One of the best ways to help kids develop a growth mindset is to encourage them to practice gratitude. If you’re looking for the best growth mindset and gratitude journals for kids, look no further!
Below you will find a list of the top journals for kids that will help your child develop a growth mindset and be grateful for all the good in their lives.
Find the perfect kids journal for your child in our list below!
The Best Growth Mindset & Gratitude Journals For Kids
Using a goal-setting planner or gratitude journal is effective for adults and children alike in developing gratitude and fostering a growth mindset.
Yet with so many brilliant options available, finding the right journal for your child can be an overwhelming task.
This list will help you choose a journal that is perfect for your child, by sharing the features and benefits of some of the best gratitude and growth mindset journals currently on the market.
You might also like to pair their first gratitude journal with some of these beautiful picture books about gratitude for kids, to help them learn the basic concepts.
Make sure you check out the best planners for women so you can grab yourself the perfect growth tool for your own life too!
The Benefits of Journaling For Kids
There are many benefits of gratitude journaling for kids.
The process of journalling for kids has been proven to have a positive impact on their future mental health by teaching children how to deal with big feelings and improving communication skills.
Grateful kids are happy kids!
Here are some more of the benefits of journaling for kids:
- Learn to focus on the good things in their lives and be thankful for them
- Learn to express themselves creatively
- Build resilience through self-awareness
- Improve handwriting skills
- Grow in confidence as they explore what is important to them
- Develop skills in goal setting and persistence
- Create consistent habits through daily journalling
- Learn to reflect on and understand themselves better
- Have a better understanding of their emotions and how to manage them
Different Types of Journals For Kids
There are several different types of growth mindset and gratitude journals available, catering to the needs of a variety of children.
In many cases, most journals for kids incorporate elements of each of the following types of journals, bringing together an all-around growth, resilience and gratitude focus to help kids grow as individuals.
These combined journals for kids are the type we are focusing on for this list.
However, you can also find journals that focus on a single element, with the following types of journals being popular options for children:
- Gratitude Journals – These journals focus on daily gratitude, helping children to be thankful for the little things in their lives and to help them appreciate what they have. Gratitude journals can be as simple as a daily list of 3 things to be grateful for or those with more in-depth prompts.
- Goal-Setting Journals – These journals help children to set and achieve goals, fostering a growth mindset.
- Reflection Journals – Reflection journals tend to be more like a diary, with space to write without prompts and allowing kids to journal about anything they may have on their minds.
- Journals with prompts – Prompt journals provide suggestions for writing topics, as well as questions designed to help kids reflect on positive aspects in their lives. These can be particularly helpful for kids who struggle to know what to write.
A simple lined notepad can also be utilised as a journal, although having prompts is a more effective way of encouraging kids to open up and think beyond their day to day experiences.
If you do want to create your own version, these gratitude journal prompts for kids are perfect!
FEATURED RESOURCE
Gratitude Prompt Cards For Kids
Be sure to grab these Gratitude Prompts Cards to encourage kids to explore positive feelings and cultivate gratitude.
Conversation starters for families can be helpful to get kids talking. Try these conversation starters for kids, teens, and couples, conversation starters for family dinner & Would You Rather questions for kids to get everyone talking!
The Best Growth and Gratitude Journals For Kids
The gratitude journals on this list are designed to help kids focus on gratitude and the good in their lives.
They encourage children to be thankful for what they have and foster a growth mindset that develops resilience, happiness and confidence.
Some of these gratitude journals also incorporate goal setting elements, creative prompts and activities, which further help children to reflect on their goals while tracking progress towards achieving them.
So without further ado, here are some of the best gratitude journals for kids that will help children focus on a gratitude mindset:
Big Life Journal – Daily Edition
The Big Life Journal Daily Edition makes the process of building a journaling habit simple, even for younger kids.
Big Life Journal has journals for kids to suit different age groups and focuses.
The Daily Edition is mostly a kids’ gratitude journal that is perfect for kids aged between six and eleven years old. It encourages reflection, gratitude, kindness and self-love.
There is enough variety in the daily pages to keep it interesting with a variety of regular prompts, such as “One great thing that happened today” or “One thing I love about myself”, combined with a daily emotion tracker, and either checkbox prompts, writing or drawing prompts or resilience-building tips.
