Friendship & Acts of Kindness

So here I am again, LATE on posting this month’s theme. Life has been crazy busy, but this montns themes of friendship and acts of kindness are applicable at any time! So have fun with incorporating these activities whenever you please (:

We focused on what it means to be a good friend and how acts of kindness can play into our everyday lives. I wanted Amelie to understand that it’s important to love and treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated. Through books, mini discussions, and everyday learning opportunities we were able to explore these concepts. Since Valentine’s day is in February many of the materials involved heart-shaped items. 

Simple Acts of Kindness for Children

• Let sibling go first
• Using kind words (saying please and thank you, complimenting others, encouraging others, apologizing)
• Write a nice letter
• Clean up without being asked (still working on this, but there is some progress in the cleanup department)
• Saying hello to other children and welcoming play
• Share

Basic Skills:

• Following up on Big and Little (a lot of what our learning experiences involved the relationship between Amelie and Penny. Amelie has to understand that she is a little older than Penny and understand more, therefore she needs to act appropriately to her age when it comes to playing and sharing)
• Basic mathematical concepts (counting)
• Reading and Writing
• Fine motor skills
• Shapes
• Textures
• Colors
• Sizes

ACTIVITIES

Roll and Stuff

Materials: pom poms, heart-shaped cookie cutter, dice

Directions:

• Roll the dice and count the number of dots.
• Whatever number was rolled, stuff the number of pom poms into the cookie cutter.
• Repeat until you can stuff no more.

Conversation Heart Sort

Materials: conversation hearts, candy heart sort sheet (free from prekinders.com)

Directions:

• Sort conversation hearts by color.

Valentines

Materials: heart-shaped stickers, construction paper, crayons/markers, kid scissors (Use whatever materials you wish to use to make valentines for loved ones.

Directions:

• Pretty self-explanatory (:
• I included a little bit of peeling stickers and cutting paper to work on fine motor skills.
• I had Amelie “write” her own note in addition to dictating to me what she wanted to be written.)
• We talked about all the people that she loves and she picked out who she wanted to write Valentines to.

Baking and Decorating Cookies

Materials: heart-shaped cookie cutter, I used the following recipe for the cookies and frosting. Honestly, it was the first recipe that popped up on my google search and it turned out to be amazing. I think probably the best sugar cookies I’ve ever had.

Recipe from Two Peas & Their Pod Lofthouse Style Soft Sugar Cookies.

Directions:

• Follow recipe above
• Be sure to include your toddler in reading the directions, measuring contents, rolling out, and decorating. I know it requires A LOT of time and patience – and it will be messy, but it’s totally worth it.

Friendship Bracelets

Material: pipe cleaners, beads (pipe cleaners are easier for the little ones to use rather than a string.)

Directions:

• measure the length of the wrist, adjust accordingly
• place the beads onto the pipe cleaner (encourage making patterns)

Colored Rice Sensory Bin

Materials: rice, dye, conversation hearts, acrylic hearts, heart cookie cutter, spoon, bowls, cups, plastic bin, or tray

Directions:

• Use this Colored Rice Recipe to make the colored rice
• Fill the tray with rice and place in heart-shaped items, spoons, cups, and bowls.
• Allow your child to scoop, feel, and explore items in the bin.

BOOKS

The following books were our picks from our local library. All these books share the common themes of love, friendship, and kindness and what that looks, sounds, and feels like in our everyday lives.

In my heart by Molly Banq

Love by Matt de la Pena, illustrated by Lorren Long

Love me tender by Elvis Presley, illustrated by Stephanie Graegan

Be kind by Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated by Jen Hill

OUTING

Our special outing this month involved delivering valentines and cookies to our family who lives nearby. We dressed up in our red and pink, and the girls wore their festive attire sent over from their grandma. It was simple, yet very special (: