STEAM Activity: Gratitude Tree

Happy November STEM Sparkers! The weather in Phoenix is hard to beat; perfect for outdoor activity. So I thought no better time to take up the sport of rollerblading again. Last time I rollerbladed was 2004, so I knew to take it slow. So Thursday evening, I put on my brand new rollerblades and did a lap around the neighborhood. I did pretty well, and I knew I should just do another lap around the neighborhood. But my little daredevil voice said, cross the major street to the neighborhood lake; the lake is so pretty. You'll enjoy laps around the lap. Do it. So I headed across the major street. Then a car turned the corner, and I rushed myself across the major street. I did not stick the landing on the sidewalk.

I've spent the past few days nursing my right knee, but I'm glad to report it's just badly bruised and scrapped. I'm okay! I'm thankful it wasn't worse. Which brings me to the point of this post: Jack, Bobby and I are practicing gratitude this week, this month and hopefully the rest of our lives. My friend Stacey does an awesome gratitude practice every November, so Stacey, thank you for inspiring this post! Jack and I made some gratitude trees, and please join us in making one too.

You'll Need

Paper

Finger Paints

Container for Paints

Marker

Instructions

1) Print paper with a tree on it. I got my tree from Word's icons, but there's lots of rights free images on the Internet. Or if you want to draw you're own, I encourage you to.

2) Put paints in container and use fingers to paint leaves on your tree. Jack and I choose fall colors since it's November.

3) Let paint dry. It was about 2 hours for us.

4) Write what you are thankful for. Then place your gratitude tree somewhere to remind you of what you're thankful for.

On one of our gratitude trees, we wrote "friends". And dear STEM Spark readers that includes you! Thank you friends so much for your support throughout the years! Happy STEM-ing!🧡