The School of Play Curriculum
Primary School Grade 3 & 4
Week Twenty One centres on kindness, creativity, movement, and emotional connection. Through a series of playful, expressive activities, students explore how small acts of kindness can make a big difference in their classroom community. The week begins with interactive sharing games like Kindness Catch, where students practise verbalising kind actions and listening respectfully to one another. This builds confidence, communication skills, and a sense of belonging as students share ideas that uplift and support their peers. Creativity comes alive in Kindness Garden, where students visually represent acts of kindness through colourful flower drawings that contribute to a shared class display. These artistic reflections help students understand how everyday thoughtful actions can improve both their environment and the world around them.
Movement and joyful expression take centre stage in Pass the Smile, encouraging children to communicate positivity through playful gestures, laughter, and non-verbal connection. This game strengthens group cohesion, boosts emotional awareness, and builds confidence through simple, supportive interactions. The week concludes with Compliment Chain, a powerful activity where students give and receive authentic compliments, practising gratitude, empathy, and appreciation for others. Together, these experiences nurture a warm and inclusive classroom culture, helping students build emotional literacy, celebrate kindness, and feel deeply connected to their peers as they continue their Playful Astronaut journey.
Weekly Lessons
Kindness Catch
Kindness Catch invites students into a simple, uplifting circle game where every soft pass of the ball becomes a chance to share a caring action or thoughtful idea. As the ball moves around the group, students practise speaking with confidence while exploring ways they can look after the people and places around them. The activity gently encourages students to notice moments where kindness can show up in daily life, at school, at home, or anywhere they go, helping them recognise that small actions can make a big difference. With each turn, the class learns more about how compassionate choices help everyone feel supported and included.
The shared rhythm of tossing, catching, and listening builds a sense of togetherness, as students take turns, celebrate each other’s ideas, and enjoy the positive atmosphere they create as a group. By the end of the activity, the circle feels more connected, with students inspired by new acts of kindness they may want to try. This also links beautifully with the Playful Astronauts' first stop on Earth, where looking after one another and caring for the world around us is part of the mission. Kindness Catch leaves students feeling encouraged, confident, and ready to bring more kindness into their classroom community.
Respectful Relationships
Communication and Empathy
Kindness Catch supports students to:
- Share kind ideas and caring actions out loud, helping them practise clear, positive communication.
- Listen attentively to classmates as they express what kindness means to them, building empathy and emotional awareness.
- Recognise how small caring actions can make others feel safe, supported, and valued.
Cooperation and Social Skills
This activity helps students to:
- Take turns respectfully during a shared game, reinforcing patience and positive group interaction.
- Celebrate their peers’ kind ideas, strengthening group trust, unity, and appreciation.
- Participate in a cooperative class experience where kindness is encouraged, acknowledged, and enjoyed by all.
Safety and Acceptance
Kindness Catch encourages students to:
- Share their thoughts without fear of judgment, creating an emotionally safe space for expression.
- Understand that every kind action, big or small, contributes to a caring classroom where everyone belongs.
- Appreciate the diversity of kind acts their classmates offer, recognising that there are many different ways to care for each other and for our planet.
Kindness Garden
Kindness Garden gives students a creative way to explore how caring actions can help people, and the planet, thrive. Each student designs a colourful flower that represents a thoughtful choice they can make at school or at home, turning their ideas into bright symbols of positive behaviour. As they draw and imagine, students begin to see how simple gestures, helping a classmate, caring for a pet, tidying a shared space, can make their world a happier, more connected place. The activity gently reinforces the idea that kindness grows just like a garden does: one small seed at a time.
When the flowers come together on the classroom wall, the display becomes a shared celebration of the group’s caring actions. Students take pride in adding their own creation while learning from the ideas of their classmates, building a sense of unity and appreciation for everyone’s contributions. This links beautifully to the Playful Astronauts’ first stop on Earth, where students learn that caring for others and for nature helps our world flourish. The Kindness Garden becomes a colourful reminder of what the class can achieve when everyone chooses to nurture kindness.
Respectful Relationships
Communication and Empathy
Kindness Garden supports students to:
- Express their kind ideas through drawing and simple explanations, helping them communicate caring thoughts clearly.
- Understand how small acts of kindness make others feel valued, cared for, and supported, building empathy through reflection.
- Listen respectfully as classmates share the meaning behind their flowers, strengthening emotional awareness and connection.
Cooperation and Social Skills
This activity helps students to:
- Contribute to a shared class display, reinforcing the idea that kindness grows stronger when everyone works together.
