My Best Friend is Me
CONCEPT: Self Esteem
BRIEF SUMMARY
Read a story about a hippo who has many friends, but also knows how to find things to do when he is by himself. He has ways of encouraging himself when he is feeling frustrated. Talk about how we can use some of the hippo's strategies when we are feeling discouraged.
OBJECTIVES
After completing this activity, children will be able to:
- identify things they can do to take care of themselves
- identify something that they enjoy doing
METHODS
-
Read the story My Best Friend is Me by Beth Ann Marcozzi.
-
Discuss the story:
- What did the hippo do when there were no friends around to play with? (drew a picture, rode a bike, read a book, played with toys) What do you do?
- What did he do when other kids made fun of him? (practiced, spent time with other friends) What do you do?
- Who knows what "frustrated" means? What things make you feel frustrated? What did the hippo do to make himself feel better? (practiced, threw a party for himself) What do you do to make yourself feel better?
- He said, "When someone tells me how nice I look, I know why." Why? (he took care of himself) What things do you do to take care of yourself? (eat the right foods, drink milk, exercise, brush your teeth)
- When he gets upset, he tells somebody about it. Why is that a good idea?
- He said, "When I look in the mirror, I like what I see. My best friend is Me!" Why is it good to be your own best friend?
- Distribute the picture sheets. Participants can paste cut-out pictures, or draw their own.
- Draw a picture of yourself doing your favorite thing in the whole world.
- Draw a picture of yourself with a super-hero cape. What are your Super Powers?
- Discuss what each person has drawn.
MATERIALS
- Book: My Best Friends is Me, by Beth Ann Marcozzi. Published by The Center for Applied Psychology, Inc, 1995.
Phone: (800) 962-1141. ISBN: 1-882732-25-1 - Picture sheets (pages 36 and 40)
- Crayons/markers
- Glue
- Pictures of people