​Visual Thanksgiving Feast

Take advantage of the Thanksgiving season this year by asking your students to participate in a visual Thanksgiving feast.

Ask them to take three photos of things they’re thankful for. These can be anything—people, food, gadgets, toys, clothes, whatever—anything they’re truly grateful to God for.

Have your students email or text the photos to you. Then use them to create a slideshow you can display on a TV or computer or with a projector. Consider recruiting a student or two to create the slideshow with appropriate music. Or go old school and find a way to print all of the images out and pin them up in your room to create a “collage of gratitude.”

During your group time, encourage your students to take note of all the different kinds of things we feel grateful to God for and remind them that thanksgiving is more than just a holiday; it’s something God commands His children to do to keep us focused on and trusting him. (See 1 Thessalonians 5:18.)

Ask them to think about how their view of life would be different if they did not see all these things as gifts from God. How would that distort their view of reality?

Bonus: This is also a great way to help your students get to know each other as they see what their friends truly value as God’s good gifts to them.