Skip to Main Content

Heart-y Creatures

Expressing appreciation and gratitude is beneficial to both the giver and receiver. Students will create a heartfelt keepsake to present to someone special in their life.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Chenille Sticks

Steps

  • Step 1

    Gratitude and appreciation are associated with greater happiness and positive emotions for both the giver and receiver. And handwritten or handmade cards or keepsakes increase the benefits. The giver will experience the joy of creativity as they find the perfect words or images. The receiver often feels a burst of excitement and joy when they see a colorful note of appreciation. This can actually help to alleviate feelings of isolation and depression. Ask students to think about times they expressed or received gratitude. How did they feel? What did they observe in the person who gave or received the message?

  • Step 2

    Haves students create a heartfelt keepsake note for someone special in their life. They can cut out heart shapes from construction paper then decorate one side and write a note of appreciation on the other. They can embellish the drawings with glitter glue or craft items. Then have them twist chenille sticks into a stick figure shape and attach the paper hearts to the stand up character.

  • Step 3

    Encourage students to present their heart-y creatures to a special someone who is important to them.

Standards

SEL: Self-Awareness: Understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts. 

SEL: Relationship Skills: Establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups.

Adaptations

Read a book such as "Dear Street" by Lindsay Zier-Vogel and Caroline Bonne-Müller or "Boxes for Katje" by Candace Fleming and Stacey Dressen-McQueen. Discuss how kindness, appreciation, and gratitude impacted the characters in the story.

Encourage students to create handmade tokens of appreciation to people who work at the school. Perhaps a maintenance worker who came to fix a problem in the classroom, or a cafeteria worker who always serves food with a smile.