Thought of the day for kids is a daily tradition in some schools – and for good reason! Whether in an academic setting or at home, a profound quote of the day for children (and grown ups!) can be both moving and educational.
Inspire the Whole Family With a Thought of the Day!
If you want to foster positivity in your children, there are two really powerful ways, which actually kind of feed into each other.
The first is journaling, which I’m a huge advocate of; the second is to bring into your home a fun, poignant, or inspiring thought of the day for kids. An idea popular among many teachers, a quote of the day for children to ponder is really valuable.
They’re intended to be positive, thought-provoking, and inspiring.
Thoughts for the day are commonly used in the classroom as they’re a brilliant way to get children collaborating and debating! And for good reason – well executed quotes are powerful things and a proven motivating tool!
They can actually be enormously beneficial for the whole family, as they’re great educational thoughts and make excellent conversation starters for some really fascinating and philosophical topics. Plus each thought for the day could be used as a journal prompt if your child is so inclined.
What is Thought of the Day?
A thought of the day is essentially an idea or concept, often in the form of motivational quotes or sayings. They’re intended to be positive, thought-provoking, and inspiring.
Benefits of Thought of the Day For Kids
Introducing thoughts of the day to your home, classroom, or school assembly is a beautiful thing, great for:
- Encouraging children to explore new ideas;
- Conversation-openers about philosophical and ethical concepts;
- Provoking objective thought in children;
- Stimulating and inspiring children;
- Helping to build a growth, can-do attitude;
- Fostering a positive attitude and resilience;
- Introducing positive rituals into children’s routines
- Encouraging children to be the the best version of themselves.
When sharing with children, the important thing is engaging them so that they’re moved by what they hear.
How to Implement and Practice Thought of the Day With Children
A thought of the day exercise with your child can be as simple or involved as you wish to make it, but it certainly doesn’t have to be complicated!
A good thought of the day activity might be as relaxed as reciting a quote you’ve heard and asking for feedback. Or as involved as asking a pre-prepared question with the objective of instigating a discussion about the idea or topic.
During dinner is the perfect time to introduce this positive new habit, as it also offers the opportunity to practice an important social skill: participating in conversation, which means listening as well as talking!
Alternatively, if your child is creative and they’re up for it, you might like to create a jar of prompts and pull one out each day. They can then be used in the same way, or used for journaling instead.
163 Thought of the Day Quotes For Children
You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
A.A. Milne/Christopher Robin
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi
Everybody’s a teacher if you listen.
Doris Roberts
To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.
Anatole France
If you’re able to be yourself, then you have no competition.
Barbara Cook
So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life’s A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! Kid, you’ll move mountains.
Dr. Seuss
Wisdom…. comes not from age, but from education and learning.
Anton Chekhov
We become what we think about.
Earl Nightingale
In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.
Theodore Roosevelt
When you see a good man, try to emulate his example, and when you see a bad man, search yourself for his faults.
Confucius
It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.
Epictetus
When you choose your friends, don’t be short-changed by choosing personality over character.
W. Somerset Maugham
Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.
Albert Einstein
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.
The Lorax, Dr. Seuss
If people did not do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
Chinese Proverb
If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.
Dhirubhai Ambani
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
Charles Dederich
The more you give away the happier you become.
Lao Tzu
You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
Maya Angelou
Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism.
David M. Burns
Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.
W. Clement Stone
There is a voice inside of you, that whispers all day long, I feel this is right for me, or I know that this is wrong.
Shel Silverstein
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Politeness is the art of choosing among one’s real thoughts.
Abel Stevens
Before you act, listen. Before you react, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you criticise, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try.
Ernest Hemingway
Change is the end result of all true learning.
Leo Buscaglia
Remember, happiness doesn’t depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely upon what you think.
Dale Carnegie
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
Winston Churchill
You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have.
Jim Rohn
Winning doesn’t always mean being first. Winning means you’re doing better than you’ve done before.
Bonnie Blair
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.
Paul Boese
Inspire! Kids Quotes to Inspire Positive Thoughts
Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do.
John Wooden
Wise people learn when they can; fools learn when they must.
Arthur Wellesley
Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.
Jim Rohn
Never fear shadows. They simply mean that there’s a light somewhere nearby.
Ruth E. Renkei
The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn …and change.
Carl Rogers
Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.
Zig Ziglar
Nothing is impossible, the word itself says “I’m possible!
Audrey Hepburn
Everywhere you go, leave a glitter trail of kindness behind you.
Unknown
Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly.
Proverb
I feel the capacity to care is the thing which gives life its deepest significance.
Pablo Casals
Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.
Confucious
Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.
Anthony J. D’Angelo
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
Japanese Proverb
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Theodore Roosevelt
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it ‘The Present’.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Whenever you see a successful person you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.
Vaibhav Shah
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Why fit in when you were born to stand out?
Dr. Seuss
Friends and good manners will carry you where money won’t go.
Margaret Walker
Choose your friends with caution, plan your future with purpose, and frame your life with faith.
Thomas S. Monson
You will either step forward into growth, or you will step backward into safety.
Abraham Maslow
You always pass failure on the way to success.
Mickey Rooney
If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.
Roald Dahl
Never waste a minute thinking of anyone you don’t like.
Eisenhower
Manners easily and rapidly mature into morals.
Horace Mann
Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.
