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5 Easy and Fun Ideas for Teaching Kindness

“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” 

This is so powerful because kindness heals and it’s always a good idea to choose compassion. They are small acts that can make such a big difference. Kindness is so impactful when it comes to getting your class through tough times and simply giving them a sense of a sweet community. 

5 fun and easy ideas for teaching kindness

No matter what point you are in the school year, these 5 ideas will help propel the kindness in your community forward. They’ll also help get your kiddos on the right track to supporting one another.

#1 – Set Expectations 

Kindness is a core value in the classroom that needs to be explicitly taught AND modeled for students. The best way to set expectations is to figure out what students already know about kindness and what it means to them.

One easy way to help students understand this concept and how it impacts them is by explicitly teaching about what it is and isn’t. We love to read How Full Is Your Bucket? By Tom Rath. It’s a great book that gives students a really concrete way to see the effects when someone is kind or unkind to us and vice versa. Another way is by creating anchor charts with students to collect thinking and build understanding. You can use THESE anchor charts as you read different kindness books together and begin setting your own expectations. 

Check out THESE activities to see what kindness means to each student and what fills their bucket! 

bucket filler activities

#2 – Show and Foster It

What is the number one way students learn? They learn from what they see and mimic actions. Modeling and allowing students opportunities to practice is key. Once we have taken time to set our class kindness expectations, we have to allow students time to practice, practice, and practice some more. WE must also be the model we want students to see. We must display kindness and teach students how to express themselves kindly, especially during conflicts or with people we may not get along well with. It’s always easy to be kind to our friends, right? But kindness is something everyone deserves, no matter who we interact with. 

One great way to model and allow for practice is by role playing different situations. Students get to act scenarios out, over and over and over again, until they’ve got it down. All of these skills work together to create a safe space for students to express themselves and be kind in many situations. You are setting expectations for an environment where peers are communicating, problem solving, and apologizing when they’re wrong so everyone feels good to speak up when needed. 

problem solving role playing in primary grades

Check out THESE cards to help students practice role playing kindness in a number of different situations. 

Another easy way to help students deal with conflict in a kind way is with one of my favorite read alouds. It’s a great book to help students navigate how to let someone know that something has upset them. A Bug and a Wish by Karen Scheuer teaches a very simple and effective way to say, “Hey, I don’t like that. Please fix it.” You can check out the poster that I love using below! It provides students with the language they need so that they can begin to express themselves in a respectful way. 

social emotional problem solving posters

Handling Conflicts and Problem Solving

#3 – Use Literature

If you couldn’t tell from my other two ideas and how I coupled them with books, I love using literature to help teach topics to students. It’s one of the easiest and most fun ways to teach kindness! Check out some of my favorite read-alouds below. 

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson

Be Kind by Pat Miller

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña

Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts

Kindness is Cooler Mrs. Ruler by Margery Cuyler

How Full is Your Bucket by Tom Rath 

One great way to extend the learning is doing a great book companion activity! After reading Kindness is Cooler Mrs. Ruler, I love to give the students the same assignment that Mrs. Ruler gives out! It’s a fun way to engage students in kindness activities at home. Each student gets 5 hearts on Friday afternoon and as they bring them back in, have them share their acts of kindness and create an anchor chart. They LOVE showing off and it spreads more kindness!

Kindness Activity

Kindness is Cool Freebie

#4 – Keep Kindness In The Air

Now that you’ve set expectations, modeled, and practiced, how do we keep that kindness going strong? I like to praise all the kind acts I see! Catch them being kind, make a big deal when you see a student display kindness, and you can set up your own reinforcers like the ones below. 

Have you ever heard of a kindness chain? It’s a great visual display that reinforces those acts of kindness. Simply print these strips on colored paper and put them out for students. Have them write on one each time they display an act of kindness or when they catch someone else being kind! Before you know it, your kindness chain will be wrapping all around the room!! Grab yours FREE below!

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You can also reward students when they reach a certain number of links or when they’ve used all their slips after giving them a set amount to use. 

You can also keep the kindness going with THESE anchor chart headers. Check out some of the examples we use to spread the love to all of our students below!! 

kindness ancho chart community building anchor chart ideas anchor chart ideas for kindness and community

#5 – Build Empathy 

Kindness comes easier when you have empathy for others. The problem is, it’s not always easy to have empathy especially when you’re young and still learning. Here are a few great ways to help build empathy! Not shocking, they all include a read-aloud! 

For the first read aloud, provide each student with a cutout of a heart and sit down together to read the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. Instruct students to crumble their paper a little bit every time they hear something unkind in the story. At the end, challenge students to open up and smooth out their hearts to try and see if they can make it look like before. This teaches an important lesson to students that those little scars will stay on our hearts so we must always think before we act. It helps them visually see what happens to someone on the inside when we are unkind and also shows them that even if we apologize, we can’t undo our actions. 

The next book we love to read is Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts. We then quite literally have students take a walk in someone else’s shoes and notice how they feel or how they fit. It’s a concrete way to help students understand what it means to have empathy for someone. We end it with THIS fun empathy craft! 

