Inclusion: Access, Participation, and Supports
CYFD Offers 6-Hour Inclusion Course
Professional Development Opportunities
Classroom Activities from PBS Kids
by Mara Brenner
These fun classroom activities, from PBS kids, focus on building self-esteem and support social emotional development. The “Appreciating Talents” activity helps children develop self awareness, acknowledge their own strengths and talents and treasure their unique abilities while “A Kindness Tree” allows children to explore acts of kindness, their own as well as others.
Appreciating Talents
Materials needed:
- Celebratory music
- Glue
- Markers
- Paper circles (write The World’s Greatest ___________ on each)
- Stars and glitter
Directions:
Boost your student’s self-esteem by helping them to create awards recognizing their personal strengths and abilities.
- Excel and tell: Help your students identify their talents. What do they excel at? Hopping on one foot? Blowing bubbles? Being a good friend or terrific older sibling?
- Make awards: Use the paper circles to make awards for The World’s Greatest ___________. Each child will decide what his or her award will say. (It’s okay to have more than one prize for the same feat.) Let your children decorate their awards with markers, glitter, stars, etc.
- Hold an awards ceremony: Hold an awards ceremony in your classroom. Play music and lead the ‘awards winners’ in a procession.
Talking about it: Explain to the kids that everyone is great at something, and people take pride in having their skills recognized. Ask, "How does it feel to be complimented on something? How does it feel to praise somebody else for an accomplishment?"
A Kindness Tree
Materials needed:
- Flowers made from colored paper
- A tree (trunk, branches, leaves) made of construction paper
Directions:
Make a “Kindness Tree” with your children, and show them how to make it bloom.
- Comprehend kindness: Have your children name ways that they can be nice to people. Ask questions to prompt ideas: "What can you say to make someone feel better when she’s sad? How can you help each other every day? What special things can you do to show your friends you like them?"
- Count kindness: Each day, ask your kids to share ways that they have been kind or helpful to a friend or family member, or ways that a friend or family member has been kind to them.
- Commemorate kindness: Write down each example on a paper flower and tape it to the tree.
Take it further: If you have access to a camera, have your kids take photos of people who have been kind. Encourage them to make drawings to illustrate their experiences. Add these photos and drawings to your Kindness Tree.
As a group, your kindness tree will bloom quickly. Help kids read the flowers: can they find their names? Can they find the names of their friends?