Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Thanksgiving Scattergories: Acknowledging the Little Things

In a previous post, "What Are You Thankful For?" an anonymous commenter left this fun idea:

"One game that I've played with Primay and Youth Groups is similar to a popular game.

Write every letter of the alphabet on the left hand side of a piece of paper (one piece of paper for wach person). Then set a time limit and have everyone write something they are grateful for that starts with that letter (A = atonement, apples, aunts, etc.).

The goal is to write something that no one else will write. Then when time is up, go around the room and start reading your list (if you have a big group, choose a letter out of a hat and just do those). You get points for each "Unique" answer. It's amazing what kind of answers you get."

What a great idea that would be fun with children, teenagers, and adults this week or even on Thanksgiving Day.  The thing I like about it most is that because you are trying to think of "unique" answers it will help those who are playing to recognize all of the little things that sometimes go unnoticed.

Just yesterday my son and I were throwing a ball back and forth sharing things that we are thankful for.  He said many different things like, my family, my cousins, garbage trucks, my toys.  You know the kinds of things that a 3 year old might say but then he said, "I'm thankful that my Mommy plays games with me." I just about melted my heart and I could tell that he had really thought about it.  Also among the mix I added my gratitude for diapers and he laughed and laughed. I am grateful for diapers.  And I am really grateful for laughter, especially the laughter of children. I think this game of Thanksgiving Scattergories could be a good addition to this special week of remembering all of the little things (and big) that we are so grateful for.

This video is a great reminder of all the wonderful and beautiful things that surround us that sometimes go unnoticed:



Even though I already made a similar list I thought I'd make a quick list from A-Z of things that I am grateful for (feel free to add a comment with your list):

A - Answers
B - Bandaids
C - Cheese
D - Dancing
E - Elevators
F - Fingers
G - Garages (Don't currently have one but will be grateful when we do.)
H - Handsome Husband
I - Insects
J - Joy
K - Kisses
L - Lunch
M - Matches
N - Noise
O - Onions
P - Paper
Q - Quiet
R - Red
S - Sunny Days
T - Tubs
U - Upper Teeth
V - Vegetables
W - Walks
X - Xylophones
Y - Youth
Z - Zippers'

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!!

2 comments:

Ashlee said...

I like this! I will bring the idea to our Thanksgiving and see if my family will participate. Thanks for the idea!

Matt said...

Today I was thinking about Thanksgiving and had the BRAINSTOrM that a Thanksgiving Scattergories game would be so great for tomorrow. I googled it and your site came up. Thanks for having a concrete idea to help me! :) Also, as a side note, my sis-in-law Lori told me she knows you. It's a small world.
Thank you!