Candy Gratitude Game

We’ve been working on gratitude lately in our house, and this candy gratitude game is one of our favorites.

This is a great thankfulness activity to play with the kids – especially when their friends are over! – to encourage them to think about all the good things in their lives, and to give thanks for them.

There are three versions of the candy gratitude game, and you can use whichever fits with the candy that you have in your cupboard.  (Really, you can play this game with any multi-colored candy that you have on hand.)

I like the M&M or Smarties gratitude game best because I’m a bit of a chocolate addict.  My kids, however, prefer Skittles.  But really, candy is candy when you’re that little, and they love all versions of this game.

M&M Gratitude Game

This is a great game to play with kids to encourage thankfulness for the things and people in their lives, as well as the good things about themselves.

All you need to play the M&M gratitude game is a bag of M&Ms and some kids (or some adults – this is a great game for adults too).

How to play the M&M gratitude game:

1. Pick a candy out of the bag (or bowl).
2. According to which colour you choose, name something you are thankful for.

Red: a person
Orange: a place
Green: a memory of experience
Blue: a skill or something about yourself
Yellow: a thing
Brown: something that starts with the 1st letter of your name

I really like the “something that starts with the 1st letter of your name” because it forces some creativity and out of the box thinking.  Especially for one of my kids.  His name starts with “Z”.  How many times can you be thankful for zebras?

Skittle Gratitude Game

The Skittles Gratitude Game is the same as the M&M version, only with different colours.

Again, all you need to play the Skittles gratitude game is a bag of Skittles and some kids (or some adults – still a great game for adults).

How to play the Skittles gratitude game:

1. Pick a candy out of the bag (or bowl).
2. According to which colour you choose, name something you are thankful for.

Red: a person
Orange: a place
Green: a memory of experience
Yellow: a thing
Purple: a skill or something about yourself

We lost the “something that starts with the 1st letter of your name” category in this version of the gratitude game, because Skittles come in fewer colours than do M&Ms.  This is a great game to play when you have a pack of Skittles on hand!

Smarties Gratitude Game

The Smarties Gratitude Game is the same as the other versions, only (again) with different colours.

All you need to play the Smarties gratitude game is a box of Smarties and some kids (or some adults – still a great game for adults).

How to play the Smarties gratitude game:

1. Pick a candy out of the box.
2. According to which colour you choose, name something you are thankful for.

Red: a person
Orange: a place
Green: a memory of experience
Yellow: a thing
Blue: something you’re good at
Pink: something you use every day
Purple: a hobby you have
Brown: something that starts with the 1st letter of your name

The Smarties version of this gratitude game gives you the most categories (because Smarties has the greatest variety of colours).

We are doing this version of the gratitude game for our children’s ministry program this summer.

Download the Skittles Gratitude Game.

Download the M&M Gratitude Game.

Download the Smarties Gratitude Game.