1. How are you?
How Are You? is a very simple activity, but its potential to encourage a positive emotional state should not be underestimated. Integrating it into your lessons is as easy as asking a single question at the beginning of class:
“How are you feeling today?”
Not only will this let the students know that someone cares about how they are feeling, but it also signals to them that sometimes they’ll be feeling something negative—and that there’s nothing wrong with that.
We can all use this reminder that we are human and are all subject to emotions and feelings that we’d rather not have.
This reminder can be especially helpful for teenagers, who are likely dealing with more intense and varied emotions than people of other age groups.
After asking this question, you can instruct students to turn and talk to their neighbor, or share with the whole class.
Starting the day with this activity can get students in the right frame of mind to be more kind and empathetic towards one another, and it can alert you to potential problems with specific students.
2. Group circle
Another valuable activity to encourage good listening skills and empathy is the Group Circle.
Before beginning this activity, choose a “talking piece”—this is an object that is passed around the group and signals that the holder has exclusive speaking rights. You can use a stuffed animal, a small beach ball, or any object that is easy to hold and pass around.
If you can, remove the desks or tables from the classroom. If this is not possible, you can either push the desks and chairs to the perimeter of the room, arrange the chairs in a circle, or sit on the floor with the whole class.
Tell your students that in the Group Circle, only one person may talk at a time and everyone else must listen quietly and respectfully.
Show the class the talking piece and explain that only the individual holding the talking piece may speak.
- First, have the students pass the talking piece around the circle as a way to check in with each student. This is a good opportunity for everyone to practice holding and passing the talking piece, as well as an opportunity for students to say a few quick words about how they are feeling or what is on their mind.
- As the teacher/facilitator of the activity, introduce a topic or ask a question that you would like the circle to respond to. However, after you have sparked the conversation, make sure to take your seat in the circle, and become a member rather than a leader.
This activity can be a good way to start the day, end the day, or simply encourage community and kindness at any time.
It is especially useful after something particularly emotional or traumatic happens, whether that event took place in the classroom, in your city, or on another continent.
The Group Circle exercise helps students relate to one another, and it can encourage students to accept and share feelings that may be difficult to talk about. This lesson outline also contains tips and suggestions to help you get started.
3. Nice things
This is a quick and easy activity you can try with children of nearly any age. It’s an especially good idea to use this positive, mood-boosting activity to start class (or your day, if you’re at home).
Instruct each student to turn to one of their neighbors and tell him or her something good. Specifically, you can have them finish one of these positive “talking stems,” or prompts:
- One nice thing in my life is…
- Something nice that happened is…
Encourage the kids to be creative with their “nice thing,” but if they’re having trouble coming up with something, assure them that the nice thing can be as small as eating something they liked for dinner last night.
Once all students have shared a nice thing with their partners, open it up to the entire classroom. Ask for volunteers who would like to share their nice thing with the class, or volunteers who have given their neighbors permission to share their nice things for them.
This is an excellent activity to get kids in a positive mood, and it’s appropriate for kids of all ages—even teenagers can find at least one good thing in their lives.
Sharing the nice thing will put the students in a more positive frame of mind, and sharing something personal and positive with others will make them feel heard and affirmed by others.
4. Silent appreciation
If you’re more interested in getting kids writing than talking, this is a similar activity that can get everyone in a more positive mood.
Given the nature of the silent appreciation activity, it will only be suitable for classes where everyone has at least some writing ability—so it likely won’t work for a classroom of preschoolers.
First, you will need to put together a handout with sentence stems (or prompts) on it:
- One cool thing I’ve learned from you is…
- I admire your personality because…
- I am so grateful that you do/are…
- I have confidence in you when…
- Some great things about you are…
- I think it’s great the way you…
- I enjoy spending time with you because…
Make sure to leave plenty of room for students to finish these sentences, especially if they are younger writers. Next, pass out the handouts and ask each student to write only their name at the top of the paper.
Collect the handouts and pass them out once again, randomly this time.
Make sure each student received a different student’s handout.
Instruct the students to be silent for a few minutes while they write something about the person whose handout they received. They can respond to just one sentence stem or several if they have more good things to say about the person.
After the few minutes are up, have each student pass the handout to another student (not the handout’s owner, yet).
Encourage the students to complete whichever sentence stem calls to them, whether another student has completed it or not.
After doing a few rounds of this, pass all of the papers back to their owners and give them a chance to read all of the nice things their peers have written about them.
