Friendship Hearts

What does it mean to be a good friend? Classroom friendships blossom with this heart puzzle.

• 1.

  Read books, listen to music, and watch videos about friendship. Talk about what it means to be a good friend. Why are friends fun? What do friends do for each other? How do friends treat each other? Friends listen, share, forgive, and encourage. Write your own list of friend words with Crayola® Markers.

• 2.

  Hearts are an ancient symbol. They were first used as a sign for the heart of a person or animal. Heart symbols appear in all of the world’s major cultures. Today hearts stand for affection and understanding.

• 3.

  Here’s one way to make a heart-shaped puzzle with your classmates. Use markers to draw a huge heart on posterboard. Draw lines to divide the heart into enough pieces so that each person in the class will have one, including your teacher. Use Crayola Scissors to cut the heart puzzle into pieces. Distribute the puzzle pieces.

• 4.

  Use Crayola Markers and Multicultural Markers to decorate your puzzle piece. You could show how to be a good friend to someone in your class. Or spell a word such as share in large letters. Decorate your word with dots, stripes, plaids, or your own favorite patterns. Use bright colors and interesting details. Sign your name.

• 5.

  Assemble the pieces of the puzzle. Display the Friendship Heart next to your list of friendship words.

Benefits

• Students research the topic of friendship through the eyes of writers, musicians, and filmmakers.
• Students participate in discussions on friendship and how friends treat each other.
• Students identify the meaning of the heart symbol.
• Students represent their ideas of what friendship means on a piece of a collaborative heart-shaped puzzle.

Adaptations

• Add a Caught You Being a Good Friend component to the puzzle. Each time a student is caught by a classmate or teacher showing kindness, empathy, generosity, or other friendly behaviors, add a heart next to the chart. Ask the observer to describe the posit
• Continue the heart theme in science and health. Explore the circulatory system. On an anatomical chart, follow the path of blood as it passes through veins, heart chambers, and arteries. Look for veins visible on the surface of your skin. Check your pulse
• Adopt a class of younger children or students with special needs. Match each student up with a buddy. Buddies read together weekly, help with writing assignments, e-mail each other, and engage in other mutual activities. Celebrate with a friendly Buddy Party at the end of the school year.