By Lori Lite
Thanksgiving arts and crafts create memories and relieve stress and worry at the same time. Thanksgiving is a wonderful excuse to sit around the table as a family and get creative. You will relax and your children will get a self-esteem boost. Keep it simple and keep it stress free.
How arts and crafts can reduce stress:
- The very act of picking out colors, cutting and pasting will distract you from your everyday worries, pressures, and challenges.
- Spending quality time with your children foster strong family connections. You and your children will feel more connected and loved. These feelings help to reduce stress and worry..
- When you are fully involved with a creative project (no matter how small), you can shut the brain chatter off and focus on the project at hand. This will help you to clear your head and allow you to face the week with a more relaxed attitude.
- Kids love arts and crafts and you can get a joy boost by engaging with your child. Tap into your child’s energy. Let your inner child come out and paly. Let the laughter flow. Laughter is a fun stress buster.
- Listen to relaxing music while you do your arts and crafts. Ask your children how the music makes them feel. Do they happy or calm?
- Incorporate a positive attitude into your arts and crafts. Make an affirmation turkey or a gratitude turkey. Write affirmations onto the feathers of your turkey or things you are grateful for.
- Make this an interactive centerpiece where you encourage your guests to write their own affirmation or something they are grateful for. Leave blank feathers out with a marker. Add the feathers to the Turkey or put them in the middle. – I used a pencil holder with plenty of room for feathers. Keurig coffee boxes, tissue boxes, and formula containers work as well.
Stress Free Kids founder Lori Lite is a freelance blogger, social media strategist, parenting expert, and successful entrepreneur. Her line of books and CDs are designed to help children, teens, and adults decrease stress, anxiety, and anger. Ms. Lite’s books, CDs, and lesson plans are considered a resource for parents, psychologists, therapists, child life specialists, teachers, doctors, and yoga instructors. Lori’s award winning books received national attention on Shark Tank and her sort after accessible tips have been featured in hundreds of publications to include: CNN Living, Real Simple Magazine, USA Today, Family Circle, Working Mother Magazine, and Web MD. For more information visit Stress Free Kids and for daily advice follow Lori on Twitter and Facebook.