Post #25 Being Kind

Kindness is the theme for Mental Health Awareness Week. This is a great opportunity to focus on what 'kindness' and  'being mind' mean. How about you introduce 'project kindness' for the week!

This week's focus on kindness as part of Mental Health Awareness Week is a great opportunity to introduce some kindness activities during your home learning week.  Being kind to others helps us to feel good and the more we do good for others, the more we are doing good for ourselves. Many schools would include 'kindness' as a topic as part of Personal, Social and Health Education or PSHE. So this week you could introduce 'project kindness' to your learning week, teaching your child(ren) about kindness through some engaging and fun activities. Kindness has a positive effect on wellbeing for both giver and receiver, so use this week to spread some kindness.

What is kindness & how can we see it?

For many autistic children, the concept of kindness is too abstract and so the first activity in project kindness needs to include clear explanations of what kindness is through concrete and visual learning.  Kindness can be seen through 'acts of kindness' or ways of 'being kind', so focusing on being kind is a way of helping your child to 'see' what kindness is.

Activities to get started

1. Find out what your child knows about kindness and being kind. Introduce vocabulary.

Make a mind map, using written words and/or pictures. 

Older children might like to make a word cloud  

Word clouds

Make a picture dictionary or find definitions using a dictionary and thesaurus.

Twinkl has some great free to download 'acts of kindness' picture cards: Acts of kindness picture cards

Introduce signs & symbols for acts of kindness, for example: 

Makaton sign for kind:

Makaton symbol for kind:

Make a kindness tree - draw a tree outline on large sheet of paper, draw round hands, cut them out, write examples of being kind on the hands, stick these on the tree.

2. Model what being kind looks like - a fun way to do this is to play 'being kind charades' where you take turns to act out ways of being kind. 

3. Watch You Tube films about kindness, talk with your child about which acts of kindness they can see in the film. For example, watch:

4. Make a power point presentation about kindness - Twinkl has a free Being kind power point which might give some ideas:

From Twinkl 'being kind' power point

5.

Emphasise  that being kind to others gives the person who received the kindness good feelings. 

Remind your child about good feelings (wellbeing post 1). Explain that being kind or doing acts of kindness gives good feelings to both the giver and receiver. This is important to show your child how their kind actions have a positive effect on another person and is an important step in teaching about the perspectives of other people (more on this to come in future posts this week).

6. Set some kindness or being kind targets - set some for yourself too as a great way of modelling 'being kind'. Make a 'being kind' checklist for your child to keep track of their acts of kindness. This one is from Twinkl and is free to download: Being kind checklist 

It is important to encourage your child to identify their own 'being kind' targets as they will be more motivating and meaningful to them - use the example above to help give them some ideas.

Older children can be encouraged to think about their acts of kindness and the good feelings which they bring to the receiver and also to themselves. 

Act of kindness	Who  for?	How did they feel?	How did it make me feel?

During difficult times, kindness matters even more and helps people to cope with the challenges they face. Being kind to others is being kind to yourself too - this is an important message to share with our children and helps to build resilience.

Tomorrow's post will provide examples of sharing information about kindness in a meaningful way through Social Stories & Articles.