Printable gratitude journal prompts can help children and adults cultivate the habit of noticing the blessings in life, as well as acceptance and gratitude for what is, allowing them to feel greater joy and happiness.
If gratitude is the cure, this printable list of gratitude journal prompts can help remind us of everything we have to be grateful for, allowing us to experience greater joy, happiness, and abundance every day. Use this list of printable gratitude journal prompt ideas to help children from preschoolers to teens learn how to practice gratitude for life!
Children don’t need to read or write to use the gratitude prompts on this list. All you need to do is ask them! That’s why this printable list of gratitude prompts also makes excellent dinner conversation starters, especially at a fall harvest feast or the Thanksgiving Dinner Table.
First published on October 7, 2019, the gratitude journal prompts printable and this informative guide on how to use them have been updated to enhance their content. Pair this self-care tool with the I Am Grateful Printable or these printable Thanksgiving placemats for even more fun!
What is Gratitude?
Gratitude brings abundance. To feel grateful, we must open ourselves to the wealth of experience occurring all around us. It is about noticing and expressing appreciation for all the good things in life that bring you joy and sharing those feelings of thankfulness with everyone you meet.
In other words, being grateful is about focusing on the blessings in life, rather than dwelling on the negative aspects, social media, or what one does not have. It is an acknowledgment of the kindness, generosity, or positive aspects of people, situations, or events.
Feeling grateful can have a positive impact on various psychological and social benefits, including improved mood, increased overall well-being, enhanced relationships, and even physical health benefits. The body of research proving the numerous benefits of gratitude continues to accumulate.
Practicing gratitude is associated with increased happiness, well-being, and overall life satisfaction. When we focus more on the positive aspects of life and what brings us joy, we can find greater satisfaction in our lives.
Gratitude is not just a fleeting feeling but can also be cultivated as a consistent mindset or way of approaching life. Expressing gratitude can be done through words, actions, or even simply through the thoughts and feelings one experiences internally.
Practicing gratitude can take many forms, such as keeping a gratitude journal where you regularly write down things you’re thankful for, expressing appreciation to others, or taking time to reflect on the positive aspects of your life. Use the gratitude journal prompts provided in this post to help you get started!
Related: Thanksgiving Gratitude Activities and Crafts
30 Printable Gratitude Prompts:
Starting a gratitude journal and using printable gratitude prompts can help children and adults establish the habit of paying attention to the good things in life. This list of 30 gratitude journal prompts can help children and adults discover simple things for which they are thankful and learn to express their gratitude.
Giving more of our attention to the people, events, places, and things we are thankful for can lead to the simple pleasure of feeling grateful and fulfilled. Use these printable gratitude journal prompts to help create gratitude journal entries, or pass them around the table on Thanksgiving to share your gratitude with family members.
Or, if you are a teacher looking for creative writing ideas, ask your students to choose one of the gratitude prompts on the list below to write a more in-depth essay about gratitude. I promise the whole class will feel better once they are finished. You might also enjoy this list of Gratitude activities and reading gratitude books. Either option is a fun and easy way to help children learn to express gratitude and thankfulness.
Related: Thanksgiving Traditions
Gratitude Prompts Printable:
Did you know that gratitude journaling is an easy way to create the habit of feeling grateful for life? Below is a list of writing prompts, questions, and thought-provoking ideas to prompt gratitude that you can use for gratitude journaling.
Download and print 30 gratitude journal prompts —> HERE.
- What was the best thing that happened today?
- Who makes you feel loved and why?
- Name something that makes you happy.
- What is your favorite outdoor activity?
- Name someone who helps you.
- What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend?
- Name something that you are grateful to have.
- What do you like to do with your family and why?
- Name someone nice to you.
- Where is your favorite place to go?
- Name someone who makes you smile.
- Who is your best friend and why?
- What do you like most about school or your job?
- What do you like most about your favorite subject?
- Who was the last person to give you something?
- What is the best gift that you have ever received?
- Name the best thing that has ever happened to you.
- What is your favorite game or sport, and why?
- Where is your favorite place to play or relax?
- What do you like most about your family?
- Name an animal that you feel thankful for.
- What is your favorite thing to do at home?
