It’s the season of gratitude! An easy way to cultivate gratitude in children is to help them notice and appreciate things around them. But this is easier said than done, right? How often do we pause to appreciate the small things around us when life gets busy? Well, for most of us, that answer is probably… rarely.

But we’re here to help! We can make gratitude into an easy game – a gratitude scavenger hunt.

Pick a place – the home, the classroom, a park… and come up with a few prompts (we’ve included some suggestions below). When kids find an item that meets the prompt, have them take a brief moment to express gratitude for the item or the person or people who made, prepared or purchased the item.

How do you express gratitude? Keep it simple! For example, if the child finds something they can eat, they might say, “Thank you to the people who made this food.” If the child finds something homemade, they might say, “Thank you to my grandma who sewed this for me.”

Consider these suggestions – or come up with your own!

Find something homemade.

Find something that makes you smile.

Find something that helps you fall asleep.

Find something cozy.

Find something that makes noise.

Find something that helps keep you safe.

Find something fun.

Find something sweet.

Find something wet.

Find something that helps you learn.

Find something you should never eat.

Find something that smells good.

Find something prickly or spikey.

Find something colorful.

Find something alive.

Small acts of gratitude add up! Playing this simple game will help kids identify that there is A LOT to be grateful for. You just may find that they start to notice more and express gratitude more often as a result.