warming them up or pouring the beans into a nice cup. That beats the purpose of the exercise. You simply grab a spoon, open up the can, imagine you're sitting around the campfire at the foot of the Sierra Madra, and dig in.

What is the purpose of the exercise?

The purpose of this gratitude exercise is to realize and appreciate what we have. Appreciation. It can make you realize that every day, you are able to eat all sorts of foods, flown or shipped in from all over the world for you to eat. It is quite extraordinary if you think about it, but it can be easy to take for granted for those who have food security.

During this exercise, you may start to compare the beans that you're eating with other meals you crave. This allows you to take a moment and appreciate those usual foods, and how they fuel you.

The benefits:

Performing this gratitude exercise once a week:

1. Makes you a more mindful eater.

2. Makes you appreciate what you have in life, or at least, what you eat.

3. Makes you realize that we don't need so much in order to satisfy our basic human needs.

4. Allows you to actually enjoy the ritual and experience positive emotions while your eating beans that tend to last throughout the whole evening.

The most powerful thing about this gratitude exercise is its simplicity. Performing this exercise is easier than its alternative, which means cooking up a whole meal (and ending up with the dishes).

What about your spouse or kids?

In case you are living with someone or if you have kids, you're going to have more of a challenge in performing this exercise.

You can either explain the exercise to them and invite them to join you if they wish (it's important that they decide to do so themselves), or do the exercise on one of those evenings that you don't get to eat together with your family or spouse.

2 Gratitude Quizzes and Questionnaires

Looking for a quick way to assess how grateful you are? These quizzes and questionnaires are readily available on the internet.

1. Greater Good at Berkeley Quiz - This 20-item quiz is based on a scale developed by psychologists, Mitchel Adler, and Nancy Fagley. It is available online, and completion will give an overall gratitude score, as well as being given steps on how to promote further gratitude in life.

2. This is the GQ-6, a brief questionnaire that may take as little as about 30 seconds to complete. It was devised by Michael E. McCullough, Ph.D., Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., Jo-Ann Tsang, Ph.D. The GQ-6 gives an impression of how grateful a person is already. It consists of 6 questions, with responses in a Likert-type scale from 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree'.

Handy Gratitude Worksheets

If you like easy to follow worksheets, we have several suggestions that can help you get started practicing gratitude.

Try one of the following worksheets.

Gratitude Exercises

This handout describes several useful gratitude exercises, some of which are included above, in a short paragraph. Consider this your master list of the best gratitude exercises with a quick and easy explanation.

You can find this worksheet here.

To learn about these gratitude exercises in more detail, try the worksheets below.

Gratitude Journal

This worksheet is a quick and easy way to document the things you are grateful for each day. It begins by noting that keeping a journal helps to improve your mood. The worksheet then instructs the user to write at least three entries for each day.

This simple worksheet lists each day of the week with five sections of blank space to fill out with things that make you grateful. Gratitude Journal

Why I'm Grateful Worksheet

This simple worksheet helps you find things you are grateful for, complete with prompts to get you started. These prompts cover multiple areas of life and dive deeper into your sense of gratitude.

Instead of just helping you identify what you are grateful for, this worksheet digs into why you are grateful.

The prompts include:

"I am grateful for my family because..."

"Something good happened this week..."

"I am grateful for my friendship with... because..."

"I am grateful for who I am because..."

"Something silly that I am grateful for..."

"Something else I am grateful for..."

Simply fill in the blanks on this worksheet to discover more to be grateful for in your life! Click here to use this worksheet.

Gratitude Letter

Produced by Allina Health, this sheet looks at 'overlooked blessings' and reflections on positive things about the individual's health and body, activities they enjoy, and relationships they are grateful for.

Finally, the worksheet prompts individuals to write a gratitude letter.

Daily Gratitude

This worksheet provides a template for a daily gratitude journal, with room to record three things in the last 24 hours the client is thankful for, and three things that they are looking forward to in the next 24 hours.

Gratitude Journal Activity

This provides a gratitude journal activity creating a list of 100 things an individual is grateful for by completing 5 mini-lists, each containing 20 lines. For example, the prompt for the first list is to "list 20 things that you are grateful worked out for you...evidence that the universe is on your side."

Examples of Gratitude Interventions for Adults

Many of the gratitude exercises described above have been used in interventions to increase gratitude, with varying results. Check out the following studies.

