Early Childhood

Genesis Arispe M., Helping Someone Up, kindergarten.

The Essential Questions
How can students express kindness through art?

Objective
Students will create a mixed-media “quilt” that illustrates an act of kindness.

Materials
9 x 12" (23 x 30 cm) white paper, 2" (5 cm) squares of construction paper in various colors, glue sticks, markers, colored pencils, The Kindness Quilt by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace (Two Lions, 2006)

Procedures
1. Read the book The Kindness Quilt to students. Afterwards, show images of quilts and discuss how, in the book, students created a quilt illustrating acts of kindness.
2. Discuss kindness with students. Ask, “What does it mean to be kind?” and “Why is being kind important?” Then ask students to share examples of how they can be kind at school. As students share, draw some of their examples on the board.
3. Students start their own kindness quilts by gluing various colored 2" squares around the border of their white paper. If time permits, students can add designs with markers or colored pencils on their squares to mimic fabric designs.
4. When students are finished with their border, they use markers and colored pencils to draw an act of kindness in the middle of their quilt.

Extension
Combine studentsʼ finished quilts to create a larger quilt mural.

Assessment
Students should be able to verbally communicate how their drawing shows an act of kindness.

Shannon Thacker Cregg is an art teacher at Ferdinand Herff Elementary School in San Antonio, Texas.