Why not tie together Thanksgiving and homeschool with Thanksgiving writing activities?

Help Your Kids Write a Thank You Note

How do you teach your children to write thank you cards?

Thanksgiving Writing Activities

If you’ve never taught them how to write thank you notes, today is the perfect time to start. By practicing right now, they will be experts at thank you cards by the time Christmas comes around.

I like to use the 1 paragraph outline (from IEW) for a thank you card. Here’s a short synopsis of that outline.

1. Intro sentence stating what you are thanking recipient for
2. Tell how you like that character quality/gift/item for which you are thankful.
3. Tell recipient how you will use that gift or how that character quality impacts you
4. Further explain why you are thankful
5. Restate (clincher) why you are thankful

It’s perfectly okay for your kids to outline their thank you cards before they write them. Start today and have your child choose one person to write a thank you. Let them fill out the outline above. Tomorrow, they can write their thank you draft. Once you read their draft, you should lightly edit it.

The following day, they can rewrite their thank you in their best handwriting.

Remember, there are 2 components of a well-written thank you card.

1. Be Specific

When you write thank you cards, be specific about what you are thanking your recipient. If your recipient did something for you, tell them specifically how their action impacted you. If your recipient gave you something, tell them specifically how that gift impacted you.

2. Be Sincere

Being sincere should be obvious, but not everyone follows the sincerity rule. Thank you cards should be sincere, not a lot of fluff. A good thank you card is a heartfelt card, telling that person what you feel from the heart.

Finally, teach your child how to address an envelope with the return address & mailing address of the recipient.

OR…let your child send a free card with our sponsor, Couple Next Door Cards.Click here to send your free card.

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.

Previous 30 Days of Thanksgiving Activities for Kids:

1. Make a Thankful List

Question: How do you prepare your kids for Thanskgiving? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

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