A Minty Fresh Kick Off Activity

We ended our first full day doing an activity with toothpaste!  As we set out to establish a positive culture and atmosphere in our class we talked about what it means to be a good friend.  The kids then went to their seats where they were each given a small paper plate and a travel size tube of toothpaste.  Their task was to squeeze out as much toothpaste as possible.  Thinking this was an incredibly fun task, they all went to town getting out all the toothpaste--they did a great job!  About 5 minutes later they found out their next task was to put all the toothpaste back into the tube.  I wish you could have seen the looks I got!  It was fun to see how each child approached that task!  After struggling for a bit, they all threw away their materials and we talked about how the toothpaste was like our words and the tube was like out mouth.  It was so easy to get the toothpaste out--and it is so easy to let words come out of our mouths.  However, like the toothpaste, mean/inappropriate words are not very easy to put back in our mouths so we must be careful how we use them.  I think this message was received, but as I told the kids...your actions will show me!