Being kind is one of the most critical skills that people need to know because it makes the best first impression and shows emotional intelligence. It helps in personal and professional settings, and lets people know that you care about them as human beings, not just about what you need from them. However, kindness is something that needs to be learned and seen, it does not just happen naturally. The following activities for students are great ways to get kids started with killing people with kindness and start with social-emotional learning in the elementary classroom. This post includes affiliate links.
Discussions
1. Class Brainstorm
Have your students decide as a class what kindness looks like and how they can show kindness to others. Not only does this start the conversation around being kind, but it also teaches them to work together, communicate their thoughts, and express responses to others' thoughts. This can be used as a classroom chart (or anchor chart) throughout the year.
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2. Kindness Discussion Prompts
This activity can be used in morning meetings where each day has a new discussion prompt. Pull a new one out every day and ask students to reflect on the question or statement; it can also increase their emotional intelligence.
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3. Reflection
Use this digital resource made by a teacher to talk to children about kindness, and what it looks and feels like. After they have had a chance to write their reflections, have them share and discuss them with the rest of the class, highlighting positive behaviors.
Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers
4. The Red Umbrella
Read this picture book about kindness aloud to students and they will hear about a red umbrella that is demonstrating kindness to everyone they meet. Have students reflect on what they heard and what they can do in their own lives, perhaps writing on sticky notes and placing them around the room. This is sure to become one of their favorite books.
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5. The Smallest Girl
This book is about being kind to and standing up for, others, no matter how big or small you are. Read this book aloud and students reflect on times people have been kind to them and vice versa.
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6. Science of Kindness
Being kind to someone, or having someone be kind to you, actually affects our brain in a positive way and makes us happy. This video walks through what happens in the brain when kindness is present (either giving or receiving), and after, students can reflect on their reactions to what they saw.
Learn More: Randomactsofkindness
7. Kindness Videos
This website has a series of videos all about kindness, its importance, and how kids can practice it. Pick a couple (or show them all!) and have a discussion about what they learned from the videos.
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8. Choose Kindness
This organization creates resources for everyone to celebrate World Kindness Day (November 13th). This particular resource is a PowerPoint about why kindness is so important, and it can lead to a discussion with students about why they think it is important to be kind.
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Modeling
9. Clothespins
Your students will act like spies on a secret mission when they go out looking for others who are being kind or exhibiting another positive trait. Have students discuss positive traits they would want to see in others, then write each one a clothespin and have them put the clothespins on others when they see them representing that trait.
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10. Write Notes of Kindness
Want to avoid having to put objects on other people? Have students write positive notes on kindness cards or notes of appreciation to give to others who have been kind to them.
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11. Kindness Calendar
Start every day of class with an opportunity to be kind to others and build a culture of kindness! This calendar has numerous suggestions for how students show kindness on a daily basis, making it an important part of their lives.
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12. Compliment Box
Keep the compliments flowing with this beautiful compliment box being a permanent fixture in the classroom. Students can write compliments on slips of paper and put them into the box, and then a certain point in time, teachers can pass them out to the recipients.
Learn More: Teach Starter
13. Kindness Challenge
Create a sense of healthy competition and practice social skills by having students complete this free sheet of ways to be kind as fast as they can. Just make sure they are reflecting on the acts they are doing, not just marking them off the list!
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14. Kindness Gift
Have students demonstrate kindness by creating a gift box for someone special in their life. They can make crafts or bring stuff to put in the box, and this printout can go on the box to let the recipient know that they are appreciated.
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15. Be Kind to Yourself
Kindness is typically thought about happening between two or more people, but it is also important to be kind to yourself. This lesson plan walks through the importance of self-kindness using a PowerPoint and guided meditation.
Learn More: School Of Kindness
16. Spin for Kindness
Kids can make their very own wheel of kindness with this spinner! Have them cut it out, decorate it, and make it into a spinner, then watch them as they spin to determine what act of kindness they should do.
Learn More: School Of Kindness
17. Tic-Tac-Toe
Have elementary students practice kindness towards their classmates by expressing why they are grateful for them in this cooperative game. They will have fun competing in teams and walk away feeling happy - a double win! If you have a teaching assistant, you have two games going at once to spread out the students.
Learn More: Random Acts Of Kindness
18. Lend a Helping Hand
A great opportunity for students to practice kindness is to give back to others, especially their teachers or other helpful adults. This activity has students identify who they want to help, ask them what they can do to give them a helping hand, and then do that action.
Learn More: Random Acts Of Kindness
19. Friendly Fridays
Fridays can be so difficult in the classroom because everyone (teachers included!) is so excited for the weekend. Use this excitement to introduce Friendly Fridays, an opportunity for kids to something kind for someone else on a weekly basis.
