Activities To Teach Children Good Manners

Knowing and following the rules of politeness and good manners gives people the opportunity to meet others in different contexts and situations. Therefore, it is important to teach children good manners by giving them tools. When they grow up, they can thus behave better in different environments.

After all, good manners do not tell you much about a person? Often, they can make a world of difference when it comes to work, study, and social events. So with that in mind, in this article we will tell you how to teach children good manners.

What are good manners?

Good manners refer to rules and norms in any society. They are a way to show education and respect to other people.

Therefore, good manners allow us to relate to and improve coexistence with people through attitudes or behaviors such as greeting correctly, saying thank you, asking for and apologizing, offering help, being polite and cooperating with others.

As we have said, good manners vary for each community. It has a lot to do with culture and customs. Moreover, they have also changed and evolved over time according to historical circumstances.

To teach children good manners, we must therefore also help them understand that they are not the same everywhere, in all circumstances, or with all people.

What is indisputable, however, is that politeness and good manners are important in building relationships with others. And it is important that we learn good manners both in the family and in the school environment, because they are ways of showing consideration and appreciation to other people. And because they additionally help people make a good impression in any situation, both formal and informal.

Can we teach children good manners by playing?

The answer to this question is yes! As with everything taught to young children, it is much more effective if it is through play. For children, play is a very good didactic strategy and has a fundamental value as a learning tool.

Through play, children can learn rules of politeness and kindness and thus develop and internalize the habit of acting and behaving in good manners.

Therefore, we would suggest more fun activities that can be used both at home and at school so that the little ones can gradually learn some basic rules of courtesy.

Snack games to teach children good manners

A good idea is for the parents to organize an afternoon with friends and take advantage of this opportunity to make a delicious snack where the goal is to learn to eat properly.

This way, all the little guests can enjoy a delicious cake and a chocolate or vanilla milkshake, as long as they adhere to the following rules:

• Do not rest your elbows on the table while eating. Stay seated with your back straight.
• Chew each bite well. Eat with your mouth closed. Do not talk with your mouth full of food.
• Take your napkin and place it on your lap. Use it several times during the meal to dry both mouth and hands.
• Talk to the other children in a calm way without shouting or interrupting others.

Reversal game

An interesting activity is to make cards with pictures of children with good and bad manners or with sentences about good and bad manners. And at the same time also hand out cards with numbers, which will be the ones that will give the children a turn to talk.

Therefore, according to the number randomly assigned to each child, they should talk about what they see or what they read on the card.

The idea is that children through this activity can express their opinions and talk about good manners and also show patience and respect for each other while waiting for their own turn to talk.

Funny stories to teach children good manners

The pedagogical value of stories in the teaching of children is indisputable. With a story , children learn values. They learn about their emotions, about the world, animals and nature. They can also learn about manners.

In this sense, choosing stories that are about using good manners can be a wonderful way for children to learn them.

To teach children good manners through song and dance

An activity whose purpose is to combine music and rhythm with sentences about good manners can be a fun game for children. They do not only learn about good manners. They also develop their memory and musical skills.

For example, children can be invited to “rap” such as: ” How cool is it to say pray and thank you every day ” or other phrases that you can come up with together.

Dolls in good manners

As the latter is something that children like a lot, playing with dolls. If they are characters they know and love, then it’s even better.

So both at school and at home you can make some charming friends from old clothes and recycled materials. You can create stories about superheroes fighting for good manners everywhere. You can e.g. make the following scenes:

• A bus that has the task of explaining and convincing younger people to give their seats to older people and pregnant women. Or people with disabilities.
• On the streets, parks and schools for the purpose of reminding everyone not to throw rubbish but to look for rubbish bins to throw their rubbish.

We hope you enjoy trying out these activities soon to teach kids good manners. You will have fun while they learn!