Thursday, February 13, 2025
Welcome Back, Friends!
Did the team you were rooting for win in the big game last Sunday?
Either way, we hope you and your loved ones had a great time celebrating!
Two years ago, Laurie’s Little D made the cutest cheerleader!
Don’t you agree?
Tomorrow is ❤ day and in honor of this special day,
we are devoting today’s blog post to this topic,
although with a bit of a different spin!
When we were still in the classroom,
Valentine’s Day was one of our favorite days of the year,
because we could spend extra time and energy
devoted to the themes of
KINDNESS, FRIENDSHIP and CARING FOR OTHERS!
It provided a great opportunity for us to practice
what each of us has always known to be
the most important skills we can teach five year olds…
How to share with others, how to help others,
how to be patient and how to be kind!
It was always fun to discover that our students quickly found
such delight and joy when giving to others!
AND
while Valentine’s Day presents a great opportunity to encourage these skills
we also know that this message is so valuable,
it should be shared with others, especially Littles,
EVERY DAY!
While we are used to being the teacher, the one in charge,
our role has definitely changed since retirement
and we always do our best to be mindful of that distinction!
Of course we are always thrilled to share our Grand wisdom
but we try hard not to step in unless asked.
Our Middles (our own adult children) need our love and encouragement
as they navigate their way through their own journey called parenthood
and our primary job is to support them whenever and wherever we can!
Teachable moments are those events or experiences that present us with an opportunity to nurture learning. Through simple, intentional and often impromptu moments we can show our Littles how to be kind and how deliberate acts of kindness make a huge difference in our lives and the lives around us! Below, you’ll find some of the ways we can gently “plant seeds” as our Littles grow and develop a foundation for choosing kindness!
❤️ Use Imaginative Play with Littles!
Littles love to pretend! However they use their imaginative play - in the kitchen, a construction zone, at the animal hospital or when going camping - your Littles can practice kindness and compassion! Asking “What would that feel like?” helps your Littles understand that others may look at the world differently.
“It looks like the turtle is hurt and needs a shot and a bandage.
What can you say to help him?”
As you play together, teach feeling words through conversations! Beginning in infancy, even before Littles are verbal, you can validate their feelings (“Oh, you’re crying… you must be sad”) and at the same time, model future ways for them to express themselves!
❤️ Play Games with Littles!
While playing games (board games or card games) we can encourage and support our Littles as they practice important skills like taking turns, being flexible and good sportsmanship… all ways we show kindness to others!
“Lucky you! You get to move a long way! You must feel happy!”
❤️ Read Books About Feelings to Littles!
While reading together, ask your Little questions about how the characters in the story are feeling. Littles LOVE sharing their ideas! This is another great opportunity for Littles to express themselves and to build vocabulary!
REMEMBER!
You can always visit your local library to find these or other titles!
❤️ Create a Kindness Jar!
This is an easy and meaningful way to recognize and applaud your Littles when they are choosing kindness. Sometimes these situations take courage, especially as your Littles get older. Sharing your own personal experiences of choosing kindness, especially in difficult moments, is powerful!
Create a Kindness Jar for your Littles and their family…
If you are a Grand (like us) make a Kindness Jar
and gift it to your Little’s family!
All you need is an empty jar, some slips of paper and a pen. Don’t have a jar? Use a bowl! Decorate the jar or keep it simple! Older Littles will have fun helping you decorate the container!
Have a collection of colored pens nearby (we love our Flair pens) and let your Little choose which color to use if you “catch” them being kind OR if they notice someone else choosing kindness! You’ll be surprised by what an incentive a colored pen can have!
When a family member does a kind act, write it down on a slip of paper along with the date, and drop it in the jar. This is a fun dinner time activity, too! Once a week/month (shorter amount of time for your younger Littles) or perhaps when the jar is full, pull out the acts of kindness and read them out loud!
❤️ Play a Kindness Game!
This is a simple and interactive game to play with your Littles, with a group of children or with your whole family!
