To find your name printed on a balloon in a hallway full of grade ones and twos was the kindness challenge posed by teachers at École St. Thomas on Friday.
The experiment tasked some 200 excited kids with either finding their name in the chaos-filled room of bouncing balloon merriment and if not, then finding the kid whose balloon you have and giving them their balloon.
Seven-year-old Nico said he had lots of fun as he found his balloon right away, and then took time to help someone else, saying that was “pretty cool.”
Grade two teacher Desiree Degenhardt came across an Instagram post on kindness balloons and took up the challenge with her fellow teachers to have “l’activite de balloons” for the kids at the French speaking school.
“It’s easier to find your own happiness if you’re helping others seek their own,” explained Degenhardt.
As amped up as the kids were with all the fun, they went back to class to de-brief and a quote from Greek philosopher, Plato came up on the screen, “Caring about the happiness of others – we find our own.”
As the month of kindness wrapped up Degenhardt saw the balloon activity as “an impactful way for students to see kindness and feel what helping others is like.”
“I think we can look back at this experience and think about what other ways to be kind and how can we share more kindness with others,” said the grade two teacher.
