By Tiffany Roget, eHow Contributor 1. Story time One quick and easy way to convey the importance of perseverance to children is to read stories that teach this quality. Request that children act out the characters, performing their physical actions, as you read the story aloud. Drive home the idea you are trying to convey by having coloring pages accompany each story, or activity worksheets on hand for the children to complete after story time ends. A few examples of applicable books include “The Tortoise and the Hare” and “The Little Engine That Could”. 2. Collage action Engage children of any age with an art project that enables them to express their feelings about perseverance in a creative way. Give each child one piece of colored art paper, and instruct them to draw a line down the center of the page. Label the top of the left column with “Persevering Rocks!” and the right column with “Not Persevering!” Offer the children a variety of magazines to choose from and instruct them to search the pages for interesting images that reflect these two ideas. Glue images to the applicable side of the paper, allowing for overlapping if desired for additional visual artistic expression. Ask the children to write a couple sentences on the back of their collage that reflects a time they personally persevered, and applaud them for their actions. 3. Host puppet shows Kids love puppets and as a result enjoy receiving information from these friendly characters in a non-threatening manner. Take advantage of this situation by hosting puppet shows and have the children take turns acting out the plays. Offer up scripts that reflect a young person facing challenging circumstances, choices, or obstacles, and cover how they persevere through the difficult situation. You might consider finding stories and quotes that offer inspiring messages regarding learning how to persevere and integrate these stories and characters into your plays. 4. Play games Many games offer the opportunity to help children learn about the art of perseverance, and practice skills to acquire it. Croquet is one game where players are required to hit a ball with a mallet through small metal arches stuck into the ground. Like golf, the less strokes it takes you to get a ball through an arch, the better your chances to win the game. The first person to pass through all the arches and successfully tap the end post wins. This game takes concentration, patience, and an ability to be able to calmly plan your next move. Children often don’t realize that while they are playing they are simultaneously practicing how to persevere every time their ball doesn’t go where they intended it to. Help children learn the importance and benefits of persevering and simultaneously enable them to work on establishing self-discipline. Both of these qualities enable young people to develop self-confidence and grow into capable teens and adults who can adequately make healthy, personal decisions. Set small goals for kids to accomplish and praise them when they meet their intended result. A homebased chart, where they receive gold stars for accomplished goals, keeps wandering minds motivated. Courtesy of Motivated! magazine. Used with permission. Image via Kendall Lister via Flickr.
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