Acts of Kindness Ideas to Improve Emotional Intelligence in the Classroom

Inside: Increase your classroom’s emotional intelligence with these great acts of kindness ideas. This post provides actionable kindness activities and lessons.

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Acts of Kindness Ideas to Spark Emotional Growth in Your Classroom

Emotional intelligence is a fundamental skill that empowers children to understand and manage their emotions. And today, more than ever before, kids need this skill. So, how can we teach it?

One powerful way to help our students develop emotional intelligence is by encouraging acts of kindness, both in the classroom and beyond. With thoughtfully selected activities, lessons, and resources, you can promote kindness and help kids connect with their feelings and those of others.

But this goes beyond just teaching empathy. It’s about creating a space where emotions are normal and make sense. It’s about nurturing an environment where kindness is a real, living practice.

Connecting to Kindness

If you are looking to bring more kindness into your classroom, I’ve got the perfect thing to help you get started. And it’s FREE. This kindness freebie includes printable activities that spark creativity and reflection as well as lists of books and videos that can be used to encourage kindness in the classroom. Prompts like “Draw and write about a time someone was kind to you” will encourage your students to explore their emotions, reflect upon personal experiences, and build connections. It’s an engaging and meaningful way to kickstart your kindness lessons. Just click here to grab this free kindness resource!

Books for Teaching Kindness and Emotional Intelligence

A great way to help students connect to a topic or theme is by sharing related books. Read-alouds and shared reading experiences with books about kindness and emotional intelligence can open the door for deep, meaningful classroom discussions even with our youngest learners!

Here are some great suggestions of books you can use to discuss kindness and emotional intelligence with your students. If you’re looking for even more suggestions, be sure to grab my kindness freebie which includes a list of other books related to kindness.

• The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig – A powerful story about noticing those who might feel left out and including them
• The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld – An empathetic tale about listening and comfort
• A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead – A heartwarming story about kindness, friendship, and taking care of others
• Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts – A lesson in empathy and understanding the importance of needs over wants
• You, Me and Empathy by Jayneen Sanders – This book explicitly teaches children about empathy, kindness, and compassion

These books aren’t just entertaining reads; they’re gateways to meaningful lessons and discussions. Ideal for reading aloud, they can be paired with activities that reinforce their messages and make learning about kindness a joyful experience.

Videos to Boost Emotional Learning and Understanding

While sharing books related to kindness is a great way to teach students about emotional intelligence, videos can help make the concepts come to life.

Here are some great videos on YouTube that you can share with your students to engage them and provide visual illustrations of empathy and compassion. As always, please watch each video before sharing it with your class to make sure it is appropriate for your students.

• All About Empathy
• Sesame Street and Mark Ruffalo: Empathy
• Kindness is my Superpower
• Download my kindness freebie for more videos related to kindness!

Remember, videos can be a powerful way to make emotional intelligence and kindness come alive for your students!

Crafting Kindness- An Adorable Way to Spread Kindness in Your Classroom

An adorable book to share with your students is The Gnome in Your Home. It tells the story of a group of gnomes who doubt their ability to make a meaningful difference. They discover that they can spread the gift of kindness- and learn that small acts of kindness can make a big difference. The book also has an adorable stuffed gnome you can keep in your classroom. 🥰

I loved this book so much that I created an adorable craft activity to use as a follow-up activity. After reading and discussing the book with students, create a huge list of small acts of kindness your students can do in school, at home, and within the community. Write the ideas on an anchor chart. 

Then, have each child create their own gnome craft and then write an act of kindness on their gnome’s beard. This transforms a simple craft into a meaningful learning experience- and you can display the gnomes on your classroom bulletin board or door.

So, not only is this a fun and adorable craft, but it’s also a way to keep the conversation about kindness going in your classroom. It’s a simple yet powerful reminder that every act of kindness, no matter how small, can make a big difference.

