Get your children thinking about kindness and other emotions they have
This is a great way to check in on how children are feeling. It is also a fun way to talk to the children about ways to show kindness to their peers. Children are very observant and peers notice when others are feeling left out, lonely or anxious. By calling out acts of kindness, you model for the children ways for them to notice when people are being kind. Through some of the recommended readings you can tie into brainstorming ways to be kind and possible ways to help a community. A helping hand goes a long way when all it takes is participation.
Gather the children around for story time and introduce the tracker and brainstorm ways that they can be kind. They can be simple to large ideas that will help a friend out through their day to day. By letting the children track when they have been kind, it can helps teach then that it doesn’t take much to be kind. As the teacher, some pointing out or noticing out loud when children are being kind is a helpful push.
Materials
For this activity you will need:
Chart paper
Calendar
Picture of the children’s face
Markers
Books about kindness
Learning Outcomes
Domain
Emotional
Skills
Recognizing and Expressing Emotions
Indicators:
Increasing understanding of sources of pride and gratitude; jealousy and anxiety
Instructions
Step 1:
Print off picture of each child's face
Step 2:
Cut them out and hang a calendar with just the month and days of the week on it. Sit down the children and read a book of your choice about Kindness. (Some recommendations are: Have you filled a bucket today? -Carol McCloud; Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts; Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed by Emily Pearson and Fumi Kosaka)
Step 3:
Explain that when they do something they think it kind, they need to write it on the chart paper, with the date and add their picture to the date.
Step 4:
Brainstorm different ideas to be kind and what some “kind” things are.
Step 5:
You can track kindness over the course of a whole week or month, there is no set timeline.
Playful Questions
What are ways we can be kind?
What happens when you are kind to people?
How do you feel when you are kind?
How do you feel when others are mean to you?
Have you done anything kind today already?
