This is really similar to the Thanks jar but without the risk of broken glass, either in the session or at home. It works at any time of year, but I like to do it at the start of the year. We did it at our Messy Church, using one box for thank you words and pictures during our worship time together as well as making boxes to take home.
You can buy boxes from Staples and similar, or collect old tissue boxes and the like, carefully unglue them, fold them out the other way and re-glue them. Ta da! A beautiful plain box for decorating!
The Bible encourages us to always to thankful. This activity gives a simple way to do this.
Give each child a box and things with which they can decorate it. You just need to be able to get small piece of paper into and out of them. I used strips of wrapping paper glued on in in stripes, but you could use whatever the children will enjoy.
In advance cut up lots and lots of little pieces of paper. A guillotine would be handy for this! Punch each with a hole using a hole punch and thread onto a piece of string to attach to the box.
Write some instructions to glue onto the box, for example:
Thanks Box: Spotted something GOOD in your life? Something funny or clever or amazing? Draw it or write it down, put the paper in here and thank God for it.
As the children decorate their boxes, ask them to tell everyone about something good in their life. It could be something they’ve done this week which they enjoyed, someone they love, something they enjoying doing, or a simple experience they love. Say that these Thanks Boxes are for us to collect notes about good things in our lives. This will help us remember them and thank God for them. Encourage each child to draw or write one positive thing on one piece of paper and put it in their box before they go.
Depending on the age of the children, choose an appropriate length of time (weeks/months/a year) and encourage them to open their box and remind themselves of the good things in their life.
To make a classier version, use jars.