• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • FAQ
    • Disclosure and Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe
  • Community
  • Books
    • Books for Children by Age
    • Book Lists
    • Holiday Books and Activities
  • Reading Ideas
    • Babies
    • Toddlers
    • Preschoolers
    • Kindergarteners & Early Elementary
  • Writing Ideas
  • Parental Involvement: Building Partnerships
  • Start Here!
    • WELCOME TO THE GROWING BOOK BY BOOK COMMUNITY
    • Subscribe
    • Contact
    • FAQ
      • Disclosure and Privacy Policy
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Book Lists
    • Books for Children by Age
    • Book Lists
    • Holiday Books and Activities
  • Book Activities
  • Early Literacy
    • Alphabet Activities
    • Circle Time Activities
    • Phonological Awareness Activities

Growing Book by Book

  • Family Involvement
    • Start a Family Dinner Book Club
  • Start Here
  • Store
discovering with babies playing with toddlers exploring with preschoolers building with beginning readers

Bring joy and play into children's lives through books.

Yes, please!
Home » Reading Ideas » Reading Fun » Literacy Activities: Giving and Being Thankful Ideas

Literacy Activities: Giving and Being Thankful Ideas

November 26, 2014 •

Sharing is caring!

8237 shares
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

I’m so excited about our  Playful Preschool Series  this week.  Our theme this week is gratitude and I have three fun literacy activities that can be used together or separately to help teach kids about being thankful and giving to others.

Being kind and thankful are two of the most important character traits that I wish to instill in my kids.  It is something that we work on everyday and I’m always looking for fun ways to teach my kids about the power of doing for others and being grateful.

3 literacy activities to promote being kind and thankful from growingbookbybook.com

Full Disclosure:  I received a copy of Jillee Bean and the One Good Think to review.  All opinions expressed are my own.  This post also contains affiliate links.

3 Literacy Activities

1.  Read

a great book for kids to teach about giving and random acts of kindess

We read Jillee Bean and the One Good Thing by Jill Nystul and Samanta Hollister.   In the story, Jillee’s Dad encourages her to focus on doing one good thing a day.  For each good deed, she earns a jelly bean to put into a jar.  Jillee isn’t sure if she can fill the jar but she makes a plan and sets out to try.  Her acts of kindness lead her to donating toys, to raking leaves, to helping to wash the dishes.  Before she knows it, Jillee has a full jelly bean jar.  Continuing on with her acts of kindness, Jillee shares her jellybeans with others and sets off on a quest to start the process all over again.

This was such a fun book to read and it delivered a wonderful message of doing things for others!

2. Do

We decided that for the next month we are going to do random acts of kindness.  To help serve as a visual and to document our work, we are going to fill a cookie jar with kindness cookies!

literacy activity: create cookies for the kindness jar

We made lots of cookies out of paper.  My boys are fascinated with candy cookies so that is what we made.  It actually served as a math lesson too.  We counted the number of candies (dot stickers) on each cookie, compared which cookie had the most candies, ordered the cookies from least number of candies to most and so on.

We also made some sprinkle cookies with glitter glue!

On the back side of each cookie we will write down our kind deed for the day.  Then, we will place the cookie in the cookie jar (glass mason jar).

After our cookie jar is full, we plan to bake real cookies to enjoy with our family and friends.

For random acts of kindness ideas, check out Coffee Cups and Crayons, Random Acts of Kindness Christmas Advent Calendar.

3. Sing

The last gratitude literacy activity that I have to share is a song that we have been singing recently each night before bed.  It pairs beautifully with the activities above.  It’s to the tune of “Where is Thumbkin”.

I am thankful.

I am thankful 

for my _______.

I am very thankful.

I am very thankful

for my ________.

We repeat the verse over and over again until each person has a chance to name what they are thankful for each day.

Here is a short video of me singing the song we wrote.


I hope you are inspired to do these activities with your kids.  If you have a favorite book or activity that helps teach about giving and being thankful, please share it below in the comments.

Keep reading.  Visit the links below for more gratitude activities from the Playful Preschool team.

The Giving Tree- An Attitude of Gratitude in Preschool from The Preschool Toolbox

Teaching Kids Thank You in Different Languages from Still Playing School

Thankful Rocks:  A Visual Reminder to Be Thankful from Mom Inspired Life

Gratitude Sensory Bin from Learning 2 Walk

Gratitude- Put Your Best Foot Forward Footprint Activity from Capri +3

Gratitude Sensory Jar from Tiny Tots Adventures

Non-Verbal Ways to Show Gratitude from Live Over C’s

Litearcy Activities: 3 gratitude and kindness activities for kids

Did you get your free list of Books Kids Will Beg You to Read?

