In a previous post, I’ve shared about the “science of happiness,” and with the Thanksgiving holidays approaching in the U.S., it’s a great time to inspire kids to engage in creating their own scientific experiments related to having a gratitude attitude.
SHARING THE SCIENCE
Below are a few videos about gratitude experiments and studies done using scientific methods. Each highlights the positive effects of focusing on gratitude for things and people in your life. If your students have never been introduced to the “science of happiness,” you might like to share one or two before introducing the challenge. You could share this article about a man who wrote 365 thank-you notes and then wrote a book about it.
DESIGNING A CHALLENGE
Once students are convinced that feeling and expressing gratitude also increases happiness, why not have them design their own gratitude challenge or create their own goal? Students will naturally lean into their strengths and passions. Students who love to write may be drawn to the goal of writing one thank-you note each day for a week or writing a poem such as a Thanksgiving haiku or an “Ode to the Ordinary.” The one shown here was written by one of my 8th-grade students and if several students write these kinds of poems, it could create a humorous Thanksgiving display.
As a class, brainstorm creative ways to express gratitude. Encourage students to think about all the things both at home and at school that they take for granted and how they could express gratitude in different ways.
This article, “Gratitude Activities for the Classroom,” may get you started, but students might come up with even more creative ideas. Here are a few that you could share with your class:
Hidden Messages – Students could prepare handwritten thank-you notes on regular 8.5 x 11 white paper to hide in various places at home or at school for specific people to find. For example, a note taped inside a kitchen cabinet could say, “Thanks for all of the delicious meals you make every week” or a note placed near the school nurse’s computer might say “Thanks for taking such good care of us when we’re sick or hurt. You’re always there when we need you.” Kids love hiding things and being in on surprising others.
Create a Gratitude Game or Activity – Since everyone benefits from expressing gratitude, why not think of a way to get a group involved in giving thanks? Here is an example of a very easy game based on Scattergories™, that a family or class can play together. Here are some other activities designed for families. Perhaps if students see a few examples, it will spark some ideas for simple games or activities to try with their families.
Create a Special Presentation – Some students love to perform and may want to create a special video or make a more public expression of gratitude. A wordless video with signs or posters might be easy to create quickly, or a simple presentation of some kind could be planned.
Keeping goals a secret and the “challenge” open-ended could add to the fun. Obviously, students could not scientifically measure their own levels of happiness before and after their challenges or goals are completed. But in a future class discussion, they could share what they chose to do and how it went.
If your students do come up with some creative ideas, share them in the comments below! Have a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
THE AMAZING EFFECTS OF GRATITUDE – This 3-minute video presents the idea that gratitude was seen as a virtue even by ancient philosophers and has only recently been studied and shown scientifically to have positive effects on health and well being.
THE GRATITUDE EXPERIMENT – This video shares a scientific study of the benefits to those of writing in a gratitude journal and taking time to focus on things you use and enjoy every day.
SPREAD YOUR GRATITUDE – In this video, a sixth-grade teacher shares about the change in students when her school implemented the use of gratitude journals. At the end of each school day, students wrote three things for which they were thankful with the hope that this would lead to more positive feelings before going home. Students share how this project affected them.
THE SCIENCE OF KINDNESS – Another video about the positive effects, this one focuses more on doing kind acts for others, one of which is expressing your gratitude for them.