“I Have A Dream” Vision Board
Together with your child, create a vision board that illustrates the kindness, friendship, and support they want to see in their home, family, school, and broader community. Begin by watching a clip about standing up for yourself and others from the “PBS KIDS Talk About” series, in which parents talk with their children about ways they can learn from Black heroes and change unfair rules and ways of thinking. Then, encourage your child to think about ways in which they can practice these acts to become helpful, kind people making a positive impact in the lives of others. At the same time, talk with your child about why kindness, support, and friendship are important to give and to receive no matter who you are, what you look like, or where you are from.
Kindness, friendship, and supporting each other are all acts that make a strong and accepting society. They are important to building good character and strong relationships. Creating a vision board is a great way to begin a conversation with your child about why showing and giving kindness, friendship, and support is an important part of living in a just and equal society.
Materials
Directions
Before starting on your vision board, help your child make a list of words or ideas for pictures they’d like to include related to kindness, friendship, and support at home, at school, and anywhere else they spend quality time with others. Ask your child questions to help them come up with ways in which they would like to show kindness to others, too. For example, you might want to ask your child, “What would you say to a friend in need?” Or “Do you have an idea for a random act of kindness?” Or “How would you stand up for something that’s not right?”
Once your child has their list, ask them to draw pictures or cut out and glue images related to the items on their list on the poster board. For example, if your child would like to help a new student at school by eating with them at lunch, they can include a picture of two kids eating together.
Encourage your child to include words and/or phrases from their initial list created in step 1. Words such as “kindness,” “friendship,” and “community” are good examples. If your child wants to help a new student at school, you might ask them to write down briefly why that is important to them. They might write something like, “Being a good friend means helping others.”
Continue to speak with your child as you work on the vision board together. Discuss your child’s personal experiences with kindness, friendship, and support. You might want to ask your child questions such as, “Can you tell me about a time someone was kind to you?” or “Can you tell me about a time when you helped someone to show your support for something they were doing?”
Once your child has completed their vision board, take some time to sit down and talk about it together. You can go through each drawing or image, discuss what the words or phrases mean, and ask your child what inspired them to choose their particular goals of kindness. Your child can also share their thoughts and their vision board with friends and other family members.
Explore Further
Taking your child to volunteer in your community is a great way to continue communicating with them about showing kindness, friendship, and supporting each other. This is also a great way to show them examples of others also modeling kindness, friendship, and providing support. You might ask your child to help you with donating toys, school supplies, or food to local nonprofit organizations. Discuss with them why each organization does the work they do and why the help is needed.
Photography by Edwin Sherman.
Author: