"MOM, HE'S BAAACK!" Much to my kids delight, our Elf on the Shelf has joined us again. My kids are so excited that they even made him a little welcome back sign. This time my plan is to have Zac (the name we chose for our little Elf) encourage healthy habits, good social skills and wonderful manners! All of his missions are simple and easy to recreate. They also offer 'teachable moments' to talk to your children about kindness, respect and character development. What do you need to get started? Just download these FREE printables - , and . Cut out each mission and tape it to a craft stick. There are sixteen ready-made missions and a blank page to create your own. The possibilities are endless! Ready to get started? Mission 1 - Healthy Habits A little reminder to take … [Read more...]
A Bully-Free Childhood!
October is National Bullying Prevention Month. This is an important time to remind your children to not judge or act mean to anyone and to always appreciate differences. How do we prepare our children for a diverse world and teach them to celebrate differences? We can raise children to respect and value people regardless of the differences between us. Teaching acceptance may be easier than you think! Model Acceptance and Tolerance – Be the first person or family to try to help someone who looks like they feel out of place. Encourage your child to have many different friends from different cultures and interests. Walk the Walk- Create opportunities for your children to interact and make friends with people who are different than them. A powerful lesson is to ask them to imagine … [Read more...]
Encouraging Kindness in a Game Format {Free Printable}
As I dropped off my kids for the first day of school, I thought of how important it is as parents to foster and build our children's character. Kindness is a big part of great character! The definition of kindness is the quality of being generous and considerate. Wonderful thoughtful kids are made not born. That inspired me to create ways to remind my kids to spread kindness this year! Why not make a fun game format that challenges them to perform simple acts of kindness in school? Here are 13 acts of kindness to teach children to be nice and generous one good deed at a time: Hold a door open for someone. Thank someone for something they do. Clean up after someone. Help someone today. Say "Hi" to someone new. Push in someone's chair. Give a nice compliment. Make a card … [Read more...]
