Building the Foundation: Peace and Conflict Education in
Early Childhood Development Programs
Project Implemented in Partnership between
Child Institute of Al-Quds University &
Meridian International Center
TRAINING ACTIVITIES
2008
MODULE TWO:
Getting Along in My Classroom and
Neighborhood
Learning Objectives: 3 Objectives & 9 Activities
• First Objective: To introduce children to alternatives
to conflict (conflict resolution)
• Second Objective: To initiate peaceful engagement of
the children with one another (getting along,
accepting others)
• Third Objective: To explore what happens to the
children and others when problems are solved
violently
Materials Required
• Poster paper, colors, stickers, cut out symbols.
• Puppets made out of socks or other readily available
materials; children or their parents can make puppets.
• The Tower and The Storm are good books for this.
• There are also a series of books from Lebanon in the market
that address social issues and children.
• Objectives of all of these books are that hitting does not
work. Talking about the problem, going to someone else for
help, and facing the problem are all suggested.
Activity No. 1
Accepting Others, Group Play
Second Objective
• Engage students in discussion of what getting along, being
friendly, and accepting others.
• Means – teacher can use puppets to engage students in this
conversation. The conversation focuses on environments that
are familiar to them (their home, their classroom, their
neighborhood).
• Examples are specific – e.g., siblings fighting, classmates
wanting the swings at the same time, children fighting over
who can play where or taking the ball from one.
• Teacher facilitates discussion of how children, their parents
and teachers can resolve these problems.
Activity No. 2
Accepting Others - Second Objective
Duration: 20-30 minutes
Materials Required:
Drawing paper, crayons, construction paper, other
materials to decorate pictures
Activity:
Students draw a picture of what getting along means
to them after they have interacted with the puppets
and engage in teacher-facilitated discussion of the
picture and what they were trying to represent.
Activity No. 3
Role Play of Conflict - Third Objective
Conflict & its Results
Engage children in role play about a conflict/problem
(argument/fight).
• Teacher begins with telling a story of a young girl who wants to play
with the blocks. As she starts playing, someone pushes her and
takes the blocks. Another child comes to see what has
happened…then the teacher asks the children to talk about what
happened, why, how, who, and what should not have happened.
• Teacher can then encourage children to tell their own stories. If
they are reluctant to do so, teacher facilitates role play in which
children depict a fight or problem and then (re-stage it to show how
the problem could have been prevented (e.g., if someone pushes
you, don’t push back, wait and talk) and then role play about how
to deal with a problem after it happens.
Continue…
• Teacher facilitates discussion about different choices we make
when we have a conflict/ fight/ argument with each other.
• Teacher can make happy face necklaces or smiley suns to give
to children whenever they do something positive-- they get to
wear this as a symbol of their good behavior and approach to
solving problems
Activity No. 4
Group Membership – Group Play
Second Objective
Duration: 20-40 minutes x 2 sessions
Materials Required:
Play dough, paint or other materials of choice
Activity:
Children work with a partner or in a small group to
make a sculpture, painting or other artwork.
Children share about what was good about working
together/ what do they like about their partner.
Activity No. 5
Peace & Peaceful Coexistence
Second Objective
Duration: 20-30 minutes x 2 sessions
Materials Required:
• Reproduction of “The Peaceable Kingdom”.
• Shara’a Simsim story book on The Treasure
Hunt (Haneen and Kareem).
• Number of story books by ECRC and Tamer
and similar stories
Activities
• What do the children think about the pictures?
• How can the children and their teachers create a
classroom community?
• How can we all work together to make the classroom
a good place to be?
• Teachers must be prepared to take the children’s
opinions into consideration and to make changes in
the classroom, as appropriate.
Activity No. 6
Harmony & Coexistence
Duration: 20 minutes x 3 sessions
Materials Required:
Music and stories to be selected from
available peace and conflict education
materials though they are rare and limited.
Activity
Harmony, Coexistence, Acceptance &
Appreciation of Others
Second Objective
• Music and stories about getting along, appreciating and
respecting others in the classroom and beyond.
• Teacher plays the music and tells the stories (if musicians
available, invite them to perform and engage the students).
• Music can help control anger, self control and provide basis
for harmony and for resolving conflicts
• Use non-violent approaches to peacemaking.
Activity No. 7
Duration: 20-30 minutes
Materials Required:
Poster board and colors
Activity No. 7
Peaceful Classroom Environment
First & Second Objectives
• The activity is about peaceful classroom community that is
dominated by rules and regulation among its members. The
teacher discuss these rules with the children and includes it as
part of the positive behaviour list. All should follow and
implement these rules.
• Create a list of classroom rules to follow (special rules for
conflicts).
• Use exclusion once the rules are not followed by a child.
• Encourage children to be proactive and admit their mistake(s)
and to refrain from negative behaviour.
Activity No. 7
Citizenship
First & Second Objectives
Duration: 20-30 minutes per planning session
30-45 minutes for play and recording
Materials Required:
Video recording equipment and tapes
Activity
Citizenship & Membership in a Group
First & Second Objectives
Behavioural Rules and Regulation that Keep Peace
Engage students in putting on a play about those rules and
how they help keep peace in the classroom (teacherfacilitated). Discuss with children the value of having those
rules in place. Either present the play to families and friends
of children, or videotape the play and show it to parents at
some school event. Display the children’s art work
(individual and group-prepared) during play; facilitate
discussion of the play with families and friends of children.
Activity No. 9
Murals
Cooperation & Group Work (Peace & Coexistence)
First & Second Objectives
Activity
• Engage children in creating a mural/poster for their
classroom/school with the theme of peace/getting
along with each other/or creating classroom
communities.
• Children keep a mural/poster “diary” -- every day
they select one good thing that happened at school
as the event of the day and record it on the
mural/poster, or the teacher helps them to write
about it.
Continue…
Training:
• Teacher training should focus on the importance of
children selecting what the good behavior
was…listening to each other reinforcing good
behavior is a powerful motivator for children.
• Teacher must be consistent and this should be done
as part of school routine.
• Children get upset if they are waiting for this
moment in the school day and the teacher says,
“Sorry, maybe tomorrow.” So be consistent.
END OF MODULE TWO