Get It

Sharing is caring!

8237 shares
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Filed Under: All categories, Reading Fun Tagged With: character education, preschool songs, random acts of kindness, Thanksgiving

About Jodie Rodriguez

Jodie Rodriguez is a mom of two young boys and an early childhood/elementary educator with over 20 years of experience. Jodie's passion is helping parents, teachers, librarians and anyone else interested in nurturing and reaching ALL of our youngest growing readers.

Comments

  1. Shaymaa says

    January 7, 2019 at 12:54 pm

    Brilliant
    Thanks for sharing💖

  2. Gude @HodgePodgeCraft says

    December 4, 2014 at 2:12 pm

    What a wonderful idea and a great way to encourage kids (and us!) to do more good every day.
    #Pintorials

  3. The Preschool Toolbox says

    December 1, 2014 at 9:14 pm

    Jodie – I love this cookie idea for a thankful jar! What a great way to encourage literacy and thankfulness at ANY time of the year!

  4. Natasha says

    November 30, 2014 at 6:43 am

    Love the song! I like the idea of documenting the ways we show gratitude. Something new I learned is the Jill had a book, now I have to read it.

    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      November 30, 2014 at 6:02 pm

      Thanks Natasha. It’s a really cute book!

  5. Heather Grow says

    November 29, 2014 at 4:09 pm

    These are such great ideas to teach kids about gratitude. I love the little song.

  6. Emma says

    November 29, 2014 at 2:05 pm

    This is a wonderful idea for any time of year!

  7. Susen @ Dabbling Momma says

    November 26, 2014 at 8:10 pm

    love the adorable cookies and the thankful song! Going to try the song with my 4 year old in the morning!

    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      November 26, 2014 at 9:19 pm

      Thank you Susen! Enjoy!

  8. Theresa (Capri + 3) says

    November 26, 2014 at 8:34 am

    The book sounds great for preschoolers. We will have to check it out. I love the idea of filling the jar and then celebrating with real cookies.

  9. Devany says

    November 26, 2014 at 7:05 am

    These cookies are so much fun! Love your song, too!

    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      November 26, 2014 at 9:20 pm

      Thanks Devany!

  10. Megan says

    November 26, 2014 at 6:18 am

    LOVE this sweet idea!!!!

    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      November 26, 2014 at 9:22 pm

      Thank you Megan. You provided great inspiration for the post!

Trackbacks

  1. Teaching kids to be grateful for what they have - Your Modern Family says:
    May 12, 2020 at 4:10 pm

    […] Fill a jar with service […]

  2. 8 Ways to Teach Empathy and Kindness with a Family Kindness Jar says:
    November 8, 2017 at 1:58 pm

    […] Kindness Cookie Jar from Growing Book by Book | Decorate paper cookies, write a kind deed for the day on the back, and fill your cookie jar! When the jar is full, bake some real cookies together. […]

  3. I Am Thankful; Gratitude Activities for Children - Creating Among Chaos says:
    November 6, 2017 at 7:14 am

    […] not super crafty so I’m sure you could make this into something more creative (like this cookie jar idea), but here’s the plan; write down your favorite acts of kindness from our list and put them […]

  4. Preschool Sensory Activities: Gratitude Bin says:
    November 26, 2014 at 8:18 am

    […] Literacy Activities: Giving and Being Thankful Ideas from Growing Book by Book […]

  5. Non-Verbal Ways to Show Gratitude says:
    November 26, 2014 at 7:55 am

    […] Literacy Activities: Giving and Being Thankful Ideas from Growing Book by Book […]

  6. Thankful Rocks: A Visual Reminder to be Grateful - Mom Inspired Life says:
    November 26, 2014 at 7:43 am

    […] Literacy Activities: Giving and Being Thankful Ideas from Growing Book by Book […]

What can we help you find?

Subscribe to Growing Book by Book

lead magnet for growing book bybook
Welcome to Growing Book by Book!  Learn about the creator, Jodie Rodriguez.

Find More

alphabet activities
book lists for children
circle time button

Set Up for Circle Time Success

month by month circle time songs


Copyright ©2025, Growing Book by Book. All Rights Reserved. Custom design by Pixel Me Designs | Privacy Policy