I am thankful for all that
Heavenly Father gives me
by Melanie Day


 

How do you express our gratitude?  What are some things you might say or do?  How do you show your gratitude to the Lord? Invite the children to look up “thanks” or “thanksgiving” in the Topical Guide.  Write some of the key words down on the board.

After writing down your answer(s), tell them that together, we are going to review some scripture stories of people who gave thanks to Heavenly Father. Divide the children into four groups and assign them one of these stories: • 1 Ne. 2:1–7 / Lehi takes his family into the wilderness, then builds an altar and offers thanks. • 1 Ne. 16:21–32 / Nephi relies on the Liahona to direct him to find food, then returns and gives thanks. • Mosiah 24:8–10, 16–25 / Alma and his people are delivered from bondage and give thanks. • Ether 6:1–12 / Jared and his people enter the barges, travel across the waters, and give thanks.

Have the scriptures written on the board and each group has to come up and explain who was grateful and why. 

OBJECT LESSON: Tell the children, “Look around the room and find all the things you can that are purple.” After they have a few minutes to do so, have them close their eyes. Then say, “Okay, now tell me all the things you saw that were yellow.”  They can't do it because they had focused so intently on the purple that they didn’t even notice the yellow things. . .”  You can see the application to contentment and gratitude. When we focus on what we don’t have, pretty soon that’s all we can see, so we become discontented, and whiny, and unsatisfied. But when we focus on our many amazing blessings, we become more and more aware of them, and thus more and more content and humble and grateful. And I might add, happier. And more peaceful. (Mary Ellen Edmunds, You Can Never Get Enough of What You Don’t Need, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005], p. 153.)

OPTIONAL OBJECT LESSON: Display an empty cup, a spoon, and a container of water. Ask the children to think of the many blessings Heavenly Father has given them, and explain that each time they name a blessing they may take a spoonful of water from the container and put it into the cup.

Place the cup and the container of water in the pan or dish to catch spills, and place the pan or dish on a flat surface such as the table or floor.
 

You may want to use the following questions to help the children think of their blessings:
 

•     What are some of the beautiful creations Heavenly Father has given us?

•     Who are some special people he has blessed us with?

•     What things can our wonderful bodies do?

Have the children take turns naming blessings and putting spoonfuls of water in the cup until the cup is filled to overflowing. Explain that Heavenly Father loves us and has given us many blessings. When we think of these blessings, we are thankful and filled with love for Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father has given us so many blessings that we can overflow with love, just like the cup overflowed with water.

GAME: To show the children just how easy it is to be grateful, play “alphabetical gratitude.” Go around the room and have each person say something he is grateful for. The first person names something that starts with the letter a, and the next person names something beginning with the letter b. Continue around the room as many times as necessary until the entire alphabet is complete.
 

SONG: “My Heavenly Father Loves Me” Children’s Songbook, p. 278.

ACTIVITY:  Make a (paper) gratitude quilt to display throughout the month of November.  Here is what you do. (This idea is from Danielle's Place...click here and scroll down to see a picture of this project)

1.  Have each child draw a picture, preferably on a light colored piece of construction paper.  Use half or quarter pieces of one sheet per child so that it doesn’t get too big.  Remind the children not to draw too close to the edge of the paper. 

2.  Arrange pictures in the order you want them. With right sides together, staple the first two pictures together in the first horizontal row, open them up and fold back. 

3.  Staple on the next picture in the row and continue until the first row is all stapled together. 

4.  Staple the next horizontal row together and the next until all rows are complete. 

5.  Now staple all the rows together, ride side up.

6.  You can cut the outside edges of the quilt with scrapbook scissors if you want.

SUMMARY:  Conclude by telling the children how thankful you are to be in Primary with them. Testify that Heavenly Father has given us many blessings and he is happy when we feel gratitude and thank him for our blessings. Encourage the children to remember to thank Heavenly Father for their blessings through their prayers and their actions during the coming week.
 

MY SOURCES:

- "I am glad for many things" sharing time, November 2002
- Manual for Primary 2, 24: I Can Show Gratitude, Purpose, 124
- Scriptures
- Teaching, No Greater Call