While it is a daily journal, it is undated, which means there is no big deal if your child skips a day or if they only want to journal sometimes, which a space for them to add the date at the top.
- HIGHLIGHTS: Gratitude focused with simple prompts that help build a daily gratitude journalling habit.
- BEST FOR: Ages 6 to 11 years
- WHERE TO BUY: Big Life Journal, ships to Australia, NZ, USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Hong Kong and Singapore. It is also available on Amazon.
Happy Confident Me Super Journal
The Happy Confident Me Super Journal is a hardback daily journal introducing 10 key life skills across 10 weeks, aimed to increase self-belief, build resilience and ease worries.
The journal has two activities each week to help kids learn and develop the life skills needed to become more confident, self-assured individuals.
With the hardcover format, this journal is one that kids can refer back to even after they have completed their 10 weeks of growth activities, which include skills such as positive thinking, self-awareness and daily journaling practices.
The pages are full of bright colours, vibrant illustrations and plenty of daily writing prompts and space for doodling too. There is a daily gratitude page for kids to fill in between doing the life skill activities.
HIGHLIGHTS: Life skill-focused teaching kids 10 key life skills not typically taught in school in a bright, hardcover journal that aims to build the connection between kids and parents.
BEST FOR: Ages 8 to 10 years
WHERE TO BUY: Happy Confident Me ships worldwide from the UK. Find them on Amazon.
Pair your Happy Confident Me journal with the Feelit Feelings card game, Happy Confident Me Conversations Cards or Happy Confident Me Affirmations Cards to take the skills off the page and build connections with the whole family.
The Grow Journal
The Grow Journal is designed to help children develop a gratitude mindset and build powerful skills that underpin a happy and fulfilling life.
The Grow Journal encourages your child to focus on what they are most grateful for and what is wonderful about them and their lives, fostering kindness, empathy and tolerance.
It also helps them recognise their various emotions and self-reflect, as a way to deal with big emotions.
The journal encourages connection within your family unit as well, with conversation starters throughout the book that can be explored off-page, giving you the chance to share alongside your child.
The 5-minute journal habit gives kids a break from screen time, focuses on mindfulness and helps them to find a moment of calm on busy days.
The pages follow similar formats, yet no two pages are exactly the same, each with different prompts, illustrations, colouring-in pages and space for expression. It also comes with a sticker sheet to decorate their journal.
The beauty of this journal is that it is perfect for younger kids who are just getting started with writing to have their own gratitude journal.
- HIGHLIGHTS: Gratitude focused with daily prompts, confidence building positive affirmations, emotion trackers and conversation starters to help kids connect with the rest of the family.
- BEST FOR: Ages 5 to 12 years
- WHERE TO BUY: The Grow Journal, ships worldwide from Australia.
The Grow Journal was the first gratitude journal my eldest daughter tried and she loves writing in her journal before bed as a daily practice to wind down before sleep and release some of her emotions. We also love that they plant a tree through One Tree Planted for every 2 journals purchased!
Happy Self Journal
The Happy Self Journal, the winner of the 20/21 Junior Designs Gold Award, is a daily journal to promote happiness, encourage an enquiring mind and develop positive habits through daily journal habits.
The HappySelf Junior journal is aimed at kids aged 6 to 12, based on scientifically proven methods to promote happiness, gratitude and nurturing enquiring minds in children.
The journal looks like sunshine with its beautiful yellow cover and is a small, compact A5 size perfect for kids to carry around.
There are daily pages to add the top 3 best things from the day as well as a daily emoji to rate their mood. There are also a variety of different questions and activities at the bottom of each daily page.
The journal is full of inspirational quotes and cute artwork with doodling pages and growth activities with plenty of space for writing.
The pages are un-dated so it is no bother if kids skip a day or 3. They can pick up where they left off.
HIGHLIGHTS: A scientifically-backed happiness journal for kids with daily journal pages and loads of activities to help them foster an enquiring, happy mind.
BEST FOR: Ages 6 to 12 years
WHERE TO BUY: The HappySelf Journal, ships globally from USA, UK & EU. It is also available on Amazon.
For teens, check out The HappyMe Journal suited to ages 12+. The journal has a focus on gratitude, reducing anxiety and fostering a growth mindset for teens. There is also a continuation journal for kids once they finish their first HappySelf journal.
