Wrinkled Hearts is one of my favourite activities to demonstrate the lasting impact of our words and actions on other people’s hearts.
The kids all start with a smooth heart template. We brainstorm all the ways that we can hurt other people’s feelings- unkind or mean words and actions, excluding others etc. Each time we come up with something, we scrunch up our hearts a little bit more.
Then we flip it. We share all the ways that we can help fix someone’s heart once it’s been hurt- kind words, apologies, inclusion, compliments etc.
But— it’s really hard to completely smooth them out back out and we are left with some wrinkled hearts! It’s a great visual display for demonstrating the lasting impact of our words- and the importance of thinking before we act.
My favourite moment from these discussions is when they build upon each other’s idea. One kid once suggested that every time you go to say something mean, swallow it instead. Then another kid suggested- OR, think of the opposite to that mean word and say the KIND version instead! 😍👏🏼🙌🏼
The templates for this activity can be downloaded for free from the Freebee Section of Miss Learning Bee.