- Celebrate their peers’ kind ideas, acknowledging the importance of kindness in friendships and group harmony.
- Participate positively in a group experience that strengthens classroom unity and reinforces kind, community-minded behaviour.
Safety and Acceptance
Kindness Garden encourages students to:
- Share their kind thoughts in a supportive environment where every contribution is valued and welcomed.
- Appreciate the wide range of kind actions classmates identify, recognising that kindness can look different for everyone.
- Feel included and safe through a visual reminder, the garden, that every student’s kindness helps the classroom (and Earth) grow into a happier, more caring place.
Pass the Smile
Pass the Smile is a lively circle game that encourages students to share joy through simple, expressive movements. With each turn, a smile, wave, or playful pose travels from one classmate to the next, carried along by hops, spins, wiggles, or any fun movement students choose. The activity helps students discover how non-verbal gestures can brighten someone’s day and make the group feel more connected. As the circle comes alive with laughter and imaginative actions, students build confidence in expressing themselves while learning how their positive energy can lift others.
The shared flow of movement creates a chain of happiness that everyone contributes to, making the classroom feel warm, supportive, and full of playful spirit. Students stay engaged by watching closely, responding to the gesture they receive, and adding their own twist before passing it along. When the circle is complete, the group reflects on what it felt like to send and receive joyful gestures, reinforcing the idea that kindness doesn’t always need words. This activity links beautifully to the Playful Astronauts’ first stop on Earth, highlighting how small moments of joy can help a community flourish.
Respectful Relationships
Communication and Empathy
Pass the Smile supports students to:
- Share joy and kindness through non-verbal communication such as smiling, waving, and playful body language.
- Notice and respond to classmates' gestures with empathy, recognising how simple actions can make others feel happy and included.
- Build awareness of how their expressions and movements can positively influence the emotions of people around them.
Cooperation and Social Skills
Pass the Smile helps students to:
- Participate in a group activity that requires turn-taking, close observation, and responding respectfully to peers.
- Strengthen social connections by engaging in shared laughter, movement, and playful exchanges with classmates.
- Celebrate each other's creativity, building a sense of belonging and a positive, supportive classroom culture.
Safety and Acceptance
Pass the Smile encourages students to:
- Feel emotionally and physically safe expressing themselves through movement, knowing that all gestures, big or small, are appreciated.
- Accept and appreciate that everyone expresses joy differently, fostering a culture where individuality is welcomed.
- Build confidence by participating in a non-competitive, inclusive game where every contribution adds value to the group.
Compliment Chain
Compliment Chain creates a warm and joyful moment where students share genuine appreciation with the people around them. As the chain begins, each child offers a simple, heartfelt compliment to the next person in the circle, helping them recognise the positive qualities in their classmates, kindness, helpfulness, creativity, or even a bright smile. This gentle exchange encourages students to practise gratitude, express kind thoughts confidently, and experience the happiness that comes from both giving and receiving uplifting words. As the compliments flow around the circle, the classroom becomes a place where kindness is noticed, spoken aloud, and celebrated.
When the chain is complete, students reflect together on how it felt to share something thoughtful and how meaningful it was to hear kind words from others. These moments of connection help students understand that small expressions of kindness can make a big difference, just like the lessons from Earth in the Playful Astronauts journey. The experience leaves the group feeling valued and united, with a simple reminder that compliments cost nothing, but they can brighten someone’s entire day.
Respectful Relationships
Communication and Empathy
Compliment Chain supports students to:
- Express appreciation for others through kind, specific compliments, strengthening empathy and emotional understanding.
- Listen carefully and respectfully when receiving a compliment, recognising the positive impact kind words can have on their feelings and self-confidence.
- Build awareness of how generosity and kindness can brighten someone’s day, helping them understand the emotional importance of caring for others.
Cooperation and Social Skills
Compliment Chain helps students to:
- Participate in a shared group experience where every voice matters, reinforcing turn-taking and respectful communication.
- Strengthen social bonds by contributing to a continuous chain of kindness, creating a sense of unity and belonging among classmates.
- Encourage and uplift peers, celebrating each other’s strengths and modelling positive social interactions in a supportive environment.
Safety and Acceptance
Compliment Chain encourages students to:
- Feel emotionally safe sharing and receiving sincere compliments, knowing their contributions are valued and appreciated.
- Accept and appreciate the diverse strengths, qualities, and personalities of their classmates, recognising that kindness can be expressed in many ways.
- Promote an inclusive and warm classroom atmosphere, where every student feels seen, respected, and celebrated for who they are.
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