Make a Gratitude Jar

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Being cooped up and practicing social distancing can be very stressful for some people. Children may be missing the daily hustle and bustle of school and activities. This may mean you have heard a little bit of complaining in the past week! This stress and negative attitudes can be hard on everyone’s psyche but also on our physical well being! It is important we find ways to break the cycle of stress hormones coursing through our bodies. Expressing gratitude daily can do that!

 Dr. Robert Emmons has studied the effects of gratitude journaling and found it benefits us in many ways. Expressing gratitude daily makes us more generous and positive people. We are likely to be more optimistic and kind to others. These are all traits I hope to foster in my children! So we have started a gratitude jar! Each day we write down something we are grateful for. We fold it up and put it in our gratitude jar. Then we can go back and read over them as the mood strikes.

Expressing gratitude daily makes us more generous and positive people. We are likely to be more optimistic and kind to others.

The initial fun part is picking your container and decorating it! This should be a low stress activity (that is the point!). Any container will do! It can have a lid or not. Here are some examples of what we had lying around to choose from.

We picked the oats container and removed the label. Next, we prepared to cover the container. You can do this in any way you want. You could just take one big piece of paper and wrap the container. You can decorate with drawings or stickers or anything you have. We opted for something that was a little more time consuming (read-keep them busy!)

So we gathered the following supplies:

• Paper to rip up
• Liquid glue or Modge Podge
• Container
• Paint brush
• Stickers or label

First, we ripped up some brightly colored paper we had lying around.

Next, we got some Modge Podge or glue and thinned it with water. We painted the glue onto the container, placed on the paper and then painted more glue over it. Eventually, we covered the whole container.

Next, we used our letter stickers to spell out “Gratitude” onto the container. Voila! Ready to receive statements of gratitude.

This project had perfect timing for us. Today as big feelings about being isolated started to rise in the household. I find a little gratitude for what we do have goes a long way in changing one’s perspective on life! Here is my first statement of gratitude:

THANK YOU!