10 Printable Gratitude Worksheets and Handouts for Kids
|
Key Takeaways:
|
Gratitude is more than just saying "thank you". It's a powerful practice that shapes how children view the world and themselves. Teaching kids to recognize and appreciate the good things in their lives helps build emotional resilience, promotes empathy, and creates a foundation for lasting happiness.
By introducing gratitude worksheets early, parents and educators give children valuable tools to overcome challenges with optimism and develop a positive mindset that serves them throughout their lives.
10 Printable Gratitude Worksheets for Kids
These carefully designed worksheets provide engaging, age-appropriate ways for children to explore and express gratitude. Each worksheet offers a unique approach to help kids develop this important life skill.
1. My Gratitude Exercises
This worksheet helps kids and teens focus on what they can be thankful for through a series of reflective prompts.
Children can write about fun moments from their day, list down people they’re thankful for, and consider what they've learned from challenging experiences.
This is an excellent starter worksheet because it breaks down gratitude into manageable, specific categories rather than asking the broad question "what are you grateful for?". By prompting kids to think about their day, people in their life, their strengths, and lessons learned, it guides them through different dimensions of gratitude.
2. My Gratitude Walk
My Gratitude Walk guides children to take a short walk daily while actively looking for things to appreciate. Kids are instructed to practice deep breathing and notice their surroundings with intention. After the walk, they record what they're thankful for based on what they saw, heard, smelled, or experienced during their mindful walking practice.
This worksheet is recommended for children who learn better through movement. It encourages gratitude practice while teaching them about mindfulness and being present in the moment. If your child is one who bounces off the walls or gets restless during traditional activities, this gives them a productive outlet for that energy while building the gratitude habit.
3. All About Gratitude
This educational poster-style handout is a good introduction to the gratitude practice. It teaches children what gratitude actually means. It explains the benefits in terms that kids understand, and includes various gratitude exercises they can try.
Many children don't fully understand what gratitude means or why it matters. This handout addresses that gap before asking your child to do anything. Knowing the concrete benefits gives your child genuine reasons to engage in the habit.
4. Managing Stress With Gratitude
This handout explores the research-backed connection between gratitude and stress management, then provides tips to promote gratitude practice. It helps your child understand how focusing on the positive can reduce stress and anxiety.
If your child is dealing with stress, anxiety, or feeling overwhelmed, this worksheet gives them a practical coping tool. What makes it particularly effective is that it offers 10 different strategies, which acknowledge that not every approach works for every child. Your child can experiment and discover what helps them most.
5. Gratitude Practice
This handout guides your child through different steps for establishing their personal daily gratitude routine from a resilience-building perspective. It reminds kids that during challenging days, something worthy of appreciation exists.
This worksheet teaches your child how to create an enduring habit. The reminder about discovering gratitude during difficult times teaches realistic positivity. Gratitude doesn't mean ignoring life's hardships, it means finding small lights even when things feel dark.
6. Focusing on the Positive
Focusing on the Positive worksheet encourages your child to think about what makes them happy and write encouraging phrases they can use when they’re feeling stressed or discouraged. These activities gently shift their attention from what’s going wrong to what’s going right.
What makes this worksheet especially effective is how it combines gratitude with self-esteem and resilience. When children identify what they’re thankful for and what they appreciate about themselves, it reinforces positive thinking. Over time, this helps them manage frustration and disappointment more easily.
7. Happiness Mindsets
This handout presents thinking patterns that promote happiness: an Optimistic Mindset, a Grateful Mindset, and a Growth Mindset.
The highlight of this worksheet is its comprehensive approach to happiness. By presenting optimism and growth mindsets alongside gratitude, it helps your child recognize how these perspectives work synergistically. This wider view prevents gratitude from feeling like an isolated task and instead frames it as part of an overall life approach.
8. Self-Esteem Daily Check-In
This daily worksheet includes writing prompts that allow your child to think of their experiences for the day, such as a good thing that happened, what made them proud of themselves, or something that they are grateful for.
This worksheet weaves gratitude into self-worth development. Because it is designed for daily check-ins, it encourages your child to pause each day and reflect. This builds self‐awareness and reinforces the habit of noticing and valuing positive things.
9. Gratitude Worksheets (Bundle)
This extensive 6-page collection features multiple activities, from understanding gratitude to a gratitude calendar and a gratitude letter. It offers variety and developmental progression, from understanding gratitude in practice to active daily engagement to outward expression toward others.
Because there are six pages with different formats, it keeps things engaging and prevents the activity from feeling repetitive.
10. Positive Attitude Worksheets (3 Pages)
This 3-page collection includes three worksheets, including Developing a Positive Attitude, Identifying Positive Attitude Behaviors, and Focus on the Positive Journal.
This collection beautifully bridges gratitude practice with broader positive thinking skills. While gratitude focuses on appreciation, positive attitude work helps your child actively reshape their perspective when facing challenges. This is especially helpful for children who tend toward pessimism or who get stuck ruminating on what went wrong rather than noticing what went right.
Benefits of Gratitude Worksheets for Kids
Gratitude encourages mindfulness and reflection. When children pause to think about what they’re thankful for, they naturally reflect on their experiences and emotions. Over time, this habit teaches mindfulness by training kids to be present, appreciate what’s happening right now, and understand their feelings more clearly.
Research shows that gratitude plays a powerful role in maintaining optimism, even during difficult times. A study conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic found that individuals who practiced gratitude were more likely to think positively and recover emotionally after job loss [*]. Gratitude can encourage acceptance and hope, two skills that help children cope with disappointment or frustration in everyday life.
Another study revealed that gratitude predicts higher life satisfaction through improved mental well-being [*]. Regular gratitude practice can help reduce stress, increase happiness, and nurture a more optimistic outlook. For children, this means better emotional regulation, stronger self-esteem, and a lasting sense of contentment.
How to Use Gratitude Worksheets Effectively
Making gratitude practice a daily or weekly routine helps children internalize this positive habit until it becomes second nature.
Consider establishing a specific time for gratitude exercises, such as during morning breakfast, after school, or as a part of the bedtime routine.
The predictability of a regular schedule helps children remember to practice gratitude without constant reminders, and it signals that this is an important priority worth dedicating time to.
For younger children, starting with just a few minutes several times per week can be enough, while older kids might benefit from more extended daily sessions. The goal isn't to overwhelm children with another task but to create a sustainable, enjoyable practice they can maintain over time.
Pair worksheets with open discussions or journaling. Rather than having children complete worksheets in isolation, take time to talk about their responses, ask follow-up questions, and share your own grateful thoughts. These conversations deepen children's understanding and help them articulate why they're grateful, not just what they're grateful for.
The Bottom Line
Gratitude worksheets allow kids to develop one of life's most valuable skills. Whether used at home, in the classroom, or in therapeutic settings, these worksheets offer an accessible starting point for cultivating thankfulness in young people.
For more ideas on encouraging gratitude in children, explore these helpful resources on gratitude activities for kids and affirmations for gratitude that can complement worksheet practice.
Feel free to check out our Character Education worksheets for more character-building resources.
References:
- Syamsiyah, Nurul & Mangundjaya, Wustari. (2024). Does gratitude correlate with positive thinking?. Journal Scientia. 13. 149-157. 10.58471/scientia.v13i01.2179.
- Abhijeet Singh Chauhan, Garima Mathur, Chanda Gulati, Ankita Sharma, The relationship between gratitude and life satisfaction: The mediating effect of mental well-being, Social Sciences & Humanities Open, Volume 11, 2025, 101224, ISSN 2590-2911, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2024.101224.
No articles found...
Search Results
View All Results