giving thanks every day: easy, at-home graffiti board

Our house is already knee-deep in holiday catalogs, mailers, and promos, and it’s totally insane.

So in order to ‘reign in’ the madness early in the game and to help my 9-year-old, 8-year-old, and 6-year-old keep focused on the meaning of this season, I created a quick and easy way for us to give thanks every day.

I made an easy, at-home graffiti board.

It’s our Thankful Graffiti Board, and it’s on the door to our laundry room and garage–the door that everyone uses to exit the house and the door that we keep closed most often to keep in the cool or warmth.

Reminiscent of our Thankful Tree a few years back, our Thankful Graffiti Board is a way of sharing and celebrating all for which we give thanks.  Simple. Poster board, markers, and tape is all it took for us to set it up, and now?

The kids are totally game.

Here’s the skinny. . .

• Giving Thanks Every Day — Easy, At-Home Graffiti Board: Really, it doesn’t get more simple than this.

I wanted to do something that was really ‘in our faces’–something we’d see every day and something that each member of our family could contribute to.

This summer, with our Summer Fun Cards on our door, we had constant reminders of what we needed to do and where we needed to go. So I though that perhaps the continuous reminders of all of our blessings would yield the same effect.

 

 

I explained the gist of the Thankful Graffiti Board after dinner one night: We have so much to be thankful for, it’s not even funny. We are so blessed in so many ways. What are some of the things we have, in our lives, to be thankful for?

They instantly came up with about a million things: food, shelter, clothes, love, books, you name it.

You are so right. We have all of these things to be thankful for and much, much more. Every day I bet we could name ten things we have to be thankful for, and that’s what we’re going to do this month–November is a time for giving thanks. So that’s what we’re going to do.

I explained what a Graffiti Board is and that it’s just a large space where everyone can jot down their ideas.  I used Graffiti Boards a lot in teaching; kids always seem to love having a place where they can be heard.  And it’s cool for them to be able to always see the contributions of others.

Really? My kids are no different. And when they see my additions or my husband’s? They are totally excited.  And when they read each other’s? They love it.

We’ll see how this goes. . .

So that’s it–just a quickie way that our family is trying to really stay focused on the meaning of this important, reflective, joyous season.

Do you have other cool ideas for reminding your family to be thankful? I’d love to hear them!

Otherwise, do check out our Thanksgiving Pinterest board, where I’ll be adding to the resources for food, fun, and learning this season!