A (Paper) Chain of Kindness
Do you ever feel like you spend more time disciplining or correcting your kids than you do encouraging them?
Part of my quest for minimalism is to slow down and focus on what really matters, and in the process, I’ve realized that while I’ve been consistently disciplining, I have not been consistently encouraging. I’m spending a lot of time focusing on what I don’t want the kids to do, and not enough time focusing on what I really want them to do.
Positive reinforcement stopped being an intentional thing, and was only brought out after a poor action or behaviour occurred so it often occurred like a bribe. We were operating in survival mode, and honestly, it wasn’t going to last much longer.
This simple idea of a paper chain of kindness, created through the children’s choices and actions, has transformed that.
Paper Kindness Chain
I was trying to figure out a way for the kids to start acknowledging each other’s kind choices. I wanted them to start seeking the good in each other and, by acknowledging it, encourage more kind acts in turn.
I originally thought about using these tokens that we’ve had in our peace corner for the past year, but I wanted something:
- visually encouraging – something all of the children would see often and feel encouraged by
- ongoing – nothing that I would need to limit or could potentially run out of, because kindness never runs out
- collaborative – something that acknowledged that a single act of kindness contributed to the whole group
- beautiful – something that the children would love and cherish and want to nurture
- open-ended – something where children could acknowledge each other, themselves, or others
Materials for our Kindness Chain:
- Construction Paper
- Scissors <– these are the ones we have and they have lasted for years in our daycare, and unlike some other safety scissors – they actually cut things!
- Stapler
I highly recommend grabbing a couple of these sturdy plastic lunch trays (we have one in the pictures in this post). I use these for almost all of our craft or kitchen activities, as well as in our Montessori practical life activities. Ours have lasted for over 6 years and are still going strong, plus they are so great for containing messes and allowing the kids to set a project to the side while it dries (or if you have to clear off the table for supper).
I started off by leaving this innocent-looking cutting exercise out for the children. Just straight lines on various pieces of construction paper, and a basket to receive all of the finished strips. (I also cut several pages of strips myself, just in case.)
Once we had a good rainbow of colours in the basket, I gathered the children together for a talk about kindness.
We talked about what kindness is and how it made us feel.
We talked about all of the different forms of kindness – kind words, kind actions, kind hands, and kind thoughts.
I asked the children to think of kind things that they had done or experienced that day and started writing them on the strips of paper. (Older children could write their own.)
When they couldn’t think of anymore things to have me write, I started making a paper chain out of the strips.
As I showed them how the chain gets constructed, I talked about how when someone does something kind to us, we feel good and want to do something kind for another person, and then that can make them feel good and want to do something kind themselves.
When I had finished adding all of the strips to our chain, I asked the children if they thought that they could do more kind things so we could add them to the chain. They were so excited by the idea.
I suggested that we put the paper chain of kindness up in the work room, and that whenever someone did or experienced a kind thing, that they could come to me and we would add another “link” to the chain — and maybe, if we did enough kind things, we could make the chain go all the way around the room!
I love so much about this new ongoing project.
I love that it encourages each individual child to be kind.
I love that the children are developing a habit of acknowledging and recognizing kindness – and not taking each other for granted.
I love that I get to hear about all of the kind things and gain a deeper understanding of how each child interprets kindness, and in turn, love.
While we don’t want children to only choose kindness for the acknowledgement it can give them, I think this paper chain of kindness is a great way of creating a culture and a habit of kindness. In addition, it teaches gratitude and the importance of stopping to recognize others.
I’ve stored the strips in a rainbow pattern, so that we can have little rainbow throughout our chain. (It looks cute and I love the symbolism.)
How have you encouraged your children to be kind? Would you do a paper chain of kindness?
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I think my son would enjoy this! I do try to balance discipline and encouragement, but some days that just doesn’t happen. This would be a fun activity to teach being kind to others (like his baby brother haha.)
Thanks, Alyssa – I think it can be a tough balance, especially on those tough days!
What a lovely idea! My son is too young for this, but I will certainly pin for a later 🙂
Thanks, Yuliya!
I LOVED THE PAPER CHAIN AND I WILL MAKE MY GRADE 4 CHILDREN HAVE AN ACTIVITY OF IT IN THE CLASS AND I AM SURE MY CHILDREN WILL LOVE THIS ACTIVITY TOO
That’s so wonderful to hear! Thanks for sharing 🙂
This is a wonderful hands-on way to teach kindness to children. Thank you for linking up at “A Little Bird Told Me” Wednesday link party! You have been featured on Mama’s Happy Hive blog. 🙂
I like how this is a positive reinforcer and takes the focus off what the kid is doing wrong. I will use this in my practice
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What a great idea! Every month our family learns about a different religion and this month is Buddhism, this will go perfectly with our crafts!
Oh I love that! Yes, it would go perfectly.
Wow…something that we must really try out …i am sure kids will enjoy moreover they will also understand the importance of kindness in a fun manner…
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