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20. Kindness Jar
Have students show when someone was kind to them by having them use a kindness jar. Use colored pompoms where each one represents a kind action, and they can keep filling until their cup (jar) is full.
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21. Make a Game Plan
It is important to make sure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to learning and practicing kindness. This series of steps is helpful for students, families, and communities to get off on the right foot in their kindness journey.
Learn More: We Teach Kindness
22. Ideas of Kindness
Need ideas for your own kindness calendar or random acts of kindness week? This resource offers 20 ideas for ways you can incorporate kindness in your classroom and in your students.
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Crafts
23. Kindness Quilt
What better way to feel happy about being kind than a cozy quilt? Students can use this resource to make their own quilt, or to contribute to a class quilt, about the meaning of kindness.
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24. Paper Chain
Create a classroom decoration and spread kindness - a double win! Kids will write down ideas of how to be kind on strips of paper, read them out to the class, and then form a paper chain to hang up in the classroom.
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25. Kindness from A to Z
Read this book aloud, assign each student a letter, then have them make an illustration based on what was in the book. After they are done, post them in the classroom, serving as a visual reminder of 26 ways to be kind. This can also be done to make a kindness bulletin board.
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26. Kindness Stones
Have students get their design skills with writing kind words on stones and decorating them. They can then place them anywhere they think someone will find them and make that person's day.
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27. Fortune Teller
Instead of predicting the future, have students make these paper fortune tellers that result in performing acts of kindness. It is a fun way for students to make something and see how many tries it takes to get all of the acts.
Learn More: Coffee Cups And Crayons
Activities
28. Kindness Journal
Practice kindness while playing a game of telephone. This journal has random acts of kindness and requires the person to complete one before passing it to the next person who continues the cycle. See how many people this go through and how many acts of kindness it inspires.
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29. Be Kind Break
This online project is a series of videos, activities, and lessons to teach children about kindness. Sign up at the link for multiple pre-planned activities that are sure to have your students beginning for opportunities to be kind.
Learn More: The Be Kind People Project
30. The Compassion Project
Looking for something robust, say, 24 activities in one place? The Compassion Project is just that and offers offline and digital activities for kids to engage with over time.
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31. Every Living Thing
This is a collection of short stories, each one about kindness. Split up students into small groups, assign each group one of the stories, and have them read their assigned story. After, the groups should create and deliver a presentation about the plot of the story and what they learned from it.
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32. Pumpkin SPICE
Fall is the perfect time for this activity where students explore the acronym "SPICE", which revolves around different ways to be kind. Add a little spice to your classroom, get ready for fall, and teach kids about being kind - a triple win!
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33. Lend a Hand
This is a collection of poems about kindness. Have students read two or three poems, then write their own about being kind to others. Challenge students to actually follow through on the kind actions they write about.
Learn More: What Do We Do All Day
34. Ripple Effect
One act of kindness can often lead to other acts, and the ripple effect begins. Have students explore this idea in this hands-on and mindful activity using only a bowl of water and some food coloring, and watch their minds be blown.
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35. Kindness Break
Have more time to do a whole lesson on kindness? Use this lesson plan which involves reading and reflecting on a book and practicing saying kind things to others.
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36. Caring
Have even more time? Try this unit on teaching kids about caring that consists of four lessons and two projects that they can engage with. This will certainly up the kindness game in the classroom.
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37. Random Acts of Kindness Week
Spend a whole week teaching kids about kindness with this excellent resource made by an elementary school counselor. This website has detailed lesson plans and activities that showcase kindness, including those differentiated for various grade bands.
Learn More: Elementary School Counseling
38. Acts of Kindness Worksheets
This company that focuses on Social Emotional Learning made a whole series of worksheets and activities that teach kids about being kind. As a bonus, kids will also start to learn about empathy!
Learn More: Centervention
39. Kindness Activities
Kindness activities can also be educational and tie in with academic standards. Study.com published this list of kindness activities that has students working their brain and their heart.
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40. Practice Self-Kindness
This site is made by an elementary teacher who wanted her students to practice being kind to themselves in addition to others. There are a variety of activities, big and small, that will get students on the path to appreciating themselves.
Learn More: SSS Teaching
41. Edgar the Egg
Help Edgar be happy by sprinkling kindness on him! Students see an egg sinking in water and add sprinkles of kindness (salt) to another jar of water where he can then float in happiness. This is a great way for students to visualize how being kind to someone can change them.
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42. Dance for Kindness
This video includes a song about kindness, and there is even a dance to go with it! Play this for kids and they will be singing and dancing about kindness before you know it.
Learn More: KindnessSG
32 Desert Activities for Elementary Students