Thankful Pumpkin

What you need for this craft is simple and easy:

  • a pumpkin (real or a plastic one will allow you to keep this for years to come).
  • Sharpie markers

The leaves are starting to fall off the trees, shelves in stores are filled with fall themed products and of course pumpkin spice everything is available everywhere.

Halloween may still look different this year, but how about combining the symbol of the season (the pumpkin) with a mindfulness lesson in having gratitude and being thankful.


If you use a real pumpkin, choose one that has a smooth service which will be easy to write on.

You can choose to do this as a family and all of the members add what they are grateful/thankful for on the same pumpkin or if each family member would like to work on their own you can buy smaller pumpkins for each member.

If you buy a plastic pumpkin this can be a keepsake that the family brings out each year and adds more gratitude items each time. You can separate the years by just starting a new row or putting the year at the start of the first row.

Start at the top of the pumpkin, and with the sharpie, write down what you are grateful/thankful for. Separate each thought with a comma, dash, or period. Continue along the circumference of the pumpkin going around and around.

If you start this craft early on in the month, by the time thanksgiving arrives, your pumpkin will be starting to fill up and then by the end of the month on Halloween, you and your family can say out loud all the amazing thoughts and feelings of gratitude you have thought about all month long.

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