Character education activities are becoming ever more important in our classrooms and homes. After all, having strong, positive character traits has been shown to increase academic performance, decrease depression, and increase pro-social behaviors. But finding good, free character education activities for elementary students can be a challenge.
Fear not. We’ve done the work for you and searched the internet for some of the best free* elementary character education activities and curriculum resources from leading organizations. These free printable and online activities will help you easily integrate character education activities into your classroom. Whether you want a quick interactive activity or a full character education lesson, you’ll find lots of great ideas in our "Best of the Web" list of character ed lessons. Note, these links lead to sites outside of Talking with Trees.
Discover a collection of free character education resources including worksheets, posters, quotes, coloring pages, and lesson plans. Topics include honesty, respect, responsibility, caring, empathy.
Learn MoreCollection of free teacher's guides and lesson plans for grades K-12 covering dozens of topics for Character Education, Social Skills, and Social-Emotional Learning. Includes discussion questions, writing assignments, and student group activities.
Learn MoreSearchable database of free character education activities and lessons from various providers.
Learn MoreFind character building activities to help kids connect with others, to treat others with respect and caring, and to cooperate and resolve conflict. Search a database of free activities or try this article on Twelve games for social / emotional learning.
Learn MoreFree character building activities that promote social responsibility and social emotional learning. Timely resources help teachers quickly address the character building moments that come from current events.
Learn MoreLearningforJustice.org offers a variety of free activities and other resources that teach kids to appreciate diversity, respect others, and to develop empathy and a sense of fairness. They have lessons about immigration, putting historical events into context, bullying, and more that can be adapted to your character education goals.
Learn MoreChelsea Lee Smith, author of 100+ Hands-on Activities to Learn Positive Character traits, offers for free quite a few of her character building activities for pre-k and toddlers. Ideas like “5 Activities to Help Children Develop Emotional Control” help you start teaching character to young children through play.
Learn MoreSearchable database of free lessons and activities that integrate lessons on good character traits into other curriculum topics including history, language arts and science.
Learn MoreFree kindness activities, posters, inspiration, and lessons that are easy to implement. Random Acts of Kindness Week is in February-- these lesson plans are a great way to celebrate with a character building activity.
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