
The Thanksgiving season is a wonderful opportunity to teach our children what it means to be thankful and to cultivate gratefulness in their hearts. I’m excited to share this Thankful Garland craft that you can make with your children no matter their ages.
At the end of the post is my template so your family can make their own Thankful Garland craft.

A garland like this is a beautiful decoration for the season and also a great way to reflect as a family on the ways that God has blessed you as you teach gratitude.
“A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”
Psalm 100:1-5 ESV
I don’t think we can over-emphasize gratefulness and serving others as we parent our children, especially leading up to the Christmas season where their focus can easily become fixated on material things.
This project is a fun way to shift their thinking to thankfulness!
We love to include a variety of beautiful crafts as part of our homeschooling in autumn, like these 20 Favorite Fall Crafts for Your Homeschool.
What I especially like about this Thankful Garland craft, though, is that the whole family can work on it together. Everyone can be tracing and cutting around the table, writing on the shapes and sharing their thoughts.
Little ones can dictate what they are thankful for, and someone else can do the writing (I giggled at some of my preschoolers’ sweet ideas).
You can write on and hang your garland pieces all at once like we did, or you may choose to write on only one shape to hang each day leading up to Thanksgiving.
I love how this garland will serve as a constant reminder to us throughout the season to be thankful!
Supplies Needed
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- Cardstock in your choice of colors
- Thankful Garland Templates PDF – Click to Download
- Thin twine
- Mini clothespins (1″ or 1-7/8″ size clothespins will work, and we used some of both)
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Glue Stick
- Fine black marker
Directions

Step 1 – Prepare Templates
After you have downloaded your Thankful Garland Templates PDF, print the page onto a sheet of 8.5″ x 11″ cardstock.
Cut out each shape to use as a template to trace and cut out your colored cardstock. The download includes four different leaves, a pumpkin, and an acorn.

Step 2- Trace and Cut Garland Shapes
Trace and cut as many of each shape as you want depending on how long you want your finished garland and how close you want to space the shapes.
We ended up tracing three of each shape for our garland.

You’ll notice the acorn is in two pieces so you can use two different papers for the cap and the nut. Use a glue stick to glue the two acorn pieces together.

Step 3 – Write What You Are Thankful For
Now use a fine black marker to write what you are thankful for on the shapes. You could stick to a theme like things you are thankful for from this year. You could also intermix Bible verses about thankfulness.

Step 4 – Assemble and Hang Your Garland
Finally, cut a length of twin the size that you want your finished garland (or leave it extra long to trim down later) and use the mini clothespins to clip on all your shapes.
Hang your finished garland over your mantle, in a window, in your homeschool area, or anywhere you wish to decorate for Thanksgiving.

To help you out, I’ve created a simple 30 Day Gratitude Challenge Printable. Each person in your family should have their own printable. At dinner time or bedtime, let your kids write what they are thankful for that day. There is enough space on the printable to let your kids write what they are thankful for that day.
Younger kids can use the printable with prompts for each day. Even preschoolers can take on the challenge with the thank you prompts on the printable. Actually, I’m sending a copy to my daughter who has a 3-year old. The prompts are a simple way to stay focused on thankfulness all of November.
For, older kids and parents, I suggest writing at least 3 things you are thankful for each day. Once you sign up, you’ll receive an email with specific ideas for older kids.
Be sure to check back here (or sign up for our email updatesat the top of this post) throughout November for lots of great ideas to help you teach gratitude to your kids. For now, take the 30 Day Gratitude Challenge and get your free printables below.

Leanna Aberle is a second-generation homeschooler, wife, and mom of three daughters. She and her family live in their fixer-upper mountain home in Colorado. She blogs over at Aberle Home, where she helps and inspires other families in homeschooling and homemaking. She loves to share projects and recipes! You can connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.
