C is for Caring

It's almost Valentine's Day again, and now is a perfect time to have a conversation with your children or students about caring.  For me, caring is about giving and receiving love from people, places and thing/objects.  So when we throw around the phrase "I don't care" we are affirming that we do not want to give or receive love.  Which is...well...a place where many of us don't want to be.

For this post, I have included:

(1) a sample conversation you can have with your little significant others about caring (2) activities designed to help children artistically express how they give and receive care in their lives (3) a link to a *FREE* emergent reader that your little ones can illustrate  (4) a song and (5) a few good reads on "caring".

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Talking to the "littles" about caring

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Caring is giving your love to another person, place or thing/object.  We can give our love to family members and friends, pets, our homes and even our toys.  We can show our family, friends and pets love by telling them we love them each day and by doing things together.  We can show our love for our home by helping to keep it clean and fixing anything that is broken.  We can also show our love for our toys by picking them up and placing them back in their places when we are done playing with them and playing with them carefully so they don’t break.

Who do you give your love to?  How do you show them love?

"I Care" by Angela Leeper

What things do you give your love to? How do you show them love?

What places do you give your love to? How do you show them love?



"The Peace Book" by Todd Parr

When we take care of people, places and things—or show love to them—often times they will show love to us.  So we get back the love we give.  If you show your brother love by giving him a hug, sometimes you might get a hug back.  If you help pick up your toys and play with them carefully, your toys will be easy to find the next time you want to play with them and they will not be broken!  If you fix things around the house when they start to break, your house will look good and keep you safe.

 

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Artistics Expressions of Care

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1)    “I care” collage—Write or type the words “I care” in the center of a page or poster board.  Have several magazines available.  Invite your students to cut and paste pictures of the things they care about on their poster board.  Afterwards, you can have a “show and tell”.  Are there things that are similar across collages?  What are some differences?

2)    “I care” reader—I have put together a free printer-ink and artistic child friendly reader.  {Get it from my TPT store here} Each page in the reader includes one to two sentences expressing what we give care to and who gives care to us.  All pages are blank so that independent illustrations can be added.  If you have students/children who are not particularly keen on drawing, you can provide pictures of families, pets, toys, and other things that children care for.

3)    Make your own Belly Badge—If you have little ones who are in to the Care Bears, this is a great idea!  First review some of the belly badges the Care Bears have.  The badges are symbols for how the bears show that they care!  After your review, invite your child/students to draw a symbol of how they care on the back of a paper plate.  (This is also a good time to explore what a “symbol” is too).  Then punch holes in the sides of the plate and tie it around their waste with some string. Now they have their own belly badge!

Yes I Care! Song

 

{To the tune of London Bridges Falling Down}

I give my love because I care (hands and arms out)

Yes I care (whisper), Yes I care! (shout)

We give our love because we care (hands and arms out)

For each other (arms make a big circle over the head and to the ground)

 

 

I feel love because you care (hands on the heart)

Yes you care (whisper), Yes you care (shout)

We feel love because we care (hands on the heart)

For each other (arms make a big circle over the head and to the ground)

 

Always give and accept love with grace :)

~Dee J.