Inside: Teach kindness with this fun version of the Simon Says Kindness Game kids will love playing.
Whenever we have to teach kids a new skill or a new concept, if we can turn it into a game or even just call it a “game,” our kids will have “buy-in” and want to learn.
When we make learning fun, it also solidifies learning and makes it more tangible.
In fact, they often don’t even realize they’re learning while they’re playing the game.
So if we’re teaching kids to be kind, we can turn kindness into a game too.
We use this Kindness Dice Game and this Kindness Tic Tac Toe Game and this Kind or Trash Game.
But we also love playing this adapted version of Simon Says to help teach kindness, character education and social-emotional learning.
Why We Should Teach Kids About Kindness:
When we teach kids about Character Education and Social Emotional Learning (SEL), we teach them life skills that are necessary to thrive in life.
Besides the fact that kind kids are happier kids, and kind kids are more enjoyable to be around, intentionally teaching kindness:
- increases kids’ self-confidence
- increases kids’ self-esteem
- improves their problem-solving skills
- increases kids’ emotional intelligence
- encourages kids to be more helpful, compassionate, generous and grateful.
Related: 9 Reasons You Should Teach Kids to Be Kind
How to Play Simon Says Kindness Game:
We love Simon Says for all sorts of reasons, but Kind Kim Says helps students decide what is kind and what is not.
Instead of Simon, we call the caller, “Kind Kim” or “Kind Ken” who is either a teacher or a student.
They’ll start by saying “Kind Kim says” or “Kind Ken says” and follow it up with action. If Kind Kim/Ken says something kind, the other kids will do that action.
Ideas for Kind actions:
- air high five a classmate
- give a compliment
- smile
- wave
- cheer for a friend
- shake someone’s hand
- stand by someone new you haven’t played with in a while
- pick up a piece of trash on the ground
But, if Kind Kim/Ken says something unkind after they say “Kind Kim says,” or “Kind Ken says” students will NOT do that action.
Ideas for Unkind actions:
- stick out your tongue
- roll your eyes
- tell a secret
- say something mean
- point and laugh at someone
- tell someone they can’t play with you
- throw trash on the ground
More Ideas for the Simon Says Kindness Game:
Take the Kind Kim/Kind Ken outside/gym to work on gross motor skills/PE skills and two-step directions:
- skip over here then air high five a classmate
- walk backward to the bench then give a compliment
- hop backward to the line then wave to a classmate
- gallop to the fence then smile
- balance on one foot then cheer for a friend
Or use this kindness game during Fun Fridays, rainy day/snowy day recess.
You can also follow up with the game or pre-teach the game by talking about how each action is either kind or unkind. If you need help you can play this Kind or Trash Game that kids love to play.
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