Other Social Emotional Resources

Social emotional learning is SO important for students and there are so many important skills to help them thrive in the classroom and in their lives. Below you’ll find more tools to help support your students and ultimately make your classroom a wonderful place to be! 

Social Emotional Education

Why Social Emotional is Important

20ish Awesome Read Alouds for SEL

Sometimes we’re not given the tools we need or not sure how to implement these values into our classrooms. I’ve got you covered! Check out the growing bundle of engaging, hands-on, valuable tools, lessons, and resources to support your students, while they learn these important life skills in a fun way! Because this is a growing bundle, when you purchase, you’ll get any new resource ever added for FREE! Grab yours below!

social emotional bundle

Social Emotional Growing Bundle

I hope you enjoyed learning about easy and engaging ways to build and reinforce kindness in your classroom! Don’t forget to subscribe to my email list! You will get the most up to date tips, tricks, and classroom projects… and of course more fun FREEBIES including the Kindness Chain FREEBIE! You will also have exclusive access to tons of digital how to videos! If you would like to learn about this and other things happening in my classroom follow me  @sweetnsauerfirsties on Instagram.

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The 100th day of school is HUGE! It’s a time t The 100th day of school is HUGE! 

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Save this for easy and fun 100th day ideas! The 1 Save this for easy and fun 100th day ideas!

The 100th day doesn’t have to be overwhelming, there are TONS of easy and low prep ideas to help your students have a blast and make it easy to plan for YOU.

🌟 Have a scavenger hunt for 100 items (erasers, candy, etc).
🌟Stations are my favorite management hack for the 100th day. They rotate through fun activities all day while you get to spend more time with each group.
🌟 Pocket chart games are easy and engaging. Students work together to hunt for the special item while practicing number sense, recognition, and patterns.
🌟 Would you rather is an easy way to get kiddos up and moving while connecting. This is a great no prep time filler!
🌟 Crowns are the perfect and quiet activity to show off all their learning and make a great keepsake. 

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  • Are you looking for ways to teach kindness to kids in the classroom? Today, I’m sharing my favorite teacher tips on helping your early elementary students understand kindness in the classroom. Some of my favorite kindness activities for kids is setting expectations and modeling kindness. We love reading, How Full Is Your Bucket? By Tom Rath and more. It’s important to role play ideas for kids in the classroom. Kindness anchor charts are great to create during whole group and small group lessons.
  • Do you need some ideas about teaching money to your first grade students? Check out my favorite teaching tips on money for kids. First, have your students watch some BrainPop Jr. videos and books about money for kids. Money anchor charts are fantastic to use during math whole group to better K-2 students' understanding. The CRA Math Model is perfect for understanding money for kids. I also share my favorite math centers like money puzzles, money bingo, and math money games!
  • Have you been looking for end of year classroom community activities? These classroom community building activities are perfect for your K-2 classroom! I love creating an end of year anchor chart so students can write down their favorite memories of first grade. K-2 students will love the balloon bulletin board countdown with themes. Early elementary students enjoy creating a reflection writing craft, first grade end of year memories, would you rather end of school year game, and much more!
  • Have you been wondering what the benefits of reading aloud to children are? Today, I will share why reading aloud to children is important. Reading aloud increases children's vocabulary, building fluency, and reading comprehension. It’s important to teach elementary students how to choose the just right book. I love doing interactive read alouds and think alouds during my picture book reading. Check out how I incorporate writing about reading, building my classroom library, and reading at home.
  • Do you need some ideas about teaching money to your first grade students? Check out my favorite teaching tips on money for kids. First, have your students watch some BrainPop Jr. videos and books about money for kids. Money anchor charts are fantastic to use during math whole group to better K-2 students' understanding. The CRA Math Model is perfect for understanding money for kids. I also share my favorite math centers like money puzzles, money bingo, and math money games!
  • Have you been wondering what the benefits of reading aloud to children are? Today, I will share why reading aloud to children is important. Reading aloud increases children's vocabulary, building fluency, and reading comprehension. It’s important to teach elementary students how to choose the just right book. I love doing interactive read alouds and think alouds during my picture book reading. Check out how I incorporate writing about reading, building my classroom library, and reading at home.
  • Are you looking for ways to teach kindness to kids in the classroom? Today, I’m sharing my favorite teacher tips on helping your early elementary students understand kindness in the classroom. Some of my favorite kindness activities for kids is setting expectations and modeling kindness. We love reading, How Full Is Your Bucket? By Tom Rath and more. It’s important to role play ideas for kids in the classroom. Kindness anchor charts are great to create during whole group and small group lessons.
  • Have you been looking for end of year classroom community activities? These classroom community building activities are perfect for your K-2 classroom! I love creating an end of year anchor chart so students can write down their favorite memories of first grade. K-2 students will love the balloon bulletin board countdown with themes. Early elementary students enjoy creating a reflection writing craft, first grade end of year memories, would you rather end of school year game, and much more!
  • If you want to know more about the science of reading, now is your chance. Today, I will share why the science of reading is important to learn and understand for our elementary students. The 5 essential components that make up reading instruction are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. For K-2 students it is important to spend approximately 40% of your instructional block focusing on phonemic awareness skills and phonics skills.

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