Note to parent or teacher: Here’s a 20-minute lesson plan on being thoughtful about what we say to others.

Watch this short movie clip from Bambi.

Read “Thoughts and Words of Kindness.”

Read Proverbs 12:18.

Ask the children what things others say that make them feel good about themselves or encouraged. Next, ask what things others say make them feel bad. Discuss how they have the power to bring joy or sadness through the things they say to others, in the same way that the words of others can affect them.

Read “What Is Communication.”

Read James 3:5.

Using a toothpaste tube or a soap dispenser, squeeze some of the paste out. Ask the children if they can easily put the toothpaste back inside the tube. Discuss how our words are like the toothpaste—easy to let out, but not so easy to put back inside once out.

Memorize the following poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

Kind hearts are the gardens,
Kind thoughts are the roots,
Kind words are the flowers,
Kind deeds are the fruits,
Take care of your garden
And keep out the weeds,
Fill it with sunshine
Kind words and kind deeds.

Optional activity: Illustrate each sentence of the above poem, and display it somewhere easily viewable throughout the day.

Discuss how when we begin to get upset at others, or say unkind things, it’s probably because we need to spend more time with the giver of true love—Jesus—through reading His Word or talking to Him in prayer.

Read “Fill Up to Pour Out.”

Read Psalm 141:3 and use it in your closing prayer.

Additional material:

• Watch “Say Something Nice.”
• Listen to “Grandpa Jake’s Storybook Drama: Wobbly Wallace.”