Oliver Goldsmith
Make each day your masterpiece.
John Wooden
Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.
Hans Christen Andersen
More Inspirational Quotes For Kids
Only surround yourself with people who will lift you higher.
Oprah Winfrey
Believe you can and you’re halfway there.
Theodore Roosevelt
The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.
Brian Herbert
It always seems impossible until it is done.
Nelson Mandela
Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.
Charles Dickens
You are always responsible for how you act, no matter how you feel.
Robert Tew
There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.
Buckminster Fuller
Our happiness depends on the habit of mind we cultivate. So practice happy thinking every day. Cultivate the merry heart, develop the happiness habit, and life will become a continual feast.
Norman Vincent Peale
Do a little more than you’re paid to. Give a little more than you have to. Try a little harder than you want to. Aim a little higher than you think possible, and give a lot of thanks to God for health, family, and friends.
Art Linkletter
Even though you’re growing up, you should never stop having fun.
Nina Dobrev
We grow great by dreams.
Woodrow Wilson
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
Dr. Seuss
I don’t love studying. I hate studying. I like learning. Learning is beautiful.
Natalie Portman
Certain things catch your eye
Ancient Indian Proverb
but pursue only those that capture the heart.
Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners.
Laurence Sterne
Always be a first-rate version of yourself,
Judy Garland
instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
Henry David Thoreau
Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
Confucious
Your behaviour is a choice; it isn’t who you are.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Climb ev’ry mountain, Ford ev’ry stream, Follow ev’ry rainbow, ‘Till you find your dream.
Unknown
No one is perfect – that’s why pencils have erasers.
Wolfgang Riebe
Motivational Kids Quotes
The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
Mark Twain
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.
Pamela Vaull Starr
You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.
Wayne Gretzky
If you really want to do something, you will find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.
Jim Rohn
If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.
Vincent Van Gogh
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T. S. Eliot
You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.
Babe Ruth
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.
Mark Twain
Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
The most important day of a person’s education is the first day of school, not Graduation Day.
Harry Wong
Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there!
Will Rogers
We all can dance when we find music we love.
Giles Andreae
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.
Thomas Edison
The time is always right to do what is right.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
You will never have a completely bad day if you show kindness at least once.
Greg Henry Quinn
We realise the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.
Malala Yousafzai
Every action in our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity.
Edwin Hubbel Chapin
If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.
Dhirubhai Ambani
Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.
Mark Twain
Don’t doubt your value. Don’t run from who you are.
Aslan
Nothing is particularly hard if you break it down into small jobs.
Henry Ford
The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.
Mark Twain
Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.
Maya Angelou
I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.
Booker T. Washington
Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.
H. Jackson Brown
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
Herman Cain
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.
Henry Ward Beecher
That best portion of a man’s life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.
William Wordsworth
Three things in human life are important: The first is to be kind; the second is to be kind, and the third is to be kind.
Henry James
Being different isn’t a bad thing. It means you’re brave enough to be yourself.
Luna Lovegood
Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.
Albert Einstein
The mind is not a vessel to be filled,
Plutarch
but a fire to be kindled.
I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
Thomas Alva Edison
Thought of the Day For Kids (and Grown Ups)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.
Aristotle
Do not let the behaviour of others destroy your inner peace.
Dalai Lama
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Mahatma Gandhi
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
Khalil Gibran
If you want to change attitudes, start with a change in behaviour.
Katharine Hepburn
Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping them up.
Jesse Jackson
Give the world the best you have, and the best will come to you.
Madeline Bridge
Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
Dalai Lama XIV
When you know better you do better.
Maya Angelou
Today is your day.
Dr. Seuss
Your mountain is waiting so get on your way.
Every object, every being, is a jar of delight. Be a connoisseur.
Rumi
If you can dream it, you can do it.
Walt Disney
Most great learning happens in groups. Collaboration is the stuff of growth.
Sir Ken Robinson
We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.
Albus Dumbledore
Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.
Socrates
All students can learn and succeed, but not on the same day in the same way.
William Spady
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by,
Robert Frost
And that has made all the difference.
We know what we are but know not what we may be.
Shakespeare
I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy – I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.
Art Williams
An investment in knowledge pays the best dividends.
Benjamin Franklin
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go!
Dr. Seuss
The most important things in life are not what you can see, but what you feel.
Antoine de Saint Exupéry
It’s good to have an end to journey toward, but it’s the journey that matters in the end.
Ursula K. LeGuin
It is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.
George Burns
There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.
John Holmes
Never doubt yourself, it will only hold you back.
J.M. Barrie
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.
Vince Lombardi
If you can’t feed a hundred people,
Margaret Mead
then just feed one.
Don’t expect your friend to be a perfect person. But, help your friend to become a perfect person. That is true friendship!
Mother Teresa
Don’t be afraid of life’s challenges.
Louisa May Alcott
Always chase your dreams instead of running from your fears.
Anonymous
Play is our brain’s favourite way of learning.
Diane Ackerman
Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
Robert F. Kennedy
Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.
Oprah Winfrey
Children are a wonderful gift. They have an extraordinary capacity to see into the heart of things and to expose sham and humbug for what they are.
Desmond Tutu
Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.
George Addair
My Favourite Quote For Kids / Best Thought of the Day
No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.
Robin Williams
Why not share some of these inspiring quotes and help lead your children towards a bright future?
Which is your favourite on the list?