Character Education Activities

Teaching character through character education activities.

We too commonly don't think of character as something worth meticulously shaping, but the truth is that character building activities are just as important as any other activity – and might even be more so.

Dr. Marden taught in his classic book “Character” that a man was no greater than his character, as great character is the ultimate achievement in life – as there is nothing more noble and impressive than that. No career or masterpiece can outweigh a person's soul, mind, and spirit.

However, a great career and family life is the inevitable result of great character! So the keys to happiness start with you, not with your money or even your knowledge – but with you as a human being.

This is why character education activities can be so beneficial.

Whether you're trying to organize character education activities for the youth in your community yourself, or whether you want to help your child's school put them together, here are some tips to keep in mind.

First of all, different activities are appropriate for different grade levels. Here's a suggestion for each grade!

Primary

Have each child write out their name vertically on a lined sheet of paper, so that each letter of their name sits on top of each other. Then tell the child to write a descriptive word for each letter, horizontally, that describes who they are as a person.

When they finish this task, they then can write a full self-descriptive paragraph that includes each one of these words in it!

This activity helps a child to learn to be self-aware and to understand that they have self-worth. It is only until a child realizes this fact that they can even begin to think about their character.

Intermediary

Read more than a few short “moral dilemma” stories to the children and for each story, have them work together in a group to determine if the characters in the stories acted ethically or unethically.

This activity will not only foster teamwork, but will help children to think critically and understand the power of personal choice and responsibility.

Upper Level

Have each child decide who their favorite fictional storybook character is and then list in a column the character's unique traits, the dilemmas they faced, the techniques they used to overcome the dilemmas, and what traits of theirs they used to overcome them.

Then have each child list their own personal traits and observe if they have anything in common with the fictional character and discuss how they could use their personal traits to deal with problems.

This activity will help children discover the resources they have within themselves to confront issues in their life.

In addition to teaching these character education activities to children and also young adults, you can invest in the Leadership Series For Successful Living, which features Dr. Marden's classic book “Character” -- as well as several of his other most notably works – in an easy-to-download audio format.

With Dr. Marden and the leadership audiobook series, you can learn how to build character yourself and then pass on what you learn to your children and/or students.

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