This lesson is part of a series used by the Earthchild Project which teaches in under-resourced schools in South Africa. Our lessons are freely available but we retain copyright so please do not republish this content. However, you are welcome to link back to our site.
Additional lesson plans, games, songs and a Seed Pack guide to teaching holistic education can be found at: Earthchildproject.org/teaching-resources
| Friendship | ||
| Intention | Encouraging empathy, kindness and connection between classmates. | |
| Resources needed | None | |
| Opening ritual | (5 mins) | Coming into a circle.Intro the lesson – “This is the beginning of a new year and you are all in a new class, meeting new boys and girls. It’s a good time to make new friends and learn about how to be a good friend. Sometimes it can be difficult to make new friends.” “There was once a little girl who came to a new school and didn’t have any friends. It seemed like everyone else had friends so she always sat by herself at break time. Then one day a little boy came up to her and asked if she would like to join their game. She said ‘yes!’ Would you like to learn the game they played?”
Yoga Pledge (See Earthchildproject’s Games, Songs and Resources) |
| Ice-Breaker | (10 mins) | Dam Dam Diddy action song/game.“Was that fun? The little girl also really enjoyed the game and realised she had made some new friends. She decided to ask her new friends to go for a picnic. It was a beautiful day and they were all very excited. Will you be the new friends in the story? Ok great! Picnic time, let’s go to our mats.” |
| Postures | (10 mins) |
Sun Salutation“It was a beautiful sunny day so they started by saying hello to the sun.” Introduce students to Sun Salutation:· One / Namaste / hello friends · Two / reach up to the sky / hello sun · Three / standing forward bend / hello earth · Four / lunge with right leg back · Five / downward dog · Six / earthworm · Seven / cobra / snake · Eight / downward dog · Nine / lunge with right leg forward · Ten / hands to feet · Eleven / reach up to the sky / hello sun · Twelve / Namaste Repeat to the left and then do another complete round. |
| (10 mins) | Other postures“Before lunch they decided to go for a short walk through the forest. Let us become the forest with the tree pose.”Tree pose – holding for a few breathes and moving hands from Namaste up above the head open in a V to be ‘branches’ of the tree. Repeat on the other side. | |
| “After their walk they were so tired and hungry!! Let’s sit down, relax and have some lunch.”Chair pose – come to seated through chair pose with arms shoulder length, palms facing down. Slowly lower for 10 counts. | ||
| “let’s make our sandwiches for lunch. What would you like to put on your sandwich?” Seated forward bend – Getting ingredient ideas from the children act out making the sandwich by repeating forward bends as we layer and spread the ingredients on the roll (legs). You can incorporate twists by ‘picking up’ ingredients behind to the right and behind to the left. You can also stretch up high to reach for the roll to close the sandwich coming forward into the ‘finished sandwich’ forward bend. Hold there for a few breathes describing how with all these ingredients we have to squeeze the ‘fat’ sandwich closed! | ||
| “now it’s time to eat our delicious sandwiches so let’s prepare the picnic table.” Picnic table – | ||
| “After lunch, sitting on the grass you notice a beautiful insect flying past. What kind of insect has beautiful wings?”Butterfly pose – sit with the soles of the feet touching, holding their feet with their hands. (Start to flap your wings by moving your legs to give them a clue.) Once they have guessed a butterfly, ask them what colour their butterfly is. Get them all to start flying by ‘flapping their wings’. “Then the butterfly sees a beautiful flower down below. What colour is the flower? She flys down and lands on the flower. She hasn’t had lunch and is feeling hungry. Bend down and drink the sweet nectar from the flower.” Bending the body over the legs and making a sucking sound as you come to sit upright. Repeat a few times, changing the breath to a gentle ‘straw’ breath. Breathing in as you sit up and breathing out as you come back down. | ||
| “The butterfly has had enough to eat and gently flys away. The children are feeling very happy and relaxed, their tummies are full and they decide it’s a good time for a nap. So you can stretch out and lie down on your backs.” Guided visualisation – “Lying flat on your back, you can completely relax. Feel the soft grass beneath you and the cool earth supporting your body. Feel the warm sun and the cool breeze on your skin. Take a deep breath in and breathe out. (Pause). You can hear the wind in the trees and maybe you can even hear the birds singing sweetly. Take a deep breath in, and out. (Pause). Imagine the big blue sky above you. Maybe you can see a soft white cloud floating past. Take a deep breath in, and out. Your whole body feels completely relaxed. Taking soft breaths in and out, you feel calm and peaceful. (Pause).”Slowly bring them out of savasana.Slowly coming up to sitting. | ||
| Closing ritual | Roll onto your right side. Come to seated.“Rub your hands together, bring them to cover your eyes, slowly open eyes and bring hands down.”Breathe in and stretch up tall, breath out arms coming down in circle ending with prayer position hands. Keeping hands in prayer position the children turn to one another and say “the light in me sees the light in you, the light in me sees the light in you.”Turning to the teacher and saying “thank you”.“The little girl had had such a wonderful day with her new friends. She felt so happy that the boy had asked her to come play and now she had so many new friends and so when a new girl joined their school, she was the first one to invite her to play.” | |
| Closing song | (5 mins) | Umhlobo Wam song |
| Homework | Make a new friend that week | |
These teaching resources are freely offered by Earthchild, to support others in their journey connecting children to themselves, others and the environment. Support our work with Earth Children from under-resourced communities by donating.