I recently had the pleasure of visiting Washington, D.C. It’s an amazing place where you can see and feel the history everywhere you go. Monuments like the Lincoln Memorial and buildings like the Capitol as well as other monuments like those commemorating the Vietnam and Korean wars tell the incredible stories of our young country.
All kinds of museums like the air and space, history, natural history and many art museums flesh out our events even more. One of the most memorable places we visited was the Holocaust Museum. It’s hard to imagine that those horrific events really happened. How is it possible that a whole country of people can be swayed to perform such evil?
I was struck by the answer that small events often build and lead to bigger and bigger ones both in positive and negative events. This is true for kids in their growing years too; often a small thing can make a big difference in the path a child will take as an adult.
Being a parent, teacher or anyone who is involved with children in any capacity is a huge responsibility. I found a book at the museum called What Do You Stand For? A Guide to
Building Character
by Barbara A. Lewis and I was struck by the common sense text, simple suggestions and fun activities it contained. I decided that I would share some of these ideas with you in Whirligigs.
The main chapters are broken down into 10 character traits. These traits are caring, citizenship, cooperation, fairness, forgiveness, honesty, relationships, respect, responsibility and safety. I will explore each one monthly. Here is just one fun example of what we have to look forward to.
Kindness Cards
Make kindness cards with ideas of kind things you can do for your family and friends. Maybe you can even think up a few things you can do for someone you are currently struggling with right now.
Use index cards or cut up construction paper and write one kind act on
each card. Decorate the box with whatever art materials you wish. You may want to cover the box first with paper and then color and decorate it however you wish. Every day, take out a card from the box and do that act of kindness at least one time that day. Put the card back into the box and add new acts of kindness as you think of them.
Kelly Dupre of Grand Marais
is an artist, children’s author,
and educator with over 20 years
teaching experience with all age
groups in a variety of settings.
The activities in this once-amonth
column are spin-offs and
combinations of ideas she has
used and learned from teachers,
parents, kids, books, and workshops.
Only some of the activities has she
actually thought of herself!
Leave a Reply