Friendships and Children

I had intentions of posting this shortly after my daughter started kindergarten but better late than never........My daughter started kindergarten this past September and with that came the making of new friendships. Here are two books that talk about friendship that we really enjoy.



Oscar needs a friend: This was such an adorable book and a simple  message for preschoolers and for kindergartners to understand.  This book allows you to stop and talk about what Oscar could do differently to help his friendship with his new friend, Ollie.

Peanut Butter and Cupcake: A book that will bring many smiles and chuckling especially because of the illustrations.  Peanut Butter moves to a new town and is trying to find new friends.  Peanut Butter doesn't have much luck but by the end of the book he finds the perfect friend and then some!



In addition to these books I wanted to do an activity to reinforce what we've read and talked about.

Our first activity was based on some questions about how we should treat our friends.  Since we did alot of talking about how we should treat other people the questions seemed appropriate.

We also turned this activity into a craft that my daughter could give to a friend once it was complete.

Here's what we used:

Card Stock (for flower template)
Flower Template
Scissors
Glue
Construction paper
Sticker Foam Sheets (cut to match up to petals on template)
Heart sticker

Here's what to do:

• Print off a flower template but it's easy enough to also free hand a flower onto card stock.  
• Cut out the flower
• Glue flower onto construction paper
• Cut out different colors from foam sheets as the flowers petals

Next, I asked my daughter a question and tried painting the picture of a situation and then read her two choices.  If she picked the correct choice she added a petal to the flower.  I also included some questions with just a yes or no answer.  Below is a sample and what I used as a guide for me. 

I'm proud to say that my daughter answered all the questions correctly! Once all the petals were added I included a heart sticker as the center for the flower.

My daughter cut a stem for the flower, glued it on and now she had a cute flower craft that she could give to one of her friends.  She thought about it for a minute and said, "Mom, I want to give this to you!"  Melt my hear, I will cherish it forever!

Our second friendship activity will get your child moving and is super easy to set up.  I went out to the driveway and wrote words inside some squares.  I then asked my daughter some more questions and she had to jump to the answer she thought was the right one.  I told her that if she answered the questions correctly there would be a surprise at the end.  Once again I'm glad to report she answered them correctly and her prize was a treat from the dollar section of Target.

We did alot of talking with this topic and I am so pleased that my daughter seems to be on the right track.  I'm excited for her and confident that she is off to a great start as she begins and nurtures her new friendships!

I hope these books and activities will help your child as they begin building their friendships too!