Big Life Journal For Children – 2nd Edition
The Big Life Journal For Children – 2nd Edition, is a science-backed growth mindset journal for kids that incorporates the latest research in positive psychology, brain science, and youth development.
While the Big Life Journal Daily Edition (mentioned above) focuses mostly on gratitude, the Big Life Journal For Children helps your child to build a growth mindset and develop strong Social-Emotional Learning skills through inspiring stories, colourful illustrations and plenty of fun activities.
This journal is suited to kids ages 7 to 10, as it requires a lot more reading and self-exploration as compared to the daily gratitude practice many other journals offer.
Kids are encouraged to nominate a ‘Journal Buddy’, such as a parent or family member and nominate a time each week to sit down together and work through the journal.
Episodes of the Big Life Kids Podcast are also aligned with sections of the journal for a more expansive learning experience.
- HIGHLIGHTS: A science-backed growth mindset journal for kids to complete alongside a Journal Buddy (such as mum or dad) to build resilience, self-confidence and practice kindness.
- BEST FOR: Ages 7 to 10 years
- WHERE TO BUY: Big Life Journal, ships to Australia, NZ, USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Hong Kong and Singapore. It is also available on Amazon.
Listen to the Big Life Kids Podcast for an extra tool for supporting resilient kids with an attitude of gratitude.
The Everyday Resilience Journal
Aimed at helping tweens navigate the challenges of everyday life by equipping them with strategies for school, friendships, family and tough times.
The Everyday Resilience Journal is an accompaniment to the Everyday Resilience: Friendship Drama, Academic Pressure and the Self-Doubt of Growing Up book, both by Michelle Mitchell, as a way for both parents and kids to work together on building resilient children.
However, you do not need to have read the book to benefit from the journal.
The kids’ resilience journal explores 40 different strategies that help kids to manage the tough stuff that comes with school, making friends and conflicts, as well as encouraging their own personal growth and personal development.
While this journal is much more focused on resilience than gratitude, it still helps kids to develop the skills they need to get into the healthy habit of thankfulness and foster a positive attitude.
The journal has a workbook format that older kids can work through at their own pace, or you can work together with your young child to help them to learn life skills and build better relationships through the activities, stories and writing prompts.
This journal is especially beneficial for kids who are having a hard time fitting in or managing friendship conflict. This is the perfect way to build their personal resilience toolkit with skills that will last a lifetime!
- HIGHLIGHTS: Workbook format that helps school-aged children manage everyday challenges and learn strategies to become more resilient.
- BEST FOR: Ages 8 to 12 years
- WHERE TO BUY: Michelle Mitchell, ships worldwide from Australia.
Resilient Me Gratitude Journal For Kids
The Resilient Me Gratitude Journal is designed to help children learn how they can get the most out of practising gratitude.
It also has heaps of fun activities that will boost happiness, help them focus on positive things and stay calm when faced with challenges – all while building up your child’s resilience!
It also reminds them of the importance of both the big things and small things and their value! The habit of gratitude encourages kids to seek joy in the everyday!
The journal is suited to all kids of reading and writing ages. While the main focus is gratitude, with loads of daily gratitude journal pages, it also includes plenty of other activities scattered throughout.
Kids can choose to jump back and forth between the growth activities or do them as they reach the page.
The prompts are simple enough to suit younger children ready for their own journal, yet in-depth enough for older kids to explore their thoughts and selves more thoroughly.
- HIGHLIGHTS: Gratitude focused journal with resilience-building activities that are suited to younger and older kids.
- BEST FOR: Ages 5 to 12 years
- WHERE TO BUY: The Awesome Inc, ships worldwide from New Zealand. It is also available on Amazon.
We recommend the Resilient Kids Toolkit which includes a Resilient Me Journal, the Emotional Warriors memory card game and the Emotional Warriors feelings pad. These extra resources are especially wonderful for younger kids.
Happy Confident Me Daily Journal
A 10 week structured, daily 5-minute journaling practice to help younger kids reflect on the positivity of their day.
The Happy Confident Me Daily Journal is aimed at younger kids aged 6 to 8, compared to their Happy Confident Me Daily Super Journal, which is targeted at 8 to 10-year-olds.
This journal also brings a 10-week structured journal program for kids to complete with the support of parents, that helps them to build essential life skills that aren’t typically taught in the classroom.