The only supply you’ll need is a ball. Have everyone get in a circle with a ball (the only supply you’ll need)! Begin, by throwing the ball to someone and whoever catches the ball must say something nice about the person who threw them the ball. Make sure to give everyone a turn and don’t throw the ball to the same person twice until everyone has had a first turn.
Have you ever made this project?
We bet you probably have, one way or another!
Secret Sweetheart Notes!
For best results, do Steps 1-3 below ahead of time spent with your Littles!
STEP 1: Cut out one large white heart (using 9 x 12 construction paper, when possible) for each Little.
STEP 2: Using a white crayon, write a secret message on each heart - if you’d like, make each note specific to each Little! (Since we are focusing on being kind, our messages would be focused on sharing some way we’ve seen each Little be kind! - i.e. “I love the way you helped your sister” or “you are such a kind friend!”) Be sure to press hard with the white crayon… harder than we did in our sample, as you’ll see below!
STEP 3: Cover a table with newspaper or an old sheet. You will also need watercolor paints, water and a paint brush for each Little. The larger the paint brush the better for young Littles! (You can also use tempera paint that you’ve watered down.)
STEP 4: Now you are ready for your Littles to paint! Using the paint brush, your Little will paint across the white heart, covering it all. Your secret message will appear, since the crayon will resist the paint! Once your little ones are done painting you can read their messages to them! You can also add more decorations (i.e. doilies, stickers) to the secret note!
DISTANT GRANDS!
THIS ACTIVITY WORKS FOR YOU, TOO!
You, too, can let your Littles know (in an extra special way) when you see or hear them choosing kindness with others! Imagine how excited your Littles would be to receive a package in the mail, filled with your “secret” white hearts and a set of watercolors along with a note telling them what to do. SURPRISE! Your Littles will be so delighted to read your messages and they will be reminded that words are remembered!
Don’t Forget…
Actions Speak Louder Than Words!
We all know the above saying as well as the words, “The children are watching…” From the time they are babies, our Littles will watch how we treat others and since they are often eager to copy us, our actions are extremely important! Treating people around us with love and kindness - making eye contact, saying “thank you,” offering help - demonstrates kindness in tangible ways! If you have older Littles, share a volunteer experience with them!
We hope our ideas have inspired you to try some of these activities with your family and especially the Littles in your life! . Kindness is a powerful tool, and we believe that by practicing it together, we can make the world a better place.
We’d love to hear your thoughts!
Please consider leaving a comment at the end of this post
or you can always email us directly at ourgrandlives@gmail.com.
whenever you can!
You can find lots of great content there!
We’ll be back tomorrow, too, with a few of our WEEKLY SNAPSHOTS!
It’s always a fave!
We hope you’ll stop by and celebrate Valentine’s Day with us!
In the meantime,
Please consider subscribing to our site.
That way, you'll never miss out when we publish a new post!
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Senior Salon Pit Stop from Scratch Made Food for Hungry People
A Morning Cup of Joe from The Cottage Market
Busy Monday from A Pinch of Joy
You Are a Star from At Home with Lisa
Thank you for featuring this post on your sites!
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I love this. Kindness is so important, and these activities are a great way to focus on it. Great post. Thank you for sharing with us at the Crazy Little Lovebirds link party #76.
Steph@CrazyLittleLovebirds
I really love this focus. Valentine's Day is lovely for flowers and chocolates and kisses, but I really like the focus on love in general, on feelings, on connections. This is wonderful. I love the books about feelings. Some people are born in touch with them, and some people are not as much, and for me books were a great way to teach that to one of my Littles years ago. Thanks for sharing this post with us at the Will Blog for Comments #56 linkup! We'd love to see more at #57, too. Have a great week.
I love those little hearts with messages on. We are deep in grief counselling after the loss of my son last year so I think this would be a fun activity for us to do as a family. 💖
I love this so much! You can never have enough kindness in this world. Have a great week, lovely ladies! :)
I especially appreciate your advice about not overstepping. I share your thoughts and live right next door, so it is something I practice daily! PS this is one of my features for this week's SSPS. Thank you so much for sharing with us each week! Melynda @scratchmadefood!