Putting Kindness into Action: Simple Steps for Big Impact

Now that your students understand the big difference even small acts of kindness can make, it’s time to turn those ideas into action. Here’s a simple way to guide them:

1. Commit to Kindness: Have students commit to several small acts of kindness or choose a large kindness project.
2. Provide Inspiration: Use the Acts of Kindness Cards I’ve created to spark ideas for showing kindness at school, home, or within their community.
3. Plan the Acts: Help your students list daily little things they can do or plan out a bigger act of kindness.
4. Support Bigger Projects: If they’re taking on a bigger project, guide them as they determine what they need, the help required, and the steps to take.

By breaking it down and actively involving the students in the process, kindness becomes more than a lesson—it becomes a practical, daily practice. And that’s how real change happens!

In my Kindness Gnome resource, you can find the Acts of Kindness Cards and planning pages for daily acts of kindness or kindness projects!

Comprehensive Strategies for Emotional Education

Teaching about kindness and empathy can become an integral part of your regular literacy instruction, providing meaningful connections to real-world behavior. Here’s how to dive deeper:

1. Identify Kind Characters: Begin by having students identify characters in their reading that demonstrate kindness. This could be part of a group discussion or an individual reflection.
2. Analyze Actions: Ask students to explain what the character did and why it was kind. Encourage them to think critically and express their thoughts.
3. Utilize the Kindness Gnome Resource: My Kindness Gnome resource includes printable pages that students can use to reflect on kind characters. These structured prompts guide students in their analysis, making the process engaging and interactive.
4. Connect to Personal Experiences: Have students draw parallels between the characters’ actions and the kindness they’ve seen or experienced in their own lives.
5. Create a Kindness Journal: Encourage students to keep a kindness journal where they note acts of kindness they observe or participate in. This can be tied back to the characters they’ve studied.
6. Build a Kindness Wall: Designate a section of your classroom where students can post quotes, images, or notes about kindness. This can become a living visual reminder of the importance of empathy and compassion.
7. Discuss and Reflect Regularly: Make discussions about kindness a regular part of your classroom routine. Regular reflection helps to reinforce the importance of kindness and encourages students to practice it in their daily lives.
8. Encourage Creative Expression: Allow students to draw, write poems, or create other art forms that represent kindness. Display these in the classroom to create an environment that celebrates empathy.

By weaving kindness into your everyday teaching, you not only enrich your literacy instruction but also foster a more compassionate classroom culture. The use of reflective activities like the Kindness Gnome resource helps students connect with the material on a deeper level, turning abstract concepts into tangible practices. And that’s a lesson that will stay with them far beyond the classroom.

Building Emotional Intelligence Through Kindness

The consistent practice of kindness is more than a moral lesson; it’s a critical building block for emotional intelligence. Teaching your students about kindness and empathy with intentional resources and activities helps them develop strong emotional intelligence, enriching their lives in the classroom and beyond.

Teaching your students about kindness is more than just making them feel good. It’s a foundational aspect of developing emotional intelligence. By integrating kindness lessons into your classroom through activities like the Kindness Gnome craft, reading about empathetic characters, or planning and engaging in acts of kindness, you’ll be providing students with tools to help them recognize and manage their emotions.

But why does this matter? Emotional intelligence is key to understanding oneself and others. It fosters empathy, improves social skills, enhances communication, and builds resilience. These are life skills that don’t just make a difference in the classroom; they enrich life outside school, paving the way for more compassionate relationships and successful navigation of emotional challenges.

Through intentional teaching about kindness and empathy, you’re nurturing a generation that’s emotionally aware and capable, not just academically proficient. It’s an investment in your students’ overall well-being that will continue to pay dividends long into their futures.

Embrace Kindness and Social-Emotional Learning Today

Through practical activities, engaging books, and thoughtful discussions, you can weave kindness into the fabric of your classroom.

Start fostering emotional intelligence today with my free kindness resource. It’s filled with activities, prompts, and inspiration to guide you in nurturing a compassionate classroom environment. Take the first step in creating a classroom where empathy and understanding thrive. 

If you want to learn more about increasing your students’ emotional intelligence, check out my blog post, How to Encourage Random Acts of Kindness in School.