The goal is to help them develop improved self-belief and confidence, seek positives in their daily lives and reduce their anxiety and worries.
This softcover journal is full of vibrant pages with simple prompts to get kids writing and engaging. It also helps them to understand their big feelings and develop skills to manage them.
HIGHLIGHTS: Daily gratitude and life skill-focused with colouring, engaging journal prompts and a structured 10-week format to explore the different skills.
BEST FOR: Ages 6 to 8 years
WHERE TO BUY: Happy Confident Me ships worldwide from the UK. Find them on Amazon.
Best Growth Journals For Tweens and Teens
For older children and teens, there are a growing number of journals available that focus specifically on growth mindset.
Navigating the preteen and teenage years bring many new challenges, emotions, hormones and experiences that can be a lot to work through for your child.
While not yet an adult, they are no longer a child either so their needs are quite unique.
While gratitude is an important focus, so too is exploring the self in greater depth and having a creative outlet to express big emotions.
Some excellent examples of journals designed for tweens and teens include:
Happy Confident Me Life Skills Journal
The perfect companion for tweens and teens, the Happy Confident Me Life Skills Journal includes 60 activities across 10 life skill areas to help grow emotional intelligence and resilience.
This softcover journal, developed with psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos is a bright and engaging activity journal to explore self-awareness, acceptance, problem-solving and lateral thinking.
The journal includes focus areas on mindfulness, kindness and empathy, how to manage their emotions and bounce back from mistakes and challenges and the power of positive thinking.
This journal does not include a daily gratitude practice and is instead more of a workbook for tweens and teens to help them navigate this new phase of their lives, and equip them with the skills they need to be confident, happy adults.
HIGHLIGHTS: Focus on 10 different life skills that help tweens and teens develop essential skills for navigating their new life phase in a bright, fun softcover journal format.
BEST FOR: Ages 10+
WHERE TO BUY: Happy Confident Me ships worldwide from the UK. Find them on Amazon.
Self-Discovery Journal For Young Women
This beautiful and bold journal includes inspiring writing prompts and colouring pages for teenage girls, targeting ages 13 to 16.
The Self-Discovery Journal takes teens on a journey to learn who they are, what is important to them and encourages them to focus on the positive. All of this is paired with gorgeous colouring pages, and fun list making sections and activities.
There are pages for positive self-talk, acts of kindness and positive affirmations.
There are also pages where teens can share their current loves, with everything from their favourite television shows or what they plan to watch, read or achieve this year.
HIGHLIGHTS: Beautiful colouring pages and activities that take teenage girls on a journey of self-discovery and mindfulness.
BEST FOR: Ages 13 to 16
WHERE TO BUY: You can find the Self Discovery Journal For Young Women on Amazon.
I gifted this journal to my teenage niece for Christmas and she spent half of Christmas day working through the activities and colouring in pages. She adored it so much that even though I am very much beyond my teenage years, I ended up getting myself one too and it really is a beautiful journal. Sometimes taking a break to do some mindful colouring-in is exactly what we need!
Big Life Journal Teen Edition
The Big Life Journal Teen Edition empowers teens and tweens to develop a growth mindset through positive psychology and the importance of self-talk and goal setting.
The journal encourages children ages 11+ to focus forward, planning for their future and how their skills in gratitude, resilience and positivity can help them achieve their goals and dreams.
Writing prompts and activities help them to discover themselves by learning about their personal interests and how to choose the right path for them.
It helps tweens and teens find their voice as they find their way through the new phase of their lives, utilising positive self-talk and identifying how they speak to themselves through their own inner voice.
This journal is the perfect next phase for kids who started with the Big Life Journal for kids and the daily edition or for older kids who are ready for their first journal.
The journal does not have daily entries, instead taking them through a series of activities to help them build their growth mindset.
HIGHLIGHTS: A science-backed growth mindset journal for tweens and teens to understand the power of their brain, positive self-talk and goal setting.
BEST FOR: Ages 11+ years
WHERE TO BUY: Big Life Journal, ships to Australia, NZ, USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Hong Kong and Singapore. You can also find them on Amazon.
Essential Journaling Accessories For Kids
While gratitude journals for kids are the main focus of this article, there are a few other accessories that can help make your child’s gratitude journaling experience even better.
Having fun accessories to use with these journals for kids can be a great way of encouraging reluctant writers to get started!