Gratitude as a Psychotherapeutic Intervention

A paper by Robert A. Emmons and Robin Stern (Emmons & Stern, 2013) describes how gratitude can have a positive impact on patients and clients in therapeutic relationships.

The authors also outline several different methods of applying gratitude interventions to adults, including keeping a journal. The article includes a case study of a woman facing severe stress and multiple challenges in her life.

Susanna was suffering from thoughts of leaving her marriage, her husband's motorcycle accident, the reveal of an extramarital affair on the part of her husband, and finding out that her husband had been hiding a gambling addiction that had nearly bankrupted them.

Susanna's therapist worked with Susanna to develop a course of treatment that heavily incorporated gratitude. Her therapist encouraged Susanna to reflect on all of the things she had to be grateful for and helped her "self-right" her perspective to truly appreciate each moment in her daily life while building a new life that better suited her strengths, weaknesses, and her circumstances.

This treatment improved Susanna's ability to function and helped her to remain emotionally available to her children and more self-aware.

The authors end by noting the ways that gratitude interventions differ from most other types of interventions.

First, the prosocial and relational nature of gratitude can build unique pathways to happiness and wellbeing. Gratitude is also a fulfilling practice, facilitating an appreciation of both the current moment and one's past.

There is much evidence that gratitude interventions result in many positive benefits, and that incorporating gratitude into therapy can help clients and patients realize these benefits.

Using a Gratitude Intervention to Enhance Wellbeing in Older Adults

This study (Killen & Macaskill, 2015) utilized the "three good things" exercise to enhance gratitude in adults 60 years and older. This exercise involves writing down three good things you have to be grateful for each day, generally at night.

The study was conducted on a group of 88 healthy adults aged 60 or over and lasted for 45 days. Results showed that this gratitude intervention improved wellbeing via flourishing, at multiple points throughout the duration of the study. Perceived stress also decreased over the first 15 days.

This intervention was effective whether administered via paper or online and showed that gratitude journaling can have a significant positive effect on older adults.

Gratitude and Wellbeing: The Benefits of Appreciation

This piece by Randy A. Sansone and Lori A. Sansone (Sansone & Sansone, 2010) explores the effects of gratitude on wellbeing.

The authors describe several studies that have provided evidence of a link between these two constructs.

For example, the authors describe three journaling methods for investigating these effects undertaken by gratitude researchers Emmon and McCullough, including one group that journaled about negative events or hassles in life, one group that journaled about things they were grateful for, and one group that journaled about neutral life events.

The group focusing on things they were grateful for reported significantly higher wellbeing than the other two groups.

Another study pitted a group who completed the "counting one's blessings" exercise, in which participants wrote about things they were grateful for or for which they felt blessed at the end of each week, against a group who identified challenges or hassles in life and a control group. Those who counted their blessings seemed to experience a boost in wellbeing.

The authors conclude that gratitude can be an effective way to enhance wellbeing, and suggest several exercises that can be used as interventions in therapy, including:

Journaling about things for which to be grateful.

Thinking about someone for whom you are grateful.

Writing and/or sending a letter to someone for whom you are grateful.

Meditating on gratitude The "count your blessings" exercise.

Practicing saying "thank you" and really meaning it.

Writing thank you notes.

If you are religious, incorporating your gratitude in prayer.

To read about these examples and learn how to measure gratitude, you can read the paper here.

4 Gratitude Lesson Ideas for Teachers

The modern classroom sees teachers educating about far more than literacy and numeracy. Social and emotional learning is now incorporated into the curriculum. Teaching gratitude provides students with powerful life-skills. Here are some resources to utilize in planning gratitude lessons.

1. What is Gratitude?

After an initial 'activation of thinking' exercise, brainstorm about gratitude. Then, students can watch a video, such as Gratitude HD, Moving Art on YouTube, and jot down reflections from it on post-it notes. Then, in pairs, students work through guiding questions and the teacher introduces a book that is age-appropriate.

After the story, in pairs, have students discuss what they noticed in the book, what they connected with, and what they are thankful for.

Use photos, calendar images or Visual Talking Cards to provide a starting point for a discussion about gratitude and sharing knowledge among the class. Before closing the lesson, use an ABC Brainstorm Template (available from the link provided below) to generate a list of things students are grateful for.

Find the lesson idea here at its source (Heart-Mind online, 2014).

2. Acts of Kindness (Grades K - 2)

This lesson is designed for students to be given the opportunity to identify ways that they have acted with kindness and caring towards others.

