Guilford County Schools ACES Program
Weekly Theme: Friendship – Other Activities
Clay Rainbow Fish
Materials:
 Blue Play Dough
 Silver Glitter
 Sequins
How to make It:
1. Mix silver glitter into the blue play dough to make sparkle clay
2. Have students make their own rainbow fish out of the clay
3. Add colorful sequins for the Rainbow Fish scales.
The Friendship Fish - Rainbow Fish Book Activity
Uses Marcus Pfister's book, The Rainbow Fish, to teach children about friendship and how they
should treat their friends.
Materials:
 The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
 6 inch half circles cut out of construction paper (the scales)
 A large cut out of a fish to put the scales on.
 Draw a line at the top of the scale (the round part), so the children know where to write
their quality.
Plan:
1. Read The Rainbow Fish to the children.
2. Go over the importance of friendship with the children and discuss or make a list on the
board of qualities that friends have or should have.
3. Have the children go back to their seats and hand out a scale to each child.
4. Tell the children to write a quality that they would like a friend to have, or something they do
for a friend. It could be a sentence or a word. They can decorate their scale if they want.
5. After they have finished with their scale, put the giant fish on the wall and add their scales to
it. You can put glitter on the scales to help create the Rainbow Fish's sparkling scales.
6. The children will love seeing the creation of their own giant Rainbow Fish.
For younger children, you may want to substitute the steps below for Steps 4 – 6.
4. Explain to the children that you will be making a friendship chain (many do not know what
this is and are quite impressed as it takes shape.
5. Let children choose a strip of colored construction paper from strips you have made ahead
of time. Each student colors his or her strip and writes his/her name on it.
6. As students finish their strip, make the chain by stapling each strip into a circle shape and
linking the strips together as you staple.
July 2008
1
Activity ideas obtained from ACES staff and public domain materials
Guilford County Schools ACES Program
Friendship Box
Sometimes it’s not the actual gift but the message that it brings that is most cherished. This gift
is great for showing how much friends mean to a person.
Materials:
 1 empty box, any size
 Wrapping paper or construction paper
 Pink construction paper
 White paper for poem
 White craft glue
 Ribbon
 Scissors
How to make it:
1. Wrap the empty box in wrapping paper or construction paper.
2. Tie ribbon around the box and tie into a bow on the top.
3. Print out the poem below.
4. Trim the poem and glue the trimmed poem to the white paper to give it an even border all
the way around.
5. Glue the poem to the box.
6. Have the children give the box they made to a special friend.
Friendship Box Poem
Inside this fancy little box
I placed a gift so nice
You’ll probably always cherish it
Not even thinking twice
Now even though this box I give
Holds nothing you can touch
I’ve placed inside our friendship
It’s you I like so much!
Friendship Wreath
Materials:
 Paint
 Large paper
 Ribbon
How to make it:
1. Have the children place their handprints on a large piece of paper in a circular shape to
create a friendship wreath.
2. Then have the children decorate the wreath with ribbons.
3. Then display it on the wall.
Talk about working together and friendship as you make the wreath.
July 2008
2
Activity ideas obtained from ACES staff and public domain materials
Guilford County Schools ACES Program
Friendship Gallery
What do friends like to do? Children will share with their classmates activities they enjoy doing
with friends by creating a friendship portrait.
Materials:
 Roll paper, butcher paper, or wallpaper
 Small pieces of drawing paper
 Crayons, colored markers, and pencils
 Scissors
 Tape, paste, or glue
 Photographs (optional)
What to do:
1. Brainstorm with children the kinds of activities that friends do together. Here are a few to
get the children started: a team sport, eating lunch together, playing a board game, sharing
a secret.
2. Have children work in pairs to create friendship portraits. One child in each pair lies on a
panel of paper, and the other traces his or her outline. Then partners switch positions and
repeat the process so that each child has an outline.
3. Children begin by labeling their portraits with their names. Then they fill the outlines with
scenes of activities they especially enjoy doing with friends. Children can draw right on the
paper or make small drawings and attach them to the outline. Some children may wish to
bring in photographs from home of themselves and friends and add them too.
4. Post the portraits around the room. Encourage children to move from portrait to portrait (as
they might in a museum), studying each picture and looking for things in the portrait they
also enjoy. Then bring them together to discuss similarities and differences they noticed
among their classmates’ interests.
Do You Want To Be My Friend?
This activity teaches social skills and how to develop friendships.
Materials:
 Book - Do You Want to Be My Friend? by Eric Carle.
 Large piece of butcher paper
 Paints
What to do:
1. Discuss the meaning of being a friend and what good qualities are in a friend.
2. Read the story and then discuss the mouse's search for the perfect friend.
3. What good qualities were in each friend he found?
4. Make a friendship rainbow to hang over/near the entrance to the ACES area by having the
students make hand prints for each color of the arc.
5. Talk about what friends the children have made since they have been in school. Ask the
children, What is a good quality about that friend? Why do they like that friend? What
activities do they do together?
6. After the rainbow dries hang it over/near the ACES entrance with the saying - A Rainbow of
Friendship Hand in Hand.
July 2008
3
Activity ideas obtained from ACES staff and public domain materials
Guilford County Schools ACES Program
Friendship Flowers
Goal/Objective: Students will be able to list qualities of good friends and obtain these qualities
within themselves.
Materials:
 You Are Special by Max Lucado
 Construction paper cut outs of 5 flower petals per child and one round circle
 1 envelope per child
 Markers
 Glue
 Large sheet of paper for listing
 Construction paper
What to do:
1. Gather children onto floor in a group.
2. Ask children to think of their best friends in their head but to not talk aloud.
3. Ask children to think of why that person is their best friend.
4. Tell children about your best friend and why he or she is your best friend.
5. Explain that friends can be family members, pets, peers, adults, etc.
6. Ask children to raise their hand and when called upon to tell what they like about their best
friend, without naming the person. Make a list of things the group likes about their friends.
7. How are we good friends? Make a list of things the group can do as good friends.
8. Read You Are Special by Max Lucado. Discuss his friend and how she helped him.
9. Explain Flower Friends activity:

