This is an easy add-on activity I found on sugarspiceandglitter.com that doesn’t take a great deal of preparation in terms of material or instruction, but it packs a punch visually, aesthetically, and kinaesthetically!
It’s truly applicable for any age-group (it can be a little more unassuming and casual for the older grades), but it’s a great opportunity for students to recognize one another’s efforts and kind acts for the Small Act Big Impact 21-Day Challenge.
How to establish the Paper Chain of Kindness in your classroom:
- Provide a space in your classroom with multiple colours of construction paper (you may want to pre-draw lines indicating the width of the strips), scissors (might be fun to experiment with different edges), markers, and glue sticks.
- Invite students to cut strips during various periods in the day.
- Read any one of the books on this booklist and have students discuss/brainstorm kind acts they could do to make their schools, homes, and communities a better place to be.
- Ask the students to think of acts they have done already to improve peoples lives and record them on the strips of pre-cut construction paper.
- Next, show students how to link the strips to make a multi-coloured chain which represents the kind things they have already done.
- Encourage the students to continue doing kind things and recognize one another for improving the kind culture by writing (or asking an adult to write) the kind act on a strip to be added to the chain.
- A goal could to to make the chain go all around the classroom. Students get really excited when they can envision a shared goal like this! Recognizing each others efforts is a lot of fun, too, and adds to the altruistic nature of the 21-Day Kindness Challenge.
Leave a comment below to share how you used and adapted this lesson for your classroom! I always get inspired by people’s stories and the things they do. You might just inspire someone today!
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Feel free to check out the rest of my website for my blog, additional tangible challenge ideas, journal template, videos-links, bios to cool people who influenced the challenge with their ideas, and the science behind the SABI challenge (peer-reviewed journal articles linked).
Morgane Michael 