- Name a person that you love and why.
- What is your favorite hobby, and why?
- Who do you enjoy spending time with?
- Name someone whom you feel grateful for.
- What is your favorite food and why?
- Name an activity that makes your heart sing.
- Describe something that you like about yourself.
- Share something that makes you laugh.
How to Use Gratitude Journal Prompts:
Gratitude is a powerful and vital emotion that contributes to our overall happiness and helps build stronger connections with others. Reminding ourselves of everything we have to be grateful for is a powerful way to increase feelings of joy and abundance.
“Gratitude makes sense of your past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
~Melody Beattie
Use this handy list of gratitude prompts to help you find your way out of darkness and sorrow–and into the light of gratitude. If you’re unsure of how to begin, start with “I am thankful for” or “I am grateful for” and then answer one of the questions on the printable gratitude journal prompts. As you do so, use the gratitude tips in the next section to amplify feelings of thankfulness.
Related: Inspirational Words Printable
1. Print gratitude journal printable prompts:
- Click HERE to get access to and print the printable gratitude journal prompts.
2. Use gratitude prompts to help start entries in your gratitude journal:
- Printable gratitude journal prompts make creating meaningful journal entries easy.
- Anything you can write in or on, including lined paper, a sketchbook
, a Moleskine notebook, or a blank journal or diary, can be used for gratitude journaling.
- You can find other excellent gratitude journals for kids and adults at your favorite local bookstore.
- Printable gratitude journal pages, such as this “I Am Grateful For” printable worksheet or the “Thankful Turkey Placemat,” are other simple tools you can use for gratitude journal entries.
- Alternatively, you can journal somewhere outside where nature will wash it away. Writing with a stick in the mud or sand is a great way to do this.
- As a teenager, I recall spending countless evenings down by the seashore, writing everything I was grateful for with a twig in the sand because I didn’t want my brothers to read my diary.
- Use whatever works for you!
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or diary
Gratitude Journal Tips:
Use the gratitude journaling tips below to discover simple ways to amplify feelings of gratitude to help you derive the most benefit from the practice.
1. Feel it in your heart:
Creating meaningful entries in a gratitude journal is a much more effective way to produce lasting feelings of thankfulness. Cultivate the emotion of gratitude to make your daily entries more effective. In other words, instead of quickly jotting down a list of items, take the time to cultivate lasting feelings of gratitude in your heart.
When we feel gratitude in our hearts, we are more likely to extend our feelings of gratefulness to the world around us. Use the gratitude journal prompts provided here to make it easy to find something that you are grateful for to write about. Then increase feelings of gratitude by allowing it to resonate in your heart.
Taking the time to doodle or create drawings that go with your responses, or drawing instead of writing your responses, is another excellent way to feel gratitude in your heart as you make each gratitude journal entry. I like to call it gratitude art therapy! If you want to try this idea, THIS printable gratitude journal page makes drawing and doodling your gratitude journal entries fun and easy.
2. Make it personal:
Take the time to personalize each entry in your gratitude journal. Making your gratitude entries personal can deepen feelings of thankfulness and appreciation. Personalizing your gratitude entries can help you focus more on the blessings in your life, rather than what you don’t have. Taking the time to reflect specifically on what you are thankful for in life can boost happiness and improve your overall well-being.
Enjoy personalizing your gratitude journal with markers or gel pen
doodles, gratitude stickers
, and any other items that bring you joy! Create art, doodle, or draw anything or anyone you are thankful for in life. Once again, the “I Am Grateful: Gratitude Journal Printable” makes doodling or drawing your responses easy!
3. Focus on people and events more than things:
When practicing and expressing gratitude, turning the spotlight toward people and events instead of material possessions is like choosing the deluxe chocolate cake over a tiny cookie crumb. Meaningful events and the people in our lives usually bring us more joy than the things we have. So, focusing on people and positive events can help create stronger feelings of thankfulness and gratitude.
While material things can bring fleeting happiness, connecting with the people who bring joy to your heart and cherishing the memories of unforgettable events creates a more profound and lasting sense of gratitude.
