Boost self respect and confidence in your kids.
Valentines day is all about showing love to others. I put a new spin on it for my class. We had a Valentine theme, but instead of being about loving others it was about our own feelings and self love.
I wanted to post before Valentine’s Day so got this up quick, please excuse the unfinished and not so clear pics.
We read Arthur’s Nose
by Marc Brown then discussed how he wanted to change his looks because he didn’t like his nose and others were making fun of him. We talked about feelings, (What makes you sad? What makes you happy?) cause and effect, saying nice things and keeping thoughts that could hurt someone’s feeling to yourself.
We practiced giving compliments to make others feel good and talked about loving yourself as you are.
We then made two crafts, a feelings chart, and a Valentine’s card/poster for yourself with a sentence and picture illustrating something you love about yourself.
Feelings Chart:
Supplies:
Poster paper
Markers/crayons
scissors
red construction paper (red paper arrow)
brad (paper fastener)
Instructions:
Divide a poster into 4 parts and draw a face in each section to represent a different feeling (happy, sad, mad, surprised). Write the word of each feeling below the face.
Fasten a small paper arrow cut out of red paper through the middle with a brad.
Valentine Card/Poster to Myself:
Supplies:
Poster paper (or construction or other paper)
markers/crayons
pencil (optional)
Stickers (optional)
Instructions:
Ask the child to think of one thing they love about their self and write it on the top of the poster or front of the card “I love that I ________.”
ex: Boo said she loves that she can dance and Monkey said he loves that he’s brave. It can be something they do well or a physical trait. Depending on their skill level, you can write the sentence, dot it so they can trace it, or have the child write it.
Ask the child to draw a picture of the thing they chose.
Decorate with stickers
Another fun activity is to go around a circle and have kids tell each other what they like about each other or give one compliment to each child. It’s fun to learn what great things others notice about you that you may not think yourself.
Love this idea! My son is five and is home with me 3 days per week and we are always looking for new fun activities to do.
Thanks for sharing!
Katie~
http://dysfunctionsjunction.com
My son is just 6, so lots more fun to come for that age! Thanks for commenting!