How To Make A Kids Gratitude Jar

There are many benefits to teaching gratitude to our chidren, and this simple Gratitude Jar craft is a great way to start.

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The concept of a gratitude jar isn’t a new one. The theory is each day you write down something that you are grateful for that day and pop it in the jar. Then periodically, or perhaps if your feeling a little down you can look at the contents of your jar to see all the wonderful things that you have in your life.

It can be anything from something you have, a feeling you felt, something that happened, something that made you smile, a person in your life, anything that you felt grateful for that day.

There’s no denying that gratitude is good, and studies have shown that practicing gratitude has a number of positive effects. These include improving physical and mental wellbeing, decreasing stress and negative thinking and increasing happiness, forgiveness and compasion. Now isn’t that something we all want for our children!

When designing our gratitude jars, I wanted the kids to really start thinking about what they were grateful for. With no prompting from me they drew their pictures, everything from freinds and family, food and water, toys and TV in Oliver’s case! It was great starting point and helped them understand the purpose of the jars.

So if you would like to make your own Gratitude Jar similar to ours, then read on or pin it for later!

Pin How To Make A Kids Gratitude Jar For Later!

How You Make The Gratitude Jar

First you need to find yourself a jar. I used two old coffee jars that I have been saving for such a craft, but equally an old cookie jar or large jam jar would also be suitable. You obviously need to wash them and remove the labels before you start.

To help with the writing I printed the words onto paper and used a little blue tack inside the jar to act as a template. I used a gold outliner relief paste which is fairly easy to use, but you do need a steady hand. You have to let it dry for 24 hours and then bake at 160C for 40 minutes. This makes the lettering more durable.

Once dry it was time to stick on the pictures. I actually took a colour photocopy of the kids original drawings and sealed it with a layer of spray varnish. I’m not sure if this was a necessary step but I was concerned that the ink might bleed when applying them to the jars.

When dry I cut out the kids pictures and words and applied them to the jars with Mod Podge, and then finished off with a couple of layers of Mod Podge over the top allowing each coat to dry inbetween.

Wait to dry, and that’s it! Kids gratitude jars all made.

I have positioned ours in a prominent place in the playroom to remind us to do it. I also have next to them a pot with some cut up pieces of coloured card and a pen.

We have only been using them for a few days, but already I’m thinking I need to make a gratitude jar for myself. After all we could all do with being a little bit more grateful couldn’t we?

Kerry x

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