Use these ideas to help preschoolers learn about kindness. This article includes games, crafts, and interactive ways to teach about being kind to others.

The ideas below may help you when teaching a lesson on kindness. Feel free to use these ideas to supplement your current curriculum or to make your own lesson.

Story Suggestions

• Psalm 103:8-12
• Michah 6:8
• 1 John 3:11-24

Game Ideas

The Kindness Game

Directions: Before class prepare a stack of cards with an act of kindness written on each one, such as:

• Give someone a hug.
• Say something nice about the person on your left.
• Pick up a toy lying around the room.

Make enough cards so that each child will be able to pick at least one or two cards during play. Have the children sit in a circle and place the stack of cards in the middle of the circle. You start by picking up the first card and doing the action that it says. The person who receives your kind act will be the next one to pick up a card. Play until all children have had a chance to pick a card.

Ducks in a Pond

Directions: Choose one child to be a duck. Have the children pretend to go for a swim in a pond. Have the child "quack" and point to another child to join him, as everyone repeats this rhyme:

• One little duck
• Went for a swim.
• He/she quacked and quacked
• For his friend to come in.

As the second child joins him in the pond, everyone repeats the rhythm, but saying:

• Two little ducks
• Went for a swim.
• They quacked and quacked
• For their friend to come in.

Continue the rhyme until all of the children are swimming and quacking in the pond.

Snacks

A good snack for this lesson would be:

Yogurt Pies

Ingredients:

• 2 large graham cracker pie shells
• 2 eight ounce containers of non dairy whipped cream
• 1 quart fruit flavored yogurt

Directions:

1. In a bowl fold whipped cream and yogurt together.
2. Let the children scoop out the mixture to help make the pies.
3. You can let them decorate the top of the pies with fruit or candy.
4. Put the pies in the refrigerator until the filling is firm.

Another good snack for this lesson would be:

Edible Necklaces

Directions: Use cereal with holes (Froot Loops or Cheerios), gummies with holes, and pretzels to string up to make an edible necklace or bracelet. Be sure to attach one piece of cereal or pretzel to the end so the others don't slide off while they are being strung up.

Art Center Ideas

Suncatchers

Materials:

• Overhead transparencies cut in 4 inch diameter circles
• Colored markers
• Yarn or colored duct tape (thin)

Directions:

Preparation: Cut two circles for each child. On one circle per child, write "I Can be Kind" wherever you like.

1. Give each child a circle made from a transparency.
2. Let them decorate their transparency with colored markers.
3. Cover the decorated circle with a blank circle to protect what they have done.
4. Secure the edges with yarn or colored duct tape.
5. Use a piece of yarn to hang it in a window.

Cup of Kindness

Materials:

• Zip-lock sandwich bags
• Instant coffee creamer
• Cocoa powder
• Powered sugar
• Ribbon
• Scissors
• Tape
• Measuring cups
• Mixing bowl
• Plastic spoons

Directions:

1. Mix 4 cups of instant coffee creamer, 2 cups of cocoa, and 2 cups of powdered sugar in the mixing bowl.
2. Spoon four spoonfuls of the mixture into a zip-lock bag.
3. Place a plastic spoon in the bag, and then seal it tightly.
4. Tape ribbon to the top of the bag.
5. Tape the Kindness Tag (print out template below) to the bag, too.

Suggested Prayer (or use your own)

Dear God, teach me to be kind to others, just as you are kind to me. Help show your love to everyone I see. Amen.

See the full list of Sunday School lesson ideas on both the Old Testament and the New Testament!