Week Four: Family Connections Toolkit
Giving and Receiving Extravagant Welcome
playful, creative, tactile, ages 2+
Welcome neighbors and passers-by to engage with something in your yard or a public space near you. For example, offer a musical performance, create an I Spy game with hidden stuffed animals, share large signs of hope, post a daily riddle, set up a light display…
creative, active, social, all ages
Turn your art into an act of kindness!
What you’ll need
Possible Recipients
Sundar Shadi’s Holiday Display
playful, active, creative, ages 2+
Prep: Gather stuffed animals, photos, family pets or look outside for inspiration for your play.
How to Play: Take turns pretending to be different animals or beings. Spend some time doing an activity. For example, two dogs might sniff around for bones. With older kids, grab their attention by selecting activities they love (reading, art, video games, etc.). During your pretend play, make up a language for each character and allow for different languages.
Purpose: Develop empathy and perspective-taking in a fun, playful way. Consider different accents, words and topics of conversation for different breeds and personalities.
Download the resource
“The seeds of empathy, caring, and compassion are present from early in life, but children need adults to help them at every stage to nurture these seeds into full development.”
reflective, ages 7+
As our nation struggles with the complicated issue of immigration policy, help your children understand the human stories behind the headlines. This book list will help. Then make your voices heard for immigrant justice with this kid-friendly advocacy sheet. Pledge to make a difference — and hold your elected representatives accountable, too.
reflective, ages 7+
Collect coins for a cause you love. Create your own Giving Box to collect your family’s charitable donations. When it’s full, decide together where the money will go.
What you’ll need:
Instructions
reflective, engaged, all ages
Extravagant welcome requires deep empathy. Happily, empathy is a skill, one that we can improve with practice. All it requires is time enough to wonder: what would it be like to be them? Here are a few questions to get you started.
elementary +
For each prompt give yourself at least 1-2 minutes to write or draw in response to these prompts.
Tips: ✐ When you get stuck, keep coming back to the prompt and re-write it to start your next sentence or drawing. ✐ Try to keep your pen moving and don’t overthink your words! ✐ Feel free to speak your truth or write your fictions.
Buy these titles online at a local bookstore! Some we recommend in the Twin Cities: Red Balloon, Mager’s and Quinn & Moon Palace Book.