Firstly, provide an explanation to the class about feeling grateful and have a discussion. Then, have the students close their eyes and visualize someone they have been kind to or helped, and to recall how this made them feel as well as what the other person said or did.

Ask students to open their eyes and share what they visualized. Then, ask students to draw a picture of what they visualized and write a caption to go with it. Alternatively, students could write a short paragraph about it.

To extend this lesson, older students could be encouraged to record times when they show kindness to others, the reasons why they did, and how they feel, in a gratitude journal. Or, the class could be prompted to talk about an act of kindness they could do for someone in the school and the teacher can help them put this into action.

3. Food Gratitude (Grades 3 - 5)

The class lists as many different fruits as they can. Then, they vote on which fruit is the favorite fruit for most people in the class.

Guide students through a visualization of all of the people or resources who made it possible for them to enjoy this fruit.

In groups of four, students discuss the visualization and on a large piece of paper, draw all of the people, tools and natural elements necessary to produce the fruit. As students draw, discuss the many people involved in the process of making the fruit available, and prompt the class to think about how they would show gratitude to all of the people-they then add this to the drawing.

The following day, bring in some of the fruit that the students selected (being sure no student is allergic) and ask them to think of all of the properties of the fruit and reflect upon all the people involved in its production.

Finally, before the class enjoys eating the fruit, invite them to recall the expressions of gratitude that they wrote on the drawings and to feel that gratitude.

4. People Who Made a Difference (Grades 6 - 8)

This exercise is designed to help students understand that they can feel gratitude to people whose actions benefit the whole of society and these benefits can last for centuries.

Students identify a historical figure who did something that they feel grateful for. Then, helps students visualize the person, what it would be like to be with them, and the sense of gratitude the student has. Following this, students write an essay looking into what the person did that they were grateful for, and consider the intention and motives of the person.

Students should also think about the 'cost' of the figure's actions, not only in terms of money but more general personal sacrifices. Ask students to reflect upon how they have benefited from the person's actions and how the whole of society may have benefited.

To conclude the lesson, the class can present brief summaries of the historical figure they researched.

Here are the original sources for Lesson Plans 2-4 above (Zakrzewski, 2016).

Gratitude Games and Ideas for Kids

By now, you're probably thinking about all the good things that can happen when gratitude is incorporated into one's life. This is particularly true for children and using gratitude to boost resilience, enhance wellbeing, and encourage a positive outlook on life.

7 Tips for Fostering Gratitude

This piece describes seven ways to encourage the development of gratitude in children.

These tips include:

1. Model and teach gratitude. This is the best way to teach any trait you want your child to develop.

2. Spend time with your kids and being mindful with them. Quality time is not only a positive experience for both children and adults; it also offers opportunities to model empathy and cultivates a sense of appreciation for the things you love.

3. Support your child's autonomy. Allowing your children to be semi-autonomous helps them to build their strengths and talents, and encourages them to take ownership of their actions.

4. Use your children's strengths to fuel gratitude. Create opportunities for your children to be helpful and cooperative with others, enhancing their ability to feel and express gratitude.

5. Help focus and support kids to achieve intrinsic goals. In steering children away from the pursuit of materialistic goals and toward intrinsic goals, you can help children fulfill their own higher-level needs and aid in their development. Savor their accomplishments with them as one way to boost their sense of gratitude even more.

6. Encourage children to help others and devote time to nurturing relationships. Volunteer to help others with your child, and encourage them to offer a helping hand to loved ones in need of support. Helping them to develop strong, positive relationships is a great way to make sure they have something to be grateful for.

7. Help kids find what matters to them. Assisting your child in finding what he or she is passionate about is a good way to help them find gratitude as well. A sense of purpose or meaning in life helps us all to discover what we love, contribute to society, and practice gratitude.

More information on cultivating a sense of gratitude in children can be found here.

Gratitude in the Classroom

If you'd like to build gratitude in your children or the children you teach or mentor, try these suggestions:

1. Create a classroom gratitude book for each child to take home and add a page of pictures and descriptions of what they're grateful for. Switch out each week so every child has the opportunity to add a page.

2. Take a picture of each student holding a large piece of paper with one thing they are grateful for written on it, frame the picture, and send it home as a gift.

3. Create a gratitude collage or bulletin board, with pictures of things each student is grateful for.

4. Have each child write down something they are thankful for on strips of paper, and use the strips to create a gratitude chain, which can be hung around the classroom.

