The School of Play Curriculum
Special Education
Week 21 continues to nurture kindness, creativity, joyful movement, and emotional connection through a series of playful, heartwarming activities. Students begin with Kindness Catch, a simple ball-passing game that helps children confidently share kind actions and practice speaking with warmth and positivity. They then move into creative expression with Kindness Garden, drawing flowers that represent acts of kindness and adding them to a shared class display, helping students reflect on the power of kindness and celebrate it visually together.
The week then shifts into joyful movement with Pass the Smile, where children use playful gestures, silly movements, and non-verbal expressions to spread happiness around the circle. Finally, students build connection and confidence through Compliment Chain, offering and receiving compliments that highlight the unique qualities of their classmates. Together, these activities strengthen communication, empathy, creativity, and belonging. Week Eleven encourages students to recognise kindness in themselves and others, creating a classroom environment filled with appreciation, connection, and joyful expression.
Weekly Lessons
Kindness Catch
Kindness Catch is a simple, joyful circle game that helps students practise sharing kind thoughts while building a caring classroom community. As the soft ball is gently rolled or tossed around the circle, each child shares something kind they can do or have already done, bringing kindness to life through their own words. This warm, inclusive activity encourages students to reflect on caring actions, express their ideas confidently, and recognise the small ways they can make a positive difference at school and at home.
The game also strengthens listening skills, turn-taking, and social connection as students celebrate each other’s ideas. With the option to include a picture of Earth as a visual anchor, Kindness Catch beautifully links to the first stop on the Playful Astronauts’ journey, reminding children that kindness helps us take care of one another and our planet. Gentle, engaging, and filled with positive energy, this activity is the perfect way to launch Week 1 with a focus on kindness, communication, and community.
Please note: For students with sensory learning needs or those who utilise an AAC device, please refer to the levels A-B PDF for activity variation ideas and strategies.
Levels A & B download HERE
Levels C & D download HERE
Levels F to 3 download HERE
Kindness Garden
Kindness Garden is a bright and meaningful creative activity that helps students recognise how kindness helps people, and our planet, grow. Each child designs their own flower, drawing or writing a kind act in the centre and decorating the petals with colour. As students reflect on everyday kindness, they practise fine motor skills, creativity, and self-expression, while beginning to understand that small caring actions can make a big difference at school, at home, and on Earth.
Once the flowers are complete, students proudly add them to a shared classroom display titled Our Kindness Garden. As the garden fills with colourful flowers, it becomes a visual celebration of kindness and a reminder of how every student can help make the classroom a happier place. By sharing their flowers and listening to each other's ideas, students build a supportive community culture where kindness is noticed, valued, and encouraged, perfectly reinforcing the Playful Astronauts’ first stop on Earth.
Please note: For students with sensory learning needs or those who utilise an AAC device, please refer to the levels A-B PDF for activity variation ideas and strategies.
Levels A & B download HERE
Levels C & D download HERE
Levels F to 3 download HERE
Pass the Smile
Pass the Smile is a joyful, movement-based circle game that helps students share kindness without using words. Through simple gestures like smiling, waving, or striking a silly pose, children pass positive energy around the circle, discovering how small actions can make others feel happy and included. As each student adds a playful movement, such as a hop, spin, wiggle, or skip, they build confidence in expressing themselves while practising coordination and controlled body movement.
As the smiles travel around the circle, the classroom fills with laughter, friendliness, and connection. Each student gets the chance to brighten someone’s day and receive kindness in return, reinforcing the idea that joy is something we can share easily and often. This activity beautifully supports the Playful Astronauts’ Earth mission, reminding children that kindness is contagious and that even the smallest gestures can bring a whole group together.
Please note: For students with sensory learning needs or those who utilise an AAC device, please refer to the levels A-B PDF for activity variation ideas and strategies.
Levels A & B download HERE
Levels C & D download HERE
Levels F to 3 download HERE
Compliment Chain
Compliment Chain is a heart-warming circle activity that helps students experience the joy of giving and receiving kind words. As the compliment travels from one student to the next, the group creates a ripple of positivity, each child offering a simple, heartfelt message to brighten someone else’s day. Whether it’s praising a classmate’s helpfulness, smile, or kindness, students learn how powerful their words can be and how easy it is to make someone feel valued and appreciated.
As the chain moves around the circle, confidence grows, smiles spread, and the classroom fills with warmth and connection. Students learn to listen, receive kindness with gratitude, and then pass it forward, creating a continuous circle of care. This activity beautifully aligns with the Earth theme of The Playful Astronauts mission, showing students that kindness is something they can grow, share, and nurture every single day, just like helping our world become a happier and more caring place.
Please note: For students with sensory learning needs or those who utilise an AAC device, please refer to the levels A-B PDF for activity variation ideas and strategies.
Levels A & B download HERE
Levels C & D download HERE
Levels F to 3 download HERE
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