Kindness Tree
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Kindness Tree
Source: Family Wonder, creator Miriam Berman. Here's a good activity to teach your child the importance of being kind to others and to look for ways to help others. Make a kindness tree. Cut a large triangle from a piece of green posterboard to form a tree, making the tree the height of the board. Use a smaller piece that you cut way and make a trunk for the tree, gluing some brown construction paper to the trunk if desired. Hang tree somewhere visible such as on the door of your child's room, hallway, etc. Trace your child's hand on a piece of cardboard, cut out handprint, and use as a pattern to cut hands out of various shades of green construction paper to decorate the tree. Each time your child does an unsolicited kindness for someone, that deed should be recorded on the palm of the hand with the fingers pointing downward (to resemble branches on the tree). This encourages children to be kind to other people and presents a visible reminder of all the good things your child does. You will not only boost his self-esteem, you will be teaching the virtue of kindness which is getting lost in society today. Provide a suitable reward for the successful completion of the tree.
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| Patricia Walters-Fischer |
