Find ways to Give Thanks this Fall

Cutout leaves on color paper

One of the wonderful things about working in Children’s Ministry is that little kids have a way of making everything seem like it’s going to be okay, even when the adults may not.

If you’ve ever had a chance to stop and look at things through children’s eyes … you’ll find that they see beauty and wonder everywhere!

Tree of Thanks Activity

With Thanksgiving coming up, it may be hard to find things we’re thankful for in the year 2020. One way to combat this is to set up a Tree of thanks, Thankful Tree, or Tree of Gratitue in your church’s Sunday school, children’s church room … or even, if your church allows, right at the entrance to the sanctuary.

Tree of Thanks

Materials you will need:

  1. Craft Paper, Construction Paper, or Scrapbook Paper
  2. Leaf Template (see our free download below!)
  3. Brown packaging material, brown construction paper, or brown cardstock
  4. A Printer
  5. Scissors
  6. Pens or Markers
  7. Glue or Tape

If you wish to to add a bit more depth to your Tree of Thanks, you can also add a few twigs to give the tree branch a more realistic look.

Steps to creating your Craft Tree:

Simply create the tree trunk using packaging material (shown above) or pieces of cardboard or construction paper.

Olympus Digital Camera

You can make the tree is small or as large as you’d like! You can even use brown cardstock (medium to heavyweight) if you prefer to make just a small tree that sits on a table.

Next, use our Thankful Tree Leaves Template (found below) for this Thanksgiving activity.

Pprinted leaves ready to cut out

Print the leaves template on construction paper or multicolored scrapbooking paper, and then cut out the leaves.

Cutouts

Finally, leave out a basket of “leaves” and a few markers. Encourage others to fill out a leaf with something they are thankful for — big or small.

Bucket of leaves ready to use

You can jumpstart the tree leaves by asking your little ones what they’re thankful for. The answers are sure to bring a smile to your face.

Free Thankful Tree Leaves Template

Print out leaf sets on yellow, red, orange and green paper. Use the free leaf template below.

Thankful Tree Craft
Thankful Tree Craft

Click here to download the FREE Leaf Template PDF

This thankful tree craft is a great activity for the beginning of Fall or Thanksgiving. The longer the tree is up, the more Leaves of Thanks will appear!

Author Bio:
Children's Bulletins Team

Over the years of publication Children’s Worship Bulletins has had many contributing authors and editors. This team has worked diligently to thoughtfully craft material to assist in creating meaningful children’s worship materials.

Share This Post:

Share The Freeley Icon Share these freely!

Read more here about Usage and Printing Guidelines