Kindness Activities and Games for EYFS

Tuff Tray Sensory Ideas and Teaching Activities for EYFS on Kindness

Kindness is one of the most important values that we can teach our children, especially in these challenging times. Kindness means being friendly, generous, and considerate of others, as well as ourselves. Kindness can make a positive difference in our lives and in the world.

One of the ways that we can develop an understanding of what kindness means in our children is through sensory play, which is a type of play that stimulates the senses and encourages exploration, creativity, and learning. Sensory play can also help children develop their social and emotional skills, such as empathy, communication, and cooperation.

In this post, I will share some tuff tray sensory ideas and teaching activities for EYFS on kindness, that you can easily set up and enjoy with your children. A tuff tray is a large, shallow tray that can be filled with various materials and objects, and can be used for various play and learning experiences. You can find some examples of tuff trays and how we have adapted them for SEN learners here.

Tuff Tray Ideas for Kindness

Here are some tuff tray sensory ideas and teaching activities for EYFS on kindness:

Kindness Garden: Fill the tuff tray with soil, seeds, flowers, pots, tools, and watering cans, and invite your children to create their own kindness garden. You can also add some cards or stones with words or pictures of kindness, such as “help”, “share”, “smile”, “hug”, etc. Encourage your children to talk about what kindness means to them, and how they can be kind to others and to nature. You can also read some books about kindness and gardening, such as “The Tiny Seed” by Eric Carle

Kindness Bakery: Fill the tuff tray with flour, water, salt, baking soda, vinegar, food colouring, bowls, spoons, cookie cutters, trays, and oven mitts, and invite your children to make their own kindness bakery. You can also add some cards or stickers with words or pictures of kindness, such as “thank you”, “please”, “sorry”, “well done”, etc. Encourage your children to talk about how they can show kindness to others by baking and sharing treats, and how they can use polite words and manners. You can also read some books about kindness and baking, such as “The Kindness Quilt” by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

Kindness Rainbow: Fill the tuff tray with shaving foam, food colouring, pipettes, droppers, spoons, and brushes, and invite your children to make their own rainbow. You can also add some cards or pom poms with words or pictures of kindness, such as “love”, “care”, “friend”, “happy”, etc. Encourage your children to talk about how they can show kindness to others by spreading love and happiness, and how they can celebrate diversity and inclusion. You can also read some books, such as “The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister or “Elmer” by David McKee.

You can find more inspiration and resources for tuff tray play on Pinterest, remember though it is not how flash or Instagram-worthy your tuff tray looks but how well you have designed it to motivate and engage your class.

Kindness Games for Classes

Moving beyond the tuff tray, group games can help children learn about kindness and practice it with their peers. Here are three examples of group games for EYFS or SEN classrooms.

Kindness Bingo: This game involves using bingo cards with words or pictures of kindness, such as “help”, “share”, “smile”, “hug”, etc. The teacher calls out a word or shows a picture, and the children mark it on their cards. The first child to complete a row, column, or diagonal shouts “Bingo!” and wins. This game is great for helping children learn and recognise different ways of showing kindness.

The Smile Game: This game involves using a ball or a bean bag with a smiley face drawn on it. The children sit in a circle and pass the ball or bean bag around, while saying something kind to the person they pass it to. The person who receives the ball or bean bag can smile and say or sign “thank you”. This game can help children practice giving and receiving compliments and smiles

Kindness Relay: This game involves using two baskets or boxes, one filled with items that can be used to represent kindness, such as cards, stickers, flowers, etc., and the other empty. The children are divided into two teams and line up behind the baskets. The first child from each team picks an item from the full basket, runs to the empty basket, and places the item in, while saying how they can use it to show kindness. For example, “I can give this card to my friend who is sad”. Then they run back to their team and tag the next child. The game continues until all the items are transferred. This game can help children think of creative and thoughtful ways of showing kindness. If Kindness is too much of an abstract concept you could replace it with “Make them happy”.

We hope you enjoyed our ideas. We would love to hear your ideas for how you teach kindness to your classes.