Group activities are a part of every individual’s life, whether he or she likes it or not. From playing games in a team to writing a group report; from presenting a group presentation to working on a project as a group; you will always be a part of a team directly or indirectly.
It is essential that you trust your teammates, support them, encourage them, and, most importantly, grow gratitude towards them, and towards life. That’s why here are 25 group activities for gratitude development that may be effective for you!
Also, make sure to check out my post on 18 Group Activities For Students That Are Most Interactive In 2024.
What Triggers Gratitude?
Gratitude means grace, graciousness, or gratefulness. Sometimes, gratitude involves all of these meanings. Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what a person has in life, whether tangible or intangible.
Developing gratitude is not only beneficial for an individual, but also for the people around them. It improves energy and health because you no longer worry about what could have been or what would be happening in the future.
You are more focused on the present. Gratitude will make you happier and more optimistic because you will no longer be depressed thinking about all the negatives of your life.
It will make you more forgiving and generous since you will realize that every person is going through the same struggles as you are, or maybe even harder ones. You will no longer hold grudges and it will help you move on in life leaving behind all your worries and regrets.
25 Group Activities For Gratitude Development
Expressing gratitude is extremely essential for everybody, be it children, teenagers, or adults This emotion is strongly associated with greater happiness. It inflicts more positive feelings and helps people relish good experiences.
There are a number of ways that you can try out to induce gratitude in yourself. One way is to work with others as a team in order to influence each other to acknowledge the emotions of gratitude.
Below, we discuss 25 activities that you can do as a group in order to develop gratitude:
1. Gratitude Worksheet
Have each member of the group complete a worksheet where he or she answers a list of queries about things for which they are grateful. They can include lists of some things or people for whom they are grateful.
2. Thank you Notes
‘Thank you notes’ is a great expression of gratitude. The word ‘Thank you’ is more powerful than you think it is. It might mean a great deal to people around you. Make it a tradition or a weekly activity where you exchange thank you notes from each other.
3. Lunch Treats
Treats are a fun thing nowadays. We treat people on our birthdays or to celebrate an accomplishment. Why not treat each other to convey our gratitude to them? Take turns weekly to treat the people dear to you so that they know how much they are worth to you.
4. Write a Letter
Make each person in the group write a letter to somebody who has had a positive impact on his or her life, but he or she failed to acknowledge their help. It might be a teacher or mentor, parents or grandparents.
5. Put up a Thank you Tree
This is where each member writes one thing they are grateful for on a piece of paper shaped like leaves and sticks it to the branches of an artificial tree.
6. Gratitude Dinners
Have dinner with your group and each person toast something that they are thankful for.
7. Gratitude Wall
Have each member of your group write something they are grateful for and stick the notes on a wall.
8. Gratitude Hot Seal
Make each of your members sit in a chair and the others will tell that person at least one reason why they are thankful to them or why they appreciate them.
9. Gratitude Stone
Group members will write what they are grateful for on different colored stones. There can be a stone-saving zone where people can keep their gratitude stones.
10. Milestone Celebrations
Make sure you celebrate the milestones of each group member. This will show them that they really mean something special to the group. Milestones may include birthdays, anniversaries, promotions, etc.
11. Gratitude Journal
Each groupmate can keep a journal where they express all the things that they are thankful for about each other, or about life.
12. Community Volunteering Activities
As a group, we can do some voluntary activities, and eventually we will develop gratitude in ourselves. That’s because as we live in a society, we have some responsibility to the community.
13. Charity and Donations
Try to help the needy as a group. This will give you the utmost satisfaction and also help you realize how lucky you are in so many ways.
14. Gratitude Jar
Take a jar and decorate it nicely. Use small colorful papers to write down what and who you are grateful for. Put each member’s notes in the jar. Make it a weekly or daily tradition. This will help you appreciate your life every day.
15. Gratitude Box
Write a message of gratitude for your loved one and collect all the messages from other group members. Put the messages in the box and you can gift this box to the person you are thankful for.
16. Gratitude Meditation
Meditation is a profound technique for mental well-being. A gratitude meditation is a powerful combination of peace and thankfulness. Sit with your group and go through this compelling experience of emotional tranquility.
17. Picture Collage
This is much similar to the gratitude journal, except, here you take pictures of all the things you are grateful for. This gives you the opportunity to visualize your gratitude.
18. Secret Santa
Secret Santa does not have to be just a Christmas activity. You can make it a monthly or even a weekly tradition to give a person in your group to express your gratitude towards them. The gifts do not have to be especially expensive, even a handmade prop or a flower would do.
19. Social Media Gratitude
You can construct a social media group where you post things that you are thankful for every day. This will help you appreciate life and also influence others to do the same.
20. Passing the Pillow
You can play the pillow game and the person with the pillow at hand will tell one thing they are grateful for in life.
21. Plant a Tree
Have every groupmate plant a tree weekly for one thing they are thankful for. This will also help increase greenery. This way, you can benefit yourself and contribute to society.
22. Gratitude Prompts
These are like fill-in-the-blanks. There are questions like
- What are you grateful for?
- The three things you are grateful for touching:
- The five people you are thankful for having in your life:
Make your group each fill out these forms. This will help remind each of you that life always has something great to offer you.
23. Gratitude Graffiti
Creating a gratitude graffiti wall is a great way to display gratitude publicly. Choose a wall and shower your creativity to show gratitude for the gift of life, the gift of health, and the gift of others in your lives!
24. Writing Sessions
Have your group participate in a monthly writing session where each member writes a short story about gratitude.
25. Gratitude Videos
Film yourself narrating one thing you are grateful for each week. Merge all the videos of the groupmates and make a short film to be watched together by the group.
How Do You Deepen Gratitude Practice?
People are social animals. They need to be. Because in this world, you need to work with people, live with people, succeed with people, or fail with people. Nothing comes to you alone.
In this era of ‘self-pity’, gratitude is a difficult emotion to explore. In the events of our life struggles, we forget how lucky we are in several ways. So, how can human beings trigger gratitude in themselves?
The very first step is to develop empathy. Human emotions are intertwined. Unless you feel others’ pain, you cannot realize how lucky you are. Therefore, look around you.
See how people are living. How much pain each and every person is enduring. Realize that life is not difficult just for you. Try to be thankful for people who stick with you, and help you through your difficult days.
Try to be grateful for every person who comes into your life and everything that happens in your life because everything happens for a purpose- either it is a blessing or a lesson.
How Can You Benefit From Group Activities For Gratitude Development?
You can only benefit from gratitude practices if you feel the things you are doing. If you are only doing these for peer pressure and look at them as tasks, these are not going to help you. Mean it when you say thank you to someone.
Feel the emotions when you help someone and see respect and gratitude in their eyes for you. Realize how amazing and spiritually moving it feels to be helpful to people.
Gratitude is really important to stay grounded and stay happy. Without gratitude, you will either become desolate or arrogant. To be able to survive in society, you need to make sure you realize the importance of each and everything you have.
Verdict
We have discussed how important thankfulness and gratitude are to both our mental health and physical health. Gratitude makes us calm and understanding. It pulls us out of depression and solitude.
Practicing gratitude in a group is something you need not just to succeed in life but also to simply survive. The aim of this article is to help you realize the importance of group activity in gratitude development.
In this busy life, it is necessary to remind ourselves to take out some time for ourselves and the people around us. Practicing gratitude in groups will help us overcome our worries and create a strong bonding with each other.
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