This lovely thankful Thanksgiving tree craft is a great activity for the whole family to share a thankful spirit this Thanksgiving season by creating your own gratitude tree. Kids of all ages can help make this family Thanksgiving tree which is sure to start some great conversations around the attitude of gratitude!

Make a Family Thanksgiving Tree

A Family Thanksgiving Tree makes a great family tradition. Making your own thankful tree is a great fall family activity and reinforces gratitude.

Related: Make a gratitude tree with kids

This gratitude activity is a great tool to use to help my kids recognize our blessings. Kids will love writing down things they are thankful for on a leaf shaped piece of paper and hanging them in the branches of your tree.

Thanksgiving Tree as Conversation Starter

Your Thanksgiving tree craft will double as a super cute fall decoration as well. It looks great with other fall and Thanksgiving decorations and could be a centerpiece of your Thanksgiving feast!

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Supplies Needed To Make a Family Thanksgiving Tree

• floral block of foam
• serrated knife
• spray paint
• tree branches the size and shape you want your gratitude tree for a tree trunk
• rocks (you can either buy these in the craft section or at a home improvement store)
• glue gun and glue sticks
• a small dead branch from a bush or tree
• mini clothespins or hole punch and ribbon or string
• card stock or autumn color construction paper
• paper leaf template <–you can use our fall leaves coloring pages as a template
• markers, pens or paint pens

Directions To Make A Thankful Tree

Step 1

The first thing you want to do to create your thankful tree is spray paint your floral block of foam and allow to dry if your foam is not the color you desire to be seen through the rocks. We used black spray paint after rounding out the foam with a serrated knife so it wasn’t so square.

Step 2

Once the spray paint is dry, then you can start adhering rocks (I found mine on my property) to the painted foam with hot glue.

Tip: If you are collecting rocks off the ground, then make sure they are clean before using them for DIY thankful tree.

Then continue adding rocks with hot glue just until you get to the top of the foam.

Step 3

Next, insert the tree branch into the top of the foam deep enough so it stays firmly upright as the main trunk creating the base of the tree.

Next, finish hot gluing rocks to the foam all the way to the branch.

Step 4

Create paper leaves out of card stock, brown paper (or any fall leaf construction paper color) following the free leaf template or by making an easy leaf drawing. You will want to make enough so you have a stack of blank leaves.

Step 5

Display your family’s own tree on a small table or in an entryway with pencils or markers nearby along with a stack of leaves. Each family member can write down things they are thankful for on the colorful leaves.

Step 6

Add the gratitude leaves to the tree as a thankful tree activity with either:

• mini clothespins
• punch a hole in each different leaf and tie with string or thin ribbon

Our Experience Making a Thanksgiving Tree

Here are some things we learned for next time:

• Make sure if your child is helping you that they are supervised hot gluing the rocks on.
• Last year we found it was a great time to go outside and pick out your most favorite rocks. What is better than a walk in autumn? <–Great idea!
• The rustic and simple look is very farmhouse chic and goes with really anything, especially if you already have fall decor. Plaid and farm trucks are in right now and this would look great among them.
• This has quickly become one of my favorite family traditions. I think it is so important for us to stop and to be thankful and to remember for everything we are thankful for.

The world is so fast paced and the holiday season has become about gifts and food and while that is exciting, we tend to forget the most important things to us like our faith, family, love, our pets, friends, etc. Your family’s gratitude tree is a visual reminder of all the blessings that we enjoy.

More Ways To Be Thankful from Kids Activities Blog

• Crafts are a great way to connect with your kids, as well as Helping Kids Express Gratitude.
• We have other great ways to teach your children to be thankful like this Gratitude Pumpkin.
• Download & print these gratitude quote cards for kids to decorate and give.
• Kids can make their own gratitude journal with these free printable pages.
• Gratitude coloring pages have prompts for kids to describe what they are thankful for.
• Make your own handmade gratitude journal – it is an easy project with these simple steps.
• These gratitude activities are some of our favorite kids activities with a thankful heart.
• Read favorite books together with this list of Thanksgiving books for kids.
• Looking for more? Check out the rest of our Thanksgiving games and activities for the family.
• Download & print our favorite Thanksgiving coloring pages or one of our many Thanksgiving printables.

What are your kids thankful for? Do you have any “Thankful” traditions in your family? Did you make a thankful tree together as a family?