Most people want their kids to grow up to be thoughtful, considerate, grateful, and appreciative. Most people want their kids to be secure and self-confident, without being little narcissists. A great way to foster a healthy balance of both is to instill a tradition of conscious sharing of thankfulness. There's one problem -- most people do that once a year, before Thanksgiving dinner. Often, even then, it's done in a way that's not much more personal than the tradition of 'Saying Grace' before any meal. This creates a nice ritual, but not much of a habit that can be internalized.
Previously, I wrote of a very special Thanksgiving craft, which I feel would be a fun and impacting esteem-building for anyone, but would be of particular value to special-needs children. What I propose to you now is that you can leave the turkey in Thanksgiving, as it were, but tickle the whole year with its feathers. That is, you can take the same project concept, but give it the form of a mural using flowers for a Spring garden, seashells for a Summer beach, piling Autumn leaves, or falling Winter snowflakes. A large window invites making a "fish tank" version. Perhaps a child restricted to their bed would appreciate a ceiling of affirmative stars. Or maybe some memorable celebration could be added to a birthday party by fitting the project into the child's theme of choice.
The meat of the issue is creating an opportunity for conscious focus on what everyone has to be grateful for in general, about each other, and about themselves. The form it takes, well, that's just your choice of stuffing on the side.
With many stores setting up for "Back to School" sales, consider budgeting to stock up on enough construction paper -- one of the more expensive craft supply basics for little ones -- to get you through the year. If your eyes cross trying to find the best deal among sale fliers, there are always the stores that offer static value. Dollar Tree usually sells huge single-color sheets of poster paper for 50¢ apiece, which can be useful for larger parts of the pictures and backgrounds for these murals as specific ones come up, but in general it's best to start with multi-color bulk packs of standard-sized construction paper on hand. You can buy a 36-sheet pad there for a dollar, which gives you 16 more sheets for $6 spent there than you'd get spending $6 for a regularly-priced, 200-sheet pad at Staples®. $48 seems like a lot, but at a Dollar Tree it could buy you an entire case of forty-eight 12"x9", 36-sheet, assorted-color pads. That's 1728 sheets for $48, or about 3¢ a sheet. Not bad, and I've rarely met the child, let alone room full of them, that couldn't go through that.
We like this one when we're in the area, because Gannon's, a homemade ice cream place, is right across the street:
Seneca Turnpike - Store #2004
416 W. Seneca Turnpike
Syracuse, NY 13207
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