Moments like that time your best friend busted out their dance moves at a wedding or the heart-to-heart talk with your sibling that left you laughing until your sides hurt. When you focus on these moments, you’re not just enjoying a tiny little slice of joy but baking a whole gratitude cake of meaningful experiences.
Related: The Power of Rhythms and Routines
4. Take a moment to think of your life without them:
Increase gratitude by thinking of what your life would be like without them. In other words, consider the absence of the people, places, things, and events that you are most thankful for as a way to increase your feelings of gratitude toward them. Reflecting on what life would be like in their absence helps the heart grow fonder and increases feelings of gratitude toward them.
Related: Printable Thankful Tree with Gratitude Leaves
5. Revisit feelings of gratitude during waking hours:
Remind yourself of what you are grateful for throughout the day, especially as you experience them firsthand or immediately afterward. This will help you cultivate the habit of grateful thinking in your daily life and assist you in becoming habitually thankful.
Gratitude isn’t just a one-time magic trick. It’s more like an excellent playlist that you keep on repeat. The more you press the gratitude button throughout the day, the more you remind yourself of all the small, yet extraordinary things that often go unnoticed. Your brain begins to notice these good moments like a detective on the trail of happiness.
When you cultivate gratitude as a mindset and approach to life, it’s like sending tiny sparks of happiness to your brain. Whenever you pause and remember things you’re grateful for, such as a delicious cup of coffee, a funny moment with friends, or a text from that special someone, these sparks help keep your mood sunny and your stress levels low.
It’s like putting on gratitude-tinted glasses and seeing the world in a colorful, heartwarming way. And hey, who wouldn’t want to wear those glasses all day?
Reminding yourself of the things you’re grateful for during your waking hours is like giving your brain a bouquet of happiness flowers. It keeps your mood sunny, helps you find the magic in everyday life, and spreads joy to everyone who crosses your path.
6. Create a new meaningful gratitude journal entry at least a few times per week (if not daily):
Believe it or not, daily gratitude journal entries can be less effective than writing what we are grateful for less often. Use a gratitude journal prompt to create a new ‘meaningful’ gratitude journal entry at least a few times per week to help increase feelings of gratefulness.
Why? Writing down what we are grateful for daily can desensitize us to the things that matter in our lives, especially when it’s a quick list made every day without any feeling. With that said, if you would like to write in a gratitude journal daily. Use the helpful tips above to cultivate the emotion of gratitude in your heart, making your daily entries more effective.
However, it is easier to develop the habit of gratitude when gratitude journal entries are a part of your daily routine. Write in your gratitude journal on a regular day, at a specific time, or in a designated place, such as while savoring your morning coffee or tea, during your lunch break at work, or as part of your bedtime routine.
7. Share your gratitude with others:
Sharing your gratitude with others attracts even more gratitude into your life. Gratitude isn’t a solo act. When you express your appreciation to others, whether it’s thanking your coworker for being an office superhero or telling your pizza delivery person they’re a real-life magician, you’re not just making them smile; you’re also making them feel valued and appreciated. Sharing gratitude creates a ripple of positivity that bounces back to you, turning your day into a joy-filled boomerang.
Related: How to Create an Action Plan to Accomplish Goals
Gratitude Journal Printable Prompts:
Printable gratitude journal prompts can help children and adults learn how to express gratitude for life. If you are interested in teaching kids about gratitude, take a look at this fun collection of gratitude activities.
It includes information, activities, games, crafts, and other valuable resources for parents and educators, making it easy to teach children the importance of gratitude and how to appreciate everything life has to offer. You might also enjoy this list of Thanksgiving gratitude activities for kids and families.
Learn more about Nell Regan Kartychok, author of these gratitude journal prompts HERE, and Rhythms of Play HERE!
Hello,
I’ve been trying to download the free-to-use PDF Gratitude prompts by clicking on the links given…and all that happens is I go in circles to another page that states again to “click here!” Could you please tell me how to download the PDF you mention is free to use? I would be full of gratitude if you would do so! 🙂
Hi Sheryl, I’m so sorry that you are having trouble downloading the gratitude journal prompts. I just tested it myself and it worked for me. Sometimes it does not work on mobile. Have you tried to download it on a desktop or laptop computer?