My Happiness Workbook

Over the years I’ve used the Needs Inventory with a variety of age groups to help kids identify the things they need to be happy, and to gain an appreciation for the differences in people’s perspectives. This year, I had a group of grade 1 and 2 students that I had taught the basic needs to, but I really wanted to develop some kind of activity like the inventory to make their learning more personal. The challenge, of course, was to come up with something that did not require as high a reading level as is required by many of the Restitution activities I’ve used in the past.

I started with trying to find a picture to illustrate each of the statements from the original Needs Inventory exercise. The kids were then able to colour and cut out the pictures that demonstrated the activities that they liked to participate in. We then glued the pictures to a page for each of the corresponding needs and counted up the number of pictures they had for each. This allowed us to identify which needs were strongest for each of them.

I was amazed at how engaged the kids were in this, and the deep conversations that they were having throughout this activity. So, I kept going! We talked about how there are some things we can control and some things we can’t, and how we need to focus on things we can control when we are having a difficult time. We talked about how we can help others in our classroom to meet their needs, and create the kind of classroom where everyone feels safe and accepted. I read them The Behaviour Car and this allowed us to dive even deeper into brainstorming ways we can take control when life doesn’t go quite the way we want. We ended up compiling all the activities we did this year into a book so that each child has a reminder of the things we have learned together. Thought I’d share our final result with you in case you’ve been searching for something for your youngest students too! Here it is:

Happiness WorkbookDownload

Directions & Supplemental MaterialDownload

I have to admit, I underestimated the comprehension that these kiddos would have for these ideas. I’m so excited to see how they recognize the power they have to make a difference both in their own lives and in the lives of others. I hope our workbook might help others to realize the same!