If you’d like to continue the positivity, you can ask for volunteers to share one or two of the nice things on their handout. It will make the reader feel good, the writer feels good, and encourage everyone to be a little more positive.
5. Thank you post
Another activity that can help students practice their writing while injecting a little positivity into the classroom is called Thank You Post.
First, create a “postbox” to leave in the back of the classroom. This can be an opportunity to get creative and make a postbox that reflects the class, or you can have the class help you create the box. For example, you could have the class vote on a theme for the postbox, or each student could pick out one small space on it to decorate however he or she would like.
Wherever you place the postbox, make sure to leave small slips of paper or sticky notes nearby.
Tell students that they can use the box to write down positive messages, thank-you notes, or messages of appreciation or encouragement to their fellow students or the teacher, teaching assistant, or another adult in the classroom.
The students may need some examples of what to write. Model what a good appreciation message sounds like by reading a few sample messages out loud with the class.
You have a couple of options when it comes to reading the notes of appreciation:
- You can open up the Thank You Post every few days and read all the notes, or “mail”, to the class;
- You can take out a few notes and read them to the class every day (early in the day to encourage positivity in the classroom or late in the day to end class on a positive note); or
- You can give students a set amount of time to contribute to the postbox, then distribute the notes to their intended recipients at the end of that period (i.e., the last class before winter break or summer vacation).
You can choose any of these methods or create your own method that works for your class. The important thing is that each student should eventually get to hear or read a note of thanks or appreciation that someone has written about him or her.
This activity encourages students to be kind to one another and to be on the lookout for positive things to write down and slip into the Thank You Post.
6. Here’s to…
If you have a particularly chatty class or a class that hasn’t mastered writing yet, this Here’s To… activity can be a good substitute for the Thank You Post.
Your students will likely need some modeling to get comfortable with this activity, especially if you have a lot of shy kids in your class. Plan at least a couple of weeks of modeling these mini “toasts” before encouraging your students to join in.
There are many ways to start a Here’s To (Student) toast, but three positive sentence stems might include:
- I truly enjoy how . . .
- Here’s to ___, for their amazing. . .
- I’d like to give a mention to . . .
Use sentiments like these to thank students for their contributions, praise them for a job well-done, or call out an act of kindness.
Eventually, your students may pick up on what you’re doing and start making their own Here’s To… toasts. However, you may need to specifically encourage them to join you in calling out fellow students for praise or thanks.
This activity can be a great way to end the day. Spending just a few minutes on it at the end of class can boost everyone’s mood, give students a chance to publicly appreciate one another, and send students home riding a wave of positivity and kindness.
7. Partner up
This fun and easy activity will encourage your students to help one another.
It’s as simple as assigning each student a partner—you can let the students pick their own partners, you can choose a companion for them, or you can alternate between both methods.
If your students tend to stick with their existing friend groups or cliques, assigning a buddy rather than letting them choose may be more effective.
You don’t have to use the word “partner”; instead, pick a word that fits well with your class’s interests.
If you have a lot of young kids who aspire to become pilots, you can use the term “copilot.” If your classroom is an older one with a good sense of humor, you can say they’ll pair up with a “wingman” or “wingwoman.”
Whatever terminology you choose, the activity is the same—students will work with their partners and turn to their partners first when they need help.
For example, if a student missed a day of class and needs copies of handouts or lecture notes, she should first ask her partner.
Or, if a student is having trouble with a concept that’s being taught, he should first check in with his partner to see whether he or she can explain it before asking another person.
You’ve probably noticed a theme—whatever issue or problem a student is having (unless it’s an emergency), he or she should first work one-on-one with a partner to attempt to solve it. If that fails, the student can ask the teacher.
To make sure students get a chance to work on their relationship skills with a wide range of people and personalities, have them switch buddies regularly. They can find a new partner each week, every other week, every month, or any period of time that works for your class.
This activity will give your students ample opportunity to build communication skills, practice accountability, and be kind to one another.
What our readers think
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Such great activities and fun challenges for kids. I will try some of these with my kids. I think you could make those in a kind of a scratch-board where kids could scratch out the things they have done and see their progress over time. Thanks for the idea!
I also have something to add to your list. At the end of the thirty-day marathon, kids could read a book about kindness. I have just the one here aliciaortego.com/kindness-is-my-superpower/. Hope you’ll like it.
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