Though the idea behind practicing gratitude and being appreciative may be simple and seem inherent, kids don’t often practice it on a day-to-day basis. One of the great things about camp is that gratitude is intrinsically woven into many of the activities kids partake in. Whether it comes inadvertently with simple activities as making friendship bracelets, to more intentionally with gratitude-building activities like the Web of Appreciation, camp provides an environment for kids to practice gratitude and gain a deeper appreciation for the relationships they build during this short but packed amount of time.
One of the various activities campers participate in with their groups to bring closure at the end of a session is a Web of Appreciation. In this activity, they have a ball of yarn that they pass on to another member of the group along with one thing they liked and appreciated about that friend. Each camper holds on to his or her end of the yarn, and at the end they are left with a web connecting each and every member of the group to each other—tangibly showing the connections and relationships they have built over the summer. Though this may seem like a camp-specific activity, it can be practiced at home as well. You don’t need a yarn ball or a complicated web, only the idea of going around and voicing gratitude amongst people important to you. Whether it be an average night at the dinner table or a Thanksgiving celebration, actively voicing gratitude and specific appreciation for each member of your family is one way of reflecting on your relationship with others, something professor of psychology Nancy Fagley found essential to building gratitude amongst adults and children alike.
Another more simple activity kids participate in at camp is making friendship bracelets. More often than not, kids make bracelets for others rather than just themselves; both for their favorite counselors and other campers they have made connections with. Though younger campers may simply view it as a fun camp activity, whether they are conscious of it or not they are showing an appreciation for the person they give their bracelet to, and in their own basic way strengthening a connection they have made at camp. Other activities that provided a similar incitement towards gratitude are friendship journals and clay beads. At the end of the summer, some counselors provided their group with journals in which each member wrote appreciative notes specific to each member on everyone’s journal. Other groups made clusters of color specific beads, and at the end they shared their beads so each group member had different colors each signifying a different member. These activities help kids reflect on their relationships with others and can be carried out well beyond camp, allowing kids to take home a sense of gratitude and deeper appreciation for their relationships at the end of the summer.
For more details on how to use fun camp activities to help teach gratitude at home, see our RI news blog.
