A Cure for the I Wants

My kids have a nasty bout of the I Wants. I don't know if it has infected your house yet, but despite my best efforts to avoid it, the I Wants have arrived.

Here are the symptoms:

As we browse through Target for household necessities, I hear, "I want Star War Legos for Christmas."

While viewing an enticing commercial with a space ship that lands on the moon with aliens, I hear, "I want that!" Even though I explain that the toy doesn't really fly into outer space or land on the moon as shown in the commercial, I still get a enthusiastic, "I want that!"

I suppose the Christmas decorations, which have been up in stores for the last few weeks, don't help my cause.

So I have set out to cure my children of this disturbing virus. In light of it being November, I am determined to wipe out the "I wants" with "I am thankfuls."

This morning the two littles helped me create a Thankful Calendar-Countdown to Thanksgiving while the big kid was at school.

Supplies:

-stickers
-construction paper
-glue stick
-pencil
-marker
-card stock leaves (optional)
-tape



Steps:

-I glued two pieces of construction paper together and taped them on the back for reinforcement.
-Decorated with stickers
-Wrote my heading
-Traced leaves using premade card stock leaves which I had on hand. I saved time by folding the construction paper several times, traced, and then cut. You can also buy precut leaves and not bother with tracing and cutting.
-We will be learning patterns and counting (for the littles) as we do this each day. Charlie loves red, Jack loves yellow, and Luke loves collecting acorns so the pattern was an easy one to establish.
-Each day one kiddo will choose something he is thankful for. Today Charlie was thankful for leaves. We will usually do this at dinner so the person of the day can share with everyone what he is thankful for.








(I intended to write I am thankful for, but I was talking to Charlie at the same time and wrote grateful. Same idea, though!)

If you are not up for this project, here are a few other Thankful project ideas for November:

-Create a "thankful" journal. Have each person write something he/she is thankful for. If your children are too little to print, have them draw a picture or dictate a sentence to you.
-Create a "thankful" tree out of butcher paper, construction paper, or paper bags. Write what you are thankful for each day of the month on a cut out leaf and attach to the tree.
-Have a "thankful" jar or bowl and put a piece of fall colored paper with something you are thankful for each day of the month.


Have fun!!!

Much love,
Katie

P.S. I am THANKFUL for you! Thank you for allowing me to share ideas and experiences with you.