Each child has an envelope with their name on it and 5 petals inside.

We will pass around the envelopes until I say, Stop. Then each child will take out one
petal from the envelope and write one nice word about the person whose name is on the
envelope. Do not show anyone whose envelope you have or say anything aloud! After
writing the word on the petal, put the petal back in the envelope.

We will pass the envelopes around 5 times, until each petal has a word.

Each child will then get their envelope and arrange their petals on a sheet of
construction paper

After the petals are glued to the paper, the Friendship Flowers can be displayed for all to
see.
July 2008
4
Activity ideas obtained from ACES staff and public domain materials
Guilford County Schools ACES Program
Friendship Web
Materials:
 Ball of yarn
What to do:
1. Have the kids seated in a circle on the floor.
2. Hold on to the loose end of the yarn and toss the ball to a child somewhere in the circle
while saying the child's name. "Hello, Vanessa, welcome to our friendship circle!" Vanessa
holds on to the yarn with one hand and tosses the ball of yarn to another child as she
repeats the greeting, using that child's name.
3. Set up the rules before-hand.
 The yarn must go to someone who has not had it yet and the last child tosses it back to
you, saying your name.
 Each person has to keep a hold on the yarn with one hand, holding it down to the floor,
while tossing with the other hand. All the while a "web" design is forming on the floor.
 When every one has had a turn, have the kids each hold their yarn in one hand and all
stand up. The web rises with them.
 You may get a few oohs and awws. Share with the group, "Just like a web, our group is
special because we can all be friends, working together."
Friendship Talk
Make a paper chain of children. Explain that this is like your group – each person is an
individual, but all together you are a group of friends! A friend is someone to have fun with, to
play with, to laugh with, to sing with, and to share with. A friend is a buddy, a pal - a friend!
Discuss with the children:
 Who are your friends?
 What special things do you like to do with your friends?
 What things do you like to do by yourself?
July 2008
5
Activity ideas obtained from ACES staff and public domain materials
Guilford County Schools ACES Program
Friendship Scavenger Hunt
Find a friend who is
wearing tennis shoes
Find a friend who plays
on a sports team
Find a friend whose
favorite color is blue
Find a friend who has
attended another
elementary school
Find a friend who was
in ACES last year
Find a friend who has a
brother or sister
Find a friend who has a
pet dog
Find a friend who wears
glasses
Find a friend who likes
math
Find a friend who plays
a musical instrument
Find a friend who can
speak a different
language
Find a friend who likes
to sing
Find a friend who has
lived in another state
Find a friend who has a
birthday in the summer
when school is out
Find a friend who likes
to swim
Find a friend who has
brown eyes
Have a friend write their first name in the block with the question that describes them.

Each friend can only sign your sheet one time

YOU may only sign one block

Your group leader may only sign one block
July 2008
6
Activity ideas obtained from ACES staff and public domain materials
Guilford County Schools ACES Program
July 2008
7
Activity ideas obtained from ACES staff and public domain materials
Guilford County Schools ACES Program
July 2008
8
Activity ideas obtained from ACES staff and public domain materials
Guilford County Schools ACES Program
July 2008
9
Activity ideas obtained from ACES staff and public domain materials