Looking for books on gratitude for your kids? Whether it’s to add to your library as we head into the Thanksgiving season or for general enjoyment all year round, the following books on gratitude are all Montessori-aligned.

Montessori Books on Gratitude

Montessori education is about allowing your children to learn and explore at their own pace, but you have a part to play as well as the parent/guide. You demonstrate poise, desire for learning, social skills, emotional control, and gratitude to name a few. When your children think of an example to deal with a situation, you want them to think of you, your actions and reactions, and make a great choice based on your wonderful examples.

You can reinforce concepts like gratitude, sharing, or conflict resolution with books that are age-appropriate. Today we’re going to talk about our favorite books on gratitude for Montessori children. Each of these books impart a wonderful lesson about being thankful for the things and people in our lives, and how to express that gratitude. Additionally, your children will learn how the expression of gratitude can make their lives in general happier and more pleasant.

Gratitude Books for Kids

From books to read with them to ones they can explore on their own, these are some of the best gratitude books for children available today. Whether you’re ramping up for the Thanksgiving season or you want to impart a sense of gratitude every day, you’ll find something perfect for your family.

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Where the other books on this list focus more on Thanksgiving as a concept, these books are perfect for focusing on the idea of being thankful all the time. They will help your children understand how other people help them every day, and how to frame their experience through a lens of being grateful for that help.

Thanks/Gracias

Thanks/Gracias is a bilingual book that helps children reflect on their day to find things to be thankful for, and we love it! It’s a really beautiful part of a bedtime routine to help them look at their experiences and how fortunate they are. If you don’t already have a gratitude routine in your kids’ lives, this book can be the start of one.

Thank you, Omu!

Omu is a really good cook and everyone in the neighborhood loves her stew, so she provides some to everyone. Unfortunately, Omu gives it all away and realizes that she doesn’t have any for herself, but the community brings food to share as a way of saying thanks. Through the concepts of gratitude and sharing, this book imparts the importance of community and making sure everyone is cared for in a beautiful way. 

Gratitude is My Superpower!

Betsy finds a magic rock that allows her to feel gratitude for everything her parents and friends do for her and all the blessings she has in her life. One day she forgets her rock, however, but still feels thankful and realizes that her ability to be grateful is within her. This book is a great way to teach children that they can choose how they react to the great things in their lives.

A Sense of Gratitude: Exploring the Five Senses

Based in Islamic cultural practices, A Sense of Gratitude helps frame thankfulness through sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. When there are so many things to experience, it can be hard to focus on being grateful for it all, but this book will help your children focus on gratitude. If you want a different perspective on being thankful for everything in your life, this book is a unique viewpoint.

The Grumbles: A Story About Gratitude

The Grumble family has a lot of stuff that they’re not happy about, from chores to bills and general inconveniences. Even though they try not to focus on them, it’s hard for the Grumbles to not complain about the frustrations around them. When Grandma Grateful visits, however, she helps change their worldview and be grateful for all the good stuff around them.

This is a great book for kids who have an outlook that is less gratitude focused to help them see the good rather than the bad.

I Am Grateful

 

I Am Grateful helps gently reorganize children’s viewpoint towards a growth mindset. This book helps kids learn that by being grateful and positive, they draw even more positivity into their lives. It also teaches the importance of saying “thank you” and how it affects other people in a positive way.

Grow Grateful

 

Based on the “theory of mind”, which helps children take the perspective of other people, Grow Grateful is a wonderful way to help develop empathy. By understanding that other people have their own wants, needs, and feelings, children learn how impactful their own actions can be. This understanding makes being thankful that much more important to a growing mind, who can see how other people might view their interactions.

Thanksgiving books for kids

Thanksgiving is of course a time when most people are exceptionally focused on gratitude. While Thanksgiving is a holiday with a lot of cultural focus on food, it’s the thanks part that’s incredibly important, especially for younger children. These two books are worth a mention, as they’re a fun way to celebrate the season and what it means to truly be thankful.

What is Thanksgiving?

 

This book is very straightforwardly a story about Thanksgiving and being thankful to God and everyone around us for the blessings we have. This is a perfect introduction to the concepts of Thanksgiving and gratitude for kids 2-5. Between the cute story and beautiful illustrations, your children will ask you to read this for this holiday season again and again.

Our Table

 

Though the table used to be a place of sharing and connecting, the family has drifted apart and the table, as a result, grows smaller and smaller. When the family finally comes together around the table, it regains its former glory as they recount all that they’re thankful for throughout their lives, past and present. From rich storytelling and gorgeous art, Our Table provides a gratitude lesson around the table, giving thanks for everything the family has.

Books for Kids on Giving Thanks

Gratitude is a huge component of childhood development. Children that learn the importance of thanksgiving as well as the Thanksgiving grow up to be thoughtful, kind adults. When you teach your children that their lives are full of people and things for which to be grateful, they learn to actively appreciate their surroundings that much more.

While you actively demonstrate this behavior, these books will help you reinforce those lessons at bedtime, during the day, and during the Thanksgiving season. Your children will develop a healthy sense of gratitude and a growth mindset that serves them for the rest of their lives.