This is a useful activity to introduce work on bullying and self-esteem.

The children trace the outlines of their outstretched hands on a sheet of A3 paper.

After a class discussion on what constitutes a positive statement, the children are asked to write a series of positive statements about themselves on to one of the hands. The prompt for this is: “The thing I like about me is...”

Then the children move around the room quietly to record a positive statement about each other on the blank hands. It is important that all statements are positive. The prompt for this is: “The thing I like about you is...”

Class discussion can then centre on issues such as: “What do you write if you don’t really like the person? How can you respond if a person has only a few statements?”

Peter Heaney teaches Year 5 pupils at Steelstown Primary School in Northern Ireland