Activities Natural Happiness (all grades)
Objectives: 1) Students will identify the positive emotions related to simple, natural experiences. 2) Students will recognize that they can choose to experience natural happiness every day. 3) The activity should reinforce the empathetic experience of enjoying the natural happiness of other students.
Instructions: Introduce the concept of “natural happiness”: happy/positive experiences that come ‘naturally’ (i.e. other than those that come from material possessions, playing computer games, or watching television). Offer some examples of natural happiness such as: Feeling the sun on your face Snuggling under warm covers Hugs Smelling flowers The cold side of a pillow An unexpected high five Finding something I didn’t know I lost Doing something that makes my best friend smile Sun sparkling on snow (or water) Jumping
Have students pair up and tell each other as many of their natural happiness points as they can. You may want to let groups have the class guess the natural happiness points they come up with by playing a game of charades, or sim- ply ask each pair to give you a couple of their favourites. These can be collected by you and displayed on large chart paper. Use the discussion to draw out the feel-
ings associated with natural happiness and the positive experience of hearing about the natural happiness of other people. Guide students towards the awareness that they can choose to experience, create and share natural happiness. Alternately, ask students to draw one of their natural happiness points and use these to create a display in the classroom. You may want to reinforce the concept of natural happiness by asking students to share a natural happiness point they experienced each day.
Happy Feet, Happy Earth (Grades K-6)
Objective: Students will identify links between happiness and walking, and the benefits for the community and the earth when people choose to walk rather than use motorized vehicles. They will convey these benefits through at least one art form.
Instructions: Lead class on a walkabout around the schoolyard and/or neighbourhood (you may need parent volunteers or older students). Ensure that required permissions are obtained if students are leaving the school site. Before returning to class, ask students to name all the reasons they can think of why walking makes them happy; then how it makes their community happy; and how it makes the earth happy. Back in the classroom, students work with a partner to determine how they want to convey the benefits of walking. They
can create a poster, make up a song, write a story, create a skit, make a puppet show. Each team shares their work with the whole class and you may want to share this with other classes.
Happiness Interview (Grades 4-5)
Objective: Students will explore the concept of happiness and what it means to different people. They will discover that for most people, happiness comes from relationships with family and friends, doing meaningful work in the community, feeling connected to other people or the natural environment, or from spiritual beliefs. Sustained happiness is less often attained through material possessions.
Instructions: Explain that this activity is about discovering what contributes to lasting happiness and well-being. Instruct students to interview someone from home, school or the community – ideally the happiest person they know. In the interview, ask the following questions, plus any additional ones that they care to ask.
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