5. Hold a "Special Friends Day" before Thanksgiving, in which each student brings someone special to class. Each pair will write or draw something they are thankful for, which will be posted on a bulletin board.

6. Have the children create gratitude surprise sticky notes. Hand these sticky notes out to students and have them write down something they're grateful for in regards to someone else around the school, then encourage them to "deliver" the note to that person's locker, mailbox, or classroom door.

For many more classroom gratitude ideas, visit this website.

Gratitude Exercises for Children

The website www.blissfulkids.com also provides popular gratitude exercises that can help develop gratitude in children.

The top three gratitude exercises according to Chris Bergstrom and Blissful Kids are:

1. The Gratitude Journal. Provide your child with a journal and encourage them to write down five things they are grateful for each day. Bedtime is a great time to practice this exercise since children will have the whole day from which to choose what to write about.

2. The ABCs of Gratitude. Have your child sit comfortably and close their eyes. Tell them to list things they are grateful for, beginning with "A" and working all the way through the alphabet to "Z." Don't be surprised if this exercise gets a little silly-it's bound to get silly at some point, so just embrace it and enjoy the laughter with your child!

3. Bedtime Thank Yous. This can be incorporated into the gratitude journal or practiced as a standalone exercise. Help your child to think of happy things that happened to them during their day. They can simply say these things aloud, write them down in their journal, draw a picture of them, or simply think of them. This exercise can ensure that your child drifts off to sleep with a heart full of love and gratitude.

How to Develop Your Own Gratitude Ritual

Creating a gratitude ritual can be tough, just as starting any new habit can be difficult to stick with at first. Like most other practices, the more you do it, the easier it will get.

Try these tips to help you cultivate a fulfilling and impactful gratitude ritual (Rodrigues, 2017):

Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and take several slow, deep breaths.

Think of something good that has happened to you recently.

Think of a person or animal you love.

Think of an occasion when you were honored or appreciated by others.

Think about your present situation and what is going on in your life.

The popular website www.tinybuddha.com also provides several useful suggestions on implementing and sticking to a gratitude ritual.

Their steps are as follows (Russell, 2016):

1. Commit to your practice. There will be days when you feel like doing anything other than finding reasons to be grateful, but pushing through these days will empower you and help you build the strength and resilience necessary to push through other challenges.

2. Begin your practice. Just do it! Sit down with a pen and paper or a computer and start simply, with a prompt like "I am grateful for..." You may need to sit and think for a while, but that's okay. If you give it time and put in the effort, it will come!

3. Write it down. Sometimes thinking about what you are grateful for will not be enough. Be sure to write down what you are grateful for. Writing can have a powerful impact that just thinking may not bring about.

4. Feel it. Allow yourself to fully experience gratitude. Let it come up from your heart and throughout your body. Savor the feeling.

5. Choose a set time of day. This can be extremely helpful when starting a practice. Some popular times to practice gratitude are first thing in the morning and last thing at night, but choose a time that works for you.

6. Practice present-moment gratitude. While you may be writing these things down at the beginning or end of the day, make sure to notice all of the things for which you are grateful as they pop up throughout your day. Allow yourself to be in the present and to fully appreciate each thing you are grateful for as it arises.

7. Share the gratitude. Find a gratitude partner to share your list of things you are grateful for with, to discuss your challenges and your successes with, and to motivate you when you are not feeling up to the task (and vice versa).

8. Don't stop when you start noticing results! Although counterintuitive, it can be tempting to stop any practice once you start seeing the benefits. Make sure you are committed to your practice, whether it feels beneficial in the current moment or not.

9. Allow yourself to be human. It's alright to miss a day once in a while, and it's alright to feel grumpy about having to follow through on your commitment when it's the last thing you want to do. We are human, and we will make mistakes. If you're having trouble coming up with anything, at least write something like "I am grateful I am writing my gratitude list."

The popular dating website eharmony also provides tips on how to cultivate gratitude, especially in the context of dating and relationships. They suggest four steps (Libby, 2016):

1. Breathing. Simply close your eyes and take a deep and intentional breath, repeating until you feel calm and grounded.

2. Awakening your awareness. Allow yourself to meditate on your truth in the present moment.

3. Recognize your blessings. Think about what you are experiencing with your five senses if you have trouble getting started.

4. Emotions flow. Allow your emotions to come and go, to rise and fall as they will. Focus your attention on enjoying the feeling of gratitude working its way through your mind and to your heart.

