Introduction

As educators, we strive to create a safe and supportive environment for our students to learn and grow. One essential skill we can help our kindergarten students develop is the ability to accept help from others. This can be a challenging concept for young children, as they often want to be independent and may feel embarrassed or frustrated when they can’t complete a task on their own. By teaching our students that accepting help from others is a positive way to learn new things, we can foster a collaborative and empathetic classroom environment.

No-Prep Activity

Here’s a simple activity you can use to help your kindergarten students understand the importance of accepting help from others:

1. Ask your students to sit in a circle on the floor.
2. Explain that you will be playing a game called “The Helping Hand”.
3. Choose one student to start the game. This student will pretend to struggle with a task, such as tying their shoelaces or opening a book.
4. Encourage another student to offer their help to the struggling student. Make sure to emphasize that the helper should ask politely and respectfully.
5. After the helper has offered assistance, the struggling student should accept the help and thank the helper.
6. Continue the game by having the helper become the next struggling student, and so on, until each student has had a turn to both offer and accept help.

This activity demonstrates the value of accepting help from others and allows students to practice offering assistance in a kind and respectful manner.

Discussion Questions

• How did it feel when someone offered to help you during the activity? How did it feel to help someone else?
• Can you think of a time when you needed help and someone was there to lend a hand? How did their help make you feel?
• Why is it important to accept help from others when we need it?
• How can we show appreciation when someone helps us?
• What can you do if someone doesn’t want to accept your help?

Related Skills

Teaching kindergarteners the importance of accepting help from others can also help them develop other valuable social-emotional skills, such as:

• Active listening
• Empathy
• Collaboration
• Respect for others
• Problem-solving

Next Steps

By incorporating the principles of Social-Emotional Learning into your classroom, you can help your kindergarten students develop the skills they need to succeed both academically and socially. To explore more activities and resources for teaching the importance of accepting help and other valuable skills, sign up for free sample materials at Everyday Speech.