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4 Fun Summer Character-Building Tips for Kids
Does your child practice good character over the summer? Just because school is out doesn’t mean all learning has to stop. Character building should be a year-long goal. Fortunately, there are easy and fun ways to stimulate character-building in kids during the summer break.
I’m Bay Area school assembly performer Cosmo. Each year, I perform educational school assembly programs at hundreds of California schools. Parents and educators love how I weave thought-provoking and motivational content into my shows. And I keep the kids 100% engaged. Each month I write articles to address topics or concerns for educators and caregivers.
What is Character Building in Children?
If you’re an experienced educator or parent, you likely know about character education. But because it’s sometimes called different things, I’ll provide a simple definition. Character building helps children develop positive skills, attitudes, and habits.
Here’s the thing: Character building is never finished! Character building doesn’t have an endpoint. And the negative influences of social media are dividing our country. Instilling important values in children has never been more important.
For children, an easy definition could be “the kind of person you are even when no one is looking.”
Why is Character Building Important for Kids?
Being kind and compassionate is enough reason to instill positive traits in kids. But there’s a practical reason for character education in children, too. Kids eventually grow into adults. And adults have to interact with other adults in the real world.
Kids with strong character traits have an easier time getting along with others. This is important to coexist peacefully and productively at work. And adults strong in good character have an easier time developing meaningful relationships as adults.
Most modern elementary schools have strong character education programs in place. But over the summer, it’s easy to backslide and forget whatever strides kids made during the school year. Fortunately, there are simple and fun character-building activities you can do with your children.
Summer Character Building Activity #1: Summer Reading
Character building isn’t just about kindness and compassion. It’s about discipline and responsibility. Children who read during the summer are more likely to be disciplined about studying and achieving goals during the school year.
Encourage your child to read during the summer. You’ll be helping instill a sense of responsibility in your child. By putting off the immediate gratification of playing video games (or whatever they do for fun) kids learn the value of sacrifice. And they learn the importance of setting and achieving goals that take time and effort to achieve.
Summer Character Building Activity #2: Volunteering
Want your child to grow into a compassionate person? Get your entire family involved in some form of volunteering. Volunteering helps children develop empathy for others. By giving back, children learn compassion and kindness. And they learn to appreciate what they have. But that’s not all.
Volunteering can help your kids in surprising ways. Did you know that kids who volunteer learn to express opinions or needs? And volunteering can help kids learn important negotiation skills. Part of negotiation involves cooperation. Kids learn to work well with others.
But volunteering isn’t just about giving back or even character education. By volunteering, children encounter occupations and possible career paths they would not have otherwise learned about.
Summer Character Building Activity #3: Puppets
Children love puppets! And you can help instill good character in kids with puppets. Have your child make their own puppets. Then put on family puppet shows. These shows are an effective way to explore conflict resolution methods. By role-playing with puppets, you may unearth some problems your child may be having with other people. And puppet shows are even more effective in the classroom.
When having classroom puppet shows, freeze the action during moments of conflict. Discuss possible ways of working through the conflict. When working with multiple children in a classroom, ask kids what they think will happen with each suggestion. Work through each suggestion so the children can see how each suggestion may play out.
Summer Character Building Activity #4: Be a Bucket Filler
Bucket filling has proven incredibly popular in schools. The idea is simple. Each day, everyone starts with an empty ‘bucket.’ Only by saying or doing kind or helpful things will the buckets fill up. And each morning, the bucket is empty again.
There’s no reason why this same easy-to-understand and kid-friendly activity couldn’t find its way home. Set out a real bucket. Every time someone does something appropriate, write it on a slip of paper and drop it in the bucket. Want to create a character contest? Have separate buckets for each family member. See who can fill up their buckets the most.
Create Character-Building Interest in Your School
When summer is over, character-building doesn’t end. When the new school year starts, you can get your entire school on the character-building bandwagon! My Wonder Show school assembly program is the perfect springboard for a character-building campaign in your CA school. Contact me today for more information about this incredible school assembly.