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Every November I do a gratitude thing at the kids’ table, and for years it was a paper turkey where they wrote one thing on each feather. Last fall I switched to a thankful tree and an I am thankful for list, and my nephew took to it like it was a quiz he could not fail.
He is six. His list was the dog, snacks, more snacks, and the dog again. He drew the dog twice to be safe. I taped his tree to the kitchen window where the afternoon light hit it, and he checked on it for the rest of the day like it might grow.
The files below are the thankful printables we actually rotate through, trees and lists and a few journal-style pages for the older kids. Some of the links are affiliate links, so if you grab one I might get a small cut, no extra cost to you. Here is what worked.
The Whole Bundle When One Page Is Not Enough
This is ten kids’ planner printables in one PDF, and the gratitude and list pages inside are what I actually came for. I printed the thankful list page for my nephew and stashed the rest for the long stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas when he needs something to do at the table.
The variety is the selling point. Older cousin got a journal-style page, the six-year-old got the simple list with big boxes, and nobody felt babied or left out.
Nitpick: it is a fat PDF and the pages are not labeled in any obvious order, so I scrolled a while to find the thankful sheet. Worth bookmarking the page number once you find it.
A Thankful Sign That Sits on the Window Ledge
A painted autumn bench with a thankful theme, the kind of warm illustration that works as a little sign rather than a worksheet. I printed it, propped it on the kitchen window ledge next to my nephew’s tree, and it tied the whole gratitude corner together.
The colors lean amber and rust, so it read as fall without screaming it. It gave the kids’ gratitude pages a grown-up looking anchor to sit beside.
Nitpick: it is a PNG with the bench on a plain background, so if you want it to fill a frame you may need to scale it and lose a little of the edges. I framed it loose and let the border breathe.
A Notepad for the I Am Thankful For My Friends Page
This is a friendship-themed notepad template, and I used it as the friends edition of the thankful list. My nephew wrote down the kids he likes from school, plus the dog, who he considers a friend.
It prints as a tidy little half-sheet, so a stack of them sat in the middle of the kids’ table and they grabbed one whenever they thought of someone new to be thankful for.
Nitpick: the template is sized as a notepad, so on a full sheet of paper there is empty margin around it. I printed two to a page to stop wasting paper, which also gave each kid a spare.
A Thankful Note the Kids Can Give a Teacher
A preppy one thankful teacher design, bright and a little stripey. This one is less for the kids’ table and more for what the kids hand off, a small thank-you the child can sign and give a teacher before the break.
I printed it, my nephew wrote his name in his enormous handwriting, and we tucked it in his backpack. The teacher actually emailed about it, which never happens.
Nitpick: the lettering is the whole design, so there is no blank space for a kid to add a drawing. I printed it small and glued it to the top of a bigger sheet so he had room to scribble underneath.
A Simpler Thankful Teacher Print
A cleaner take on the same idea, one thankful teacher in a plainer style. Where the preppy version is loud, this one is calm, and I reach for it when the kid wants to add their own color around the words.
My nephew colored the letters in with the dog’s name hidden in one of them, which the teacher had to be told about because he could not stand the suspense.
Nitpick: it prints in a single flat color scheme, so on a low inkjet it can look faint. I printed it on a slightly heavier sheet and the color sat better than it did on thin copy paper.
A Give Thanks Page With Pumpkins to Color
Fall pumpkins with a give thanks message. This one doubles as a coloring page and a gratitude prompt, which is efficient for a kid who wants to draw more than write.
My nephew colored the pumpkins, then dictated three things he was thankful for while I wrote them on the side since his hand got tired. Snacks made the list. The pumpkins came out a deep ochre.
Nitpick: the message sits in a fixed font, so there is no blank line to add your own thankful items, you color around it rather than fill it in. For a write-it-yourself page, pair it with one of the notepad templates.
Affirmation Cards for the Older Kids’ Tree
Kid-focused affirmation typography, short positive lines. I printed these on small squares and the older cousins hung them on the thankful tree alongside the things they wrote themselves, a mix of given words and their own.
The phrasing is gentle and not too cutesy, which is the line a nine-year-old will roll their eyes at if you cross it. These stayed on the right side of it.
Nitpick: it is a typography PNG, so the words are the art and you cannot edit them. If you want a specific affirmation, you are picking from what is in the set rather than writing your own.
A Positivity Notepad for the Good-Day List
A positivity-themed notepad template that I turned into a one good thing today list, a lighter cousin of the thankful page for the days a kid is not feeling the formal gratitude exercise.
My nephew used one to write that the dog did a trick. That was the whole entry. It still counts, and the low bar is exactly why he keeps doing it.
Nitpick: same notepad sizing as the others, so you get margin around it on a full sheet. I keep these printed two-up in a drawer so there is always one ready when a kid wants it.
The Core Gratitude Notepad
This is the straightforward gratitude notepad, the one I print the most of. Lined, simple, room to list what you are thankful for, and it is the page my nephew filled with snacks and the dog.
I keep a stack at the kids’ table all November and a kid can grab one any time the mood strikes, not just on the day. That is the trick to getting them to actually do it more than once.
Nitpick: I printed the first batch on cardstock so thick the crayon skidded right across it and would not grab. I dropped down to a medium-weight paper and the crayon caught fine. Heavy is not always better.
An Anniversary Notepad for the Thankful-For-Family Angle
This one is built as an anniversary notepad, but I bent it into the thankful for my family page. The header changes the framing, and a kid writing down the people they love does not care what the template was originally called.
My nephew listed his parents, his cousins, and the dog, who by now you understand is family. The dog outranked at least one human relative on the list.
Nitpick: because it is themed for an anniversary, the design has a coupley feel in the border that does not quite match a kids’ gratitude project. I trimmed the border off and just used the lined center, which fixed it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does gratitude journaling help with stress?
For a kid, writing down a few good things gives the day a small soft landing, even if the list is just snacks and the dog. It slows them down for five minutes and points their attention at what went right instead of what did not.
I am not a therapist, I am the aunt with the crayon bowl. What I have seen is that my nephew is calmer at the table when he has a page to fill than when he is just waiting for food.
How to use a gratitude journal?
Keep it low-stakes and low-effort. I leave a stack of the list pages at the kids’ table all month and a kid grabs one whenever they think of something, not on a schedule. One line counts. The dog did a trick counts.
For a tree, the kids write one thankful thing per leaf and hang it. For the older kids, the affirmation cards mix given words with their own. The goal is that they come back to it, not that they fill a page.
Can I print these at home?
Yes, all of these print on a home printer. The list and notepad pages are happiest on a medium-weight paper. I learned the hard way that cardstock too thick makes crayon skid right off, so do not reach for the heaviest sheet in the drawer.
If your inkjet is low, the flatter single-color designs go faint first, so a slightly heavier sheet helps the color sit better.
What file formats do these designs come in?
Most arrive as PDF or PNG. The planner bundle and the notepad templates are set up to print straight away, which is what you want for a kids’ table. The affirmation, teacher, and bench designs are PNG, so you can drop them into a document, size them, and print from there.
Nothing here needs a cutting machine, so you are printing and coloring rather than fiddling with cut files.
Before You Print
The point of a kids’ thankful printable is not a neat list, it is my nephew drawing the dog twice and ranking snacks above a relative. He taped his tree to the window and kept checking on it, which is more than I can say for most things I print.
Keep a stack at the table all month, skip the heavy cardstock so the crayon actually grabs, and let the list be as silly as it wants to be. The dog is family. He said so.
