This playful mindfulness activity is similar to the Gratitude Tree, but instead of trees, you’ll create simple fun flowers.

If you’re a teacher then the kids will love it. You can design a beautiful garden full of happy flowers and help the kids nurture gratitude and joy as you build it.

Spend some time talking about things you’re grateful for as you create your flowers. With younger kids you may want to start by explaining gratitude and giving them some examples.

My son Anton says that the gratitude flowers grow when you give them love and joy :) Last night we slept with the flowers in our family bed. And we talked with them ( the flowers ) about all the good stuff in our lives. The flowers giggled and sighed blissfully… and grew bigger. That’s what my son says anyway :)

The gratitude flowers activity teaches kids to:

appreciate the small things in life,

be grateful for everything they have,

be mindful of the things that are going right in their lives

and the people they hold closest to their hearts.

Here’s the gratitude garden we made at home.

You can keep it simple and just do the flowers and maybe pin them on a wall or you can go crazy and build a full scene if you want to :) The sky’s the limit! Have fun :)

Mindfulness for Kids: Gratitude flowers

Purpose: Gratitude, Positivity, Connection

Best for: Ages 3+, groups or one-on-one

What you need: Colored paper to cut out flower parts, Glue, Scissors, Grateful hearts

Directions

Find fun colored paper for your gratitude flowers.

1. Start by cutting out a circle for the centre of the flower and write your name (or your child’s name on it). Make it big enough so that you have ample space to write.

2. Next cut out big petals for the flower. Be creative and experiment with colors. A template for the centres and petals will help a lot, especially if your child wants to do the cutting.

3. Write down or draw the things you are grateful for on the petals. If your child is old enough, he can write his own; if not, then you can help him with that. You can draw pictures, too.

4. Glue the petals to the flower centre and you have your first gratitude flower!

If you do this with a group of children, you can do a whole garden of flowers! You can even place the flowers on a wall for an awesome “indoor garden” to which you can return to get a gratitude boost.

Did you know that…

Studies have shown that gratitude practice:

Decreases stress and anxiety
Increases happiness
Makes us more resilient
Improves sleep
Reduces materialism
Makes us more socially intelligent
Strengthens relationships
Makes us kinder
And even makes us more likely to feel love.

I hope you’ll enjoy this activity with the kids!!

You’ll find 150 playful mindfulness activities in my 5-star rated best selling book:

Ultimate Mindfulness Activity Book – 150 Playful Mindfulness Activities for Kids and Teens (and Grown-Ups too!)

I wish you many mindful moments and remember …

you’re building a better world by helping kids!

Yay you!! :-)

Chris Bergstrom

Chief Mindfulness Ninja @ Blissful Kids

#1 Best-Selling Author of:

Ultimate Mindfulness Activity Book: 150 Playful Mindfulness Activities for Kids and Teens

★★★★★ Awesome “Bought this book for my 6 year old, but even my 3 and 15 yo love the activities. We usually incorporate activities on a daily basis and it’s been working so far.”

Baby Shark Saves the Day

★★★★★ Cute and calming “With the craze being all about baby sharks, it’s a great idea to take it and use it to help our kids calm down themselves. I’m a therapist and look forward to using this with my kid clients.”