- Erasable Pens – A good quality pen makes all the difference when it comes to journalling and vibrant colours are a way to add extra personality to their writing. Erasable pens are my favourite planner accessory and are perfect for kids too, allowing your child to erase any errors they make along the way. My favourite erasable pens are Pilot Frixion pens.
- Stickers – Your child will love adding extra decoration to their journal with sticker sheets. Some journals for kids come with sticker sheets, but in case they don’t, you can find plenty of cute options they will love.
- Washi Tape – Washi tape is another way your child can add a touch of their personality and creativity to their journals with removable tape in every colour and pattern you can think of.
- Pencil Case – Have a cute pencil case your child can keep their accessories in for easy access and to make sure nothing gets lost.
- Planner Pouch – These storage pouches from Erin Condren are a great way to keep journals protected for kids who like to take their journal out and about with them. They also have room for accessories too, making it ideal for keeping everything together.
Tips For Creating A Daily Habit For Reluctant Journalers
Not all kids are excited by the idea of having a way to express gratitude and share their emotions. In fact, you might find a lot of kids struggle to build a habit of journaling.
Don’t give up! Any new habit takes time to develop and often requires a bit of trial and error before we find a way to make it work.
This is no different for our kids.
If you’re finding your child is reluctant to get started with gratitude journaling, or doesn’t seem to be enjoying it once they do, try some of these tips:
- Find the right time – Find a time that works for your child to gratitude journalling a part of their daily routine. For some kids, early in the day when their mind is most alert is the right time. For others, they may prefer to journal as a way to wind down before bed. There is no ‘right’ time so find the time that works for your child.
- Make it fun – If your child is struggling to find the motivation to journal, try making it more fun. Add stickers, washi tape and colourful pens they can decorate with.
- Take it slow – Don’t expect results overnight! Any new habit takes time so be patient while your child begins their gratitude journaling journey.
- No pressure – You don’t want it to feel like homework or put high expectations on journalling so be gentle with your encouragement and praise any efforts they make.
- Journal together – Show your kids that journalling is an important part of your day by sharing some of your own words or habits with them. Why not set time to sit around the dinner table as a family filling in your journals each day? A shared hobby is a great way to connect as a family!
Printable Gratitude Cards
These printable gratitude cards can be used for gratitude journal prompts or as conversation starters with kids. Find them in my store.
Conclusion: Resilience Journals For Kids
The growth mindset and gratitude journals on this list are designed to encourage children to be thankful for what they have and foster a growth mindset that develops resilience, happiness and confidence.
Some of these gratitude journals also incorporate goal setting elements, creative prompts and activities, which further help children to reflect on their goals while tracking progress towards achieving them.
These are the perfect tools to support your child in becoming a happy and confident adult!
Do you practice daily gratitude in your own life? Share your favourite practices below.
You might also enjoy these articles:
- How to raise confident daughters
- Tips for building resilience in kids
- Ways to strengthen your bond with your child
- Screen-free activities for families
- Benefits of screen free days for kids
- Age appropriate chores for kids
- How to teach goal setting to kids
- How to prepare your child for starting school
- Fun activities for kids at home
- Fun things to do outside with kids
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Ter
Friday 28th of April 2023
I absolutely love this post. My son has kept and maintained a gratitude journal for over 3 years now and I know it has been therapeutic for him and a really wonderful tool for us together as it encourages discussion and creativity. In the beginning we would sit down and come up with journal topics together! I love the idea of buying a book with prompts and activities for him to follow along with. As he enters his teen years I have found that books is definitely our common bond. This isn't a gratitude journal book, but it is a gratitude guide that we recently finished called - Mentors and Tormentors, on the Journey to Self-Respect by Tim Jones. It is an amazing story about a teenager (Wendall) who is your typical teen who can't seem to focus on the positives in life and had a whole lot to learn about the "real world." It's a self-help book that doesn't feel preachy and it's certainly not boring. My son finished it in a weekend and even wrote down some of the lessons in his journal. Wendall comes across a variety of characters that teach him about bullying, standing up for yourself, friendship, gratitude, depression, manipulation and more. I think this is a great book to pair with a gratitude journal!
Holly
Wednesday 24th of April 2024
This does sound like a wonderful resource. And how great that your son has had his journal for so long. There is such benefit in it for all ages.