Random Acts of Kindness Bingo
Sometimes it can be challenging for tamariki to remember to be kind when it’s not always their experience. So alongside some kind prompts, this little game played over a day or week should shift the focus and support the fact that kindness is cool!
Firstly, the science...
Giving is one of the ways we know that supports our wellbeing, alongside connecting, noticing, learning and being active. This was from the New Economics Foundation study internationally looking at what supports our wellbeing. Giving = kindness. Then, in a recent study, researchers looked at the results from 126 other pieces of kindness and wellbeing research which included almost 200,000 participants from around the world. Pretty huge! And as expected, the outcome shows that people who are kinder also tend to have higher wellbeing.
They were particularly interested in when kindness has the biggest impact on overall wellbeing and found that people who performed random acts of kindness tended to be happier than people who performed more formal acts of kindness, like regular volunteering.
The researchers also found that younger participants experienced more happiness when they were kind than older participants.
Why this activity?
We all need prompts to support us to be kind sometimes. Tamariki often don’t know the benefits of being kind, nor is this overly supported without the help of adults, so turning their attention to kindness will help them to do good things, even when no-one else is looking!
You'll need
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You'll need to print your RAK Bingo Cards on to A4 card. And if you're keen for tamariki to extend their kindness, our Whānau RAK Bingo Cards will need printing too for them to take home.
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It might also be good to have a few pukapuka to support your kōrero with tamariki and their learning. We love 'Listening With My Heart' By Gabi Garcia as well as 'The Rainbow Fish' By Marcus Pfister
What to do
You might like to dot into your week…
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A kōrero about kindness and how it supports us to feel good when we’re kind, as well as those we’re kind to.
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Why do tamariki think this is?
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What is kindness, really?
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Is it important that we’re acknowledged for being kind? Why? Why not?
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How might we make kindness cool?
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Try a kindfulness mindfulness practice - we loved this from The Greater Good Science Centre
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Read a pukapuka that has themes of kindness through your week
Then at the end of the week
Ask tamariki how they’re feeling out of 10 and just write this down on a piece of paper - gather these in. You might like to give a wee guide:
1 - Not so great
5 - okay
10 - So happy I could burst
No explanation is needed.
Give each tamariki a RAK Bingo card which has 5 sneaky kindness actions they can do throughout that day.The aim is to get them all done by the end of the school day, without anyone else knowing!
Remind your tamariki throughout the day about their cards and check in with individuals when you can catch some moments.
At the end of the day check in again asking tamariki to add their score out of 10 with how they’re feeling - you might notice this has increased or not and you might be able to graph these results and continue the kōrero around the effect kindness can have - making us feel good as well as those we’re kind to.
Kōrero about how it felt to do the RAK’s - this might be in groups but asking tamariki to remain humble and not specifically share what they did.
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Ask if they noticed more kindness around?
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If they’ve noticed more kindness what difference has this made to their hauora and the hauora of those around them?
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What do tamariki feel they’ve learnt today?
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How might you all make this a habit?
Be sure to praise your tamariki, even if they didn’t get all 5 done - 1 is fantastic and will have made a real difference to those that it affected!
Kaiako card
To come
Whānau engagement
Ask tamariki how they might take this home?
Offer up the whānau RAK bingo cards too!
And to add to this...
If you want to spread some more kindness magic in your classroom this activity would pair awesomely with some of our other activities - Compliment launchpad and Compliment musical freeze
Curriculum links
Personal Health and physical development: A1 - Personal growth and development
Personal Health and physical development: A4 Personal identity
Relationships with other people: C1 - Relationships
