What Makes a Good Friend?

Use a Microsoft Flip activity to reflect on the qualities and actions that make someone a good friend.
Ages 5-7 / 15
min Activity
Perspective Taking
Kindness
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Objectives

  • ‍Consider how kindness and respect play an important role in developing and strengthening friendships
  • ‍Use Microsoft Flip to record videos about being a good friend to others, and learn new strategies from their peers

Supporting Research

When educators integrate the teaching of kindness in classrooms, and make these practices critical to their daily work, research shows a positive impact on students’ wellbeing, sense of community and belonging, and relationships with each other. A positive school climate is also associated with increased academic performance, reduced bullying, and enhanced teacher retention. Thus, educators should encourage students to practice perspective taking and kindness to identify behaviors that are caring and helpful, and help contribute to a supportive classroom environment. 

To learn more about these skills, and how they promote students’ healthy growth and the development of empathy, please check out our Empathy Framework.

Materials

Activity Partners

Instructions

  1. Introduce the activity to students. You might say: “Today, we have an important topic to discuss: how to be a good friend. Being a good friend isn't just about having fun together. It’s also about showing kindness and respect to each other. It's about listening carefully when our friends talk, and helping them when they feel sad or upset. And, even when we argue and have different ideas, a good friend knows how to talk calmly and find a solution together. What else makes someone a good friend?” 
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  2. Follow the instructions in the educator note above to create a group on Microsoft Flip, and add your students to the group. 

    Then, post the activity topic in your group, which invites students to record a video sharing about the qualities and actions of a good friend. Then, students will respond to their peers’ videos by recording a video or typing a comment. 
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  3. Afterwards, guide students to reflect on their experience by asking the following questions:
    • Can you share a story about how you were a good friend to someone, or how someone was a good friend to you?
    • What did you learn from your friends' videos about being a good friend?
    • What are some simple things you can do every day to be a good friend to others?
    • What are some ways we can make our classroom a friendly and supportive place for everyone?

If students in both classes have individual devices (e.g., mobile phone, tablet, laptop, etc.)...

Use a platform such as Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams which allows you to screen-share during a video call. 
One educator should set up the Kahoot! game and share the code with students in both classes by following this tutorial about using Kahoot! in a remote learning environment, and share their screen so everyone can follow along.

If students in either class don’t have individual devices...

Follow the same instructions above, with one educator starting the game and sharing their screen so both classes can follow along.  
Instead of students joining the game to answer the questions, they can hold up their fingers, call out their answer, or use a paper template to indicate their response.

If you prefer not using Kahoot!...

Use this document (Spanish version) to prompt students.