Smiles are most certainly contagious. They not only make us happy, but they reassure others that we are happy. Always remember that children model our behaviors and so if you want confident, polite, happy children, try a smile. It will probably work wonders for all!
Smiles are free. But smiles are other things as well.
Children smile easily and a child’s smile lights up a room and brightens up even the darkest day. With children in the age range of 4-7, this should be easy, albeit significant. Children don’t realize how contagious smiles are and what effect they have on others or on ourselves when WE smile.
Nothing lights up the room like a child’s smile. It typically doesn’t take much to get children ages 4-7 to smile so this is should be easy. However, children don’t realize how contagious smiles are or what effect they have on ourselves or on others. Smiles relate to a positive attitude and how people relate to us. It’s important for children to know that their actions, even something as
simple as smiling, have an impact.
Explain how happy on the outside can make us feel happy on the inside. You could say, for example, that when you smile as opposed to when you when you frown, how does it make you feel inside?
It is also polite to smile whenever possible because it makes others feel positive. What do you think about someone else when you see he or she smiling? Maybe you feel happy and want to smile back. But do you think they are happy? Most likely, right?
Smiles are very powerful. Did you know that they are even contagious? Who knows what contagious means? This is a good kind of contagious, not like the flu or a cold. When you smile, it is “catchy,” like it jumps from one person to the next.
The children will likely start smiling at one another…
You can pick an occasion where practicing smiling is useful. Perhaps it would be class picture day. Why would we want to smile on picture day, they may ask? Well, not only do you look nice, but it will make all the people happy who see your picture. Later on, they could play photographer and then have to draw the smile on the the “photograph” they “take.”
Here is another opportunity to tie things into the importance of tooth brushing and fresh breath. You could have a dentist or hygienist come and talk to the children about how to have the best possible smile. Oftentimes, they will bring a dental hygiene prize bag for each child.
One thing to emphasize is how natural it is to smile. There are children who, perhaps, have missing teeth or braces and are not so comfortable with their smiles. You can explain that people are so happy seeing you smile they don’t even notice what is making you shy!
In addition, making a smile train could bring forth more happiness. Nominate an engineer who would start first. The engineer would turn to the child in the second spot and smile brightly and so on until they arrive at the caboose.
They could catch a smile and pass it along.
Things could collapse into giggles when you put them in pairs to see how long they could go without smiling.
The children could play photographer and ask children to photograph one another smiling. Then get them to draw what they see to create photographs. Ensure the brightest smile ever with glitter on a drawing.
When in doubt, there is always Mona Lisa! After a brief art history lesson, you could have the children guess about what she is smiling. A blown up photo of Mona Lisa with the face cut out would allow the kids a chance to put their own head in and try to have the most famous smile ever!