Weekly Fun Plan: Thankfulness

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Welcome to this week’s Weekly Fun Plan: Thankfulness! If you haven’t already I highly recommend you read my introductory blog post “Faith-filled Fun: What Is It? And Why I Started It”. That post will give you some background into this blog and a little more in-depth explanation of my Weekly Fun Plans and how to use them.

This Week’s Theme: Thankfulness

It is Thanksgiving week, a time for good food, time with family, watching football, but most importantly a time for reflecting on and acknowledging what we are thankful for. This week our Bible lesson will help your kids learn the importance of gratitude from a biblical perspective and get them thinking about the question “What am I thankful for?” All our craft, snack, and activity ideas are going to be Thanksgiving-themed. If you try anything in this week’s plan don’t forget to share your experiences on social media! Tag us @faithfilledfun on Instagram or use #faithfilledfun. New Weekly Fun Plans drop each Monday so stay up to date with the blog each week by subscribing to my email list!

Bible Lesson: What to Read or Watch this week

Since this week we are learning about thankfulness/gratitude, here are some great resources to read/watch:

If you have young children (ages 0-8):

Read the following Bible verses together:
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Watch “Gratitude | 15 Minutes of Thanksgiving Bible Stories and Worship for Kids” by Minno – Bible Stories for Kids on YouTube. This is a quick episode all about gratitude with fun animations, Bible stories, and songs.

If you have older children/teens (ages 9-18):

Read or have them read the following verses in their own personal study time:
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
- Colossians 4:2
- 1 Chronicles 16:34
- Psalms 7:17
- Psalms 9:1
- Psalms 95:2
- Psalms 100:4

Bible Lesson: Questions to Ask Your Kids/Discuss this week

After you’ve read the recommended Bible verses or watched the YouTube videos sit down with your kids and have them answer this week’s question:

What are you thankful for?

If you have little ones (ages 0-8):

I would focus on that one question this week, and work on having them make a list.

If you have older children (ages 9-18):

Here are some additional questions you can discuss with them throughout the week:

How can you grow in thankfulness?
What keeps you from gratitude?

Bible Lesson: Memory Verse

Memorizing scripture is such a vital skill to teach our children at a young age. Recalling and reciting scripture that they’ve memorized will help them as they grow and go through trials in life. It will also encourage them, equip them to go out and be little disciples of Jesus, and it will strengthen their own faith as they get older.

This week let’s have your kids work on memorizing 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Memorizing scripture is so much easier for kids if you can find a way to make it fun. Here are some different ideas to try as a family to help memorize this week’s verse:

Come up with some simple motions for each word of the verse and make a cheer or dance out of it.
Come up with your own melody and create a song out of it.
Make it a game. Start by saying one word or phrase of the verse at a time and have your kids repeat after you until you’ve gotten through the whole verse. Then repeat the process saying the words differently every time. Examples: slow, fast, in a silly voice, quiet, loud, etc.

Once your child/children have got it, I recommend practicing reciting the verse each morning over breakfast or before they leave for school and maybe even again before bed. Make it a part of your routine and you’ll be amazed at how fast they will begin to pick it up.

Supplies needed for this week’s activities

Here is a quick list of all the supplies that you will need in order to complete all the suggested crafts, activities, and snacks for this week’s plan. For a list of my most used craft supplies, and things I will be utilizing often in future Weekly Fun Plans be sure to check out my Links page.

Snack: Pumpkin Pie in a Cup (No Bake)

Whether you serve these as an appetizer at Thanksgiving or just as a snack for your kids, you’re going to love this delicious and easy Pumpkin Pie in a Cup (No Bake) recipe. Follow the link for the full recipe and easy step-by-step instructions.

Crafts:

For this week’s crafts, we are making Gratitude Pie Spinners and Thanksgiving Placemats. Both crafts are easy to make and perfect for this Thanksgiving week.

Gratitude Pie Spinner:

Once your child has answered this week’s question: What are you thankful for? Take their list and turn it into this fun Gratitude Pie Spinner craft. Follow the link for easy step-by-step instructions for this craft.

Thanksgiving Placemats:

For our second craft this week, we have Thanksgiving Placemats. They are not only cute and fun to make but once they are laminated with contact paper, they are wipeable and can be used for Thanksgiving dinner! Follow the link for an easy step-by-step guide.

Activities:

With our theme this week “Thankfulness” here are a few extra ideas for activities to do with your children. Feel free to come up with your own ideas too:

Cook some of your Thanksgiving dishes together.
Tell a family member or friend one reason you’re thankful for them.
Volunteer at a soup kitchen or food pantry as a family (if possible)
Play football outside together.

Parenting Tip of the Week:

One easy way we can help our children build a strong foundation of faith is through the music we listen to in our homes and in the car. It can be such a passive activity having music on in the background while we cook dinner, while they play with their toys, or while we drive them to school or practice, but it can make such an impact. Fill your home with praise and worship music whenever possible. You’ll see the greatest effects of this when you suddenly hear your children singing along to the words of your favorite worship song. Check out my Spotify for playlists I’ve created specifically with Christian Songs for Kids and My Current Worship Favs to play in our home!

christian songs for kids spotify playlist

Prayers:

Lastly, I like to end each Weekly Fun Plan with some example prayers for your week. One is to pray with your kids, maybe before they get on the bus in the morning, before a meal, or before bed, and the other prayer is for you, the parent, to pray over your kids throughout the week.