This activity is awesome because it can be used for a range of lessons. Whether you are a parent struggling with a child who bullies others, a teacher planning an anti-bullying lesson or just a mom who wants her children to show kindness to one another, this activity is for you! This lesson is all about teaching kids how the things that they say or do are permanent and cannot be taken back. As a child, or a person in general, it is easy to get caught up in the moment and let our emotions take over our minds and mouths. We often say things that we don’t mean or that we wish we could take back. The purpose behind this activity is to physically show that once you say something to someone else, there is no taking it back. Sure, you can apologize and even really mean it but there is no erasing the way you made the other person feel in that moment.

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Materials:

• Paper plate
• Toothpaste 
• Toothpicks 

Steps:

1. Before beginning the activity, explain to your little one(s) that the toothpaste is going to represent someone’s words and/or actions. 
2. Allow your little one(s) to squirt all of the toothpaste out of the tube onto the paper plate. 
3. Then, hand them a toothpick or two, and encourage them to try to get the toothpaste back into the tube. 
4. Once they have tried and realized it is not possible, explain the correlation to using harsh words to others to them. Tell them that even though they could clean up the toothpaste and make the mess “go away” they will never be able to take back what they said. Use this lesson to teach them that once they say or do something unkind towards someone else there is no going back. This is why it is so important that we THIINK before we say or do something. 

Tips for when you are feeling angry:

• Walk away, give yourself time to cool down before you respond. 
• THINK about what you are going to say or do, ask yourself if you could later regret saying or doing those things. 
• Come up with a way to express what you are feeling without being mean to the other person. 

It is always important for you to feel like you can express the things you are feeling! However it is best if you do it in a way that is not hurtful to those around you!