5. Finally, Chris Libby from www.livehappy.com provides four rituals that you can implement to build gratitude in your life.

These rituals are (Libby, 2016):

Amazing Grace. Reflect on what you are grateful for at the dinner table before you begin eating, whether alone or with your family.

Focus on the "Haves." Instead of thinking about what you are missing, think about what you have. Write down at least three things you are grateful for each night.

The Write Stuff. Write a letter to someone you are grateful to or for, and read the letter aloud to them if possible. you can find more instructions for this exercise earlier in this piece.

Thankful Awareness. Try something new and fulfilling, such as volunteering at a food bank or soup kitchen, or handing out toys at a children's hospital. Witnessing the trials and challenges of others can often be a spur for you to notice the good things in your own life.

Gratitude Apps That Help You Stick to It

Sometimes, even when we know all of the right steps and have all of the right tips, practicing regular gratitude can be difficult. This is where an app can help! Try one of the gratitude apps described below to help you keep a regular gratitude practice.

1. Gratitude Journal

This classic gratitude exercise is put into digital form, with a daily journal for you to fill with things you are grateful for. It includes space for writing down several things each day, ratings of your feelings, daily quotes, and up to three photos per journal entry.

This app is available through iTunes here.

2. Gratitude Garden App

This app not only allows you to recall and record the things you are grateful for each day, it also rewards you with points for journaling. You can build up a gratitude garden with these points, a pretty space that can bring you joy by reminding you of what is good in your life.

You can also receive gratitude cards, which contain suggestions for further actions that can increase gratitude and happiness.

This app is free, and you can download it on iTunes here.

3. Grateful: A Gratitude Journal

Grateful was developed to make expressing gratitude both easy and fun. By recording your blessings in Grateful, during those 'down' moments you can be reminded of all the things in your life that you have to be grateful for.

Available here from iTunes.

4. Happyfeed

This is a private gratitude journal app allowing you to record happy moments each day. As well as securely recording these moments as they happen, Happyfeed also writes fun, silly, and informative daily reminders.

The more you use this app, the more valuable it becomes.

Head here to get the app.

6 Podcasts Focused on Gratitude

Podcasts are a convenient way to hear from experts, and can also be a good use of time such as when on public transport. There are some available on the topic of gratitude. Here they are...

1. The Gratitude Podcast is by Georgian Benta. It is devoted to all things gratitude, with over 500, 000 downloads. It includes interviews with successful people and getting them to share fascinating stories about how gratitude has helped them get to where they are now.

2. Episode 18 of the 'Being Well' podcast sees Dr Hanson and Forrest discuss the 5th of 12 strengths to be examined in the series - gratitude. They look at the role of positive emotions generally and especially the value of "thankfulness".

3. This podcast, "Why Gratitude Works" is by Christine Carter and Rona Renner. In it, these experts discuss the science of gratitude and the reasons why consciously practicing gratitude can improve people's happiness so markedly.

4. Featuring acclaimed author and grounded theory researcher, Brene Brown, the topic of this podcast is "On gratitude, vulnerability, and courage". When gratitude and the power of appreciating the smallest moments were discussed, the podcast became emotional.

5. This relatively short podcast, featuring Lewis Howes from the School of Greatness, looks at developing an 'attitude of gratitude'. Howes shares both expertise and personal experience - such as almost losing his father in a car accident, and how he learned not to take things for granted.

6. This podcast is slightly different to the others discussed above. It looks at gratitude as a skill, and how to build this skill. There is a lot covered in the podcast. If you don't have the time, or the inclination, to listen to a podcast a summary of the points covered is available on the site which is accessible from the hyperlink provided.

A Take-Home Message

I hope you have found this piece useful. I'm grateful for you, as a reader, who took the time to process some of these ideas.

The "gratitude muscle" is like any other muscle, in that it must be flexed periodically to remain strong.

Return to this page whenever you need a reminder about why gratitude is important to practice, or suggestions on how to boost your own sense of gratitude. Visit the section on developing gratitude in children to encourage your own children, clients, or students to commit to a lifetime of gratitude and happiness.

Thank you for reading, and please be sure to find at least three things to be grateful for today.

Do you have a regular gratitude practice? Are there other gratitude exercises that work for you? Please let us know in the comments section below.

We love hearing from you!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our three Gratitude Exercises for free.

For further reading, we suggest:

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