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Excerpts from Living Values Activities Books and
Peace Ideas at Home for Parents of 
 

• What is peace?
• What does it mean to have a peaceful world? 

Do the Imagining a Peaceful World exercise together. You might want to play some soft music. Lead the children in this imagining exercise. Say the following, pausing at the dots: "You are smart. An interesting thing about children is that each child already knows about peace. Today, I want you to use your imagination to make a picture of a peaceful world in your mind. But to do that you have to be very still for a few minutes. Let your body be comfortable and very still . . . Imagine a world in which all the people in all the towns of the world like each other and get along very well. There is only peace. And imagine in one of those towns a pretty garden, with trees, and flowers . . . It's very nice in the garden, the grass is soft, and you can hear birds singing . . . You watch the birds fly slowly across the sky . . . There is a safe and peaceful feeling here . . . There is a little pond nearby with golden fish swimming slowly . . . You watch the fish . . . They are swimming slowly and peacefully . . . Now, in your mind, picture a swing (or a hammock; whatever the children are familiar with) . . . You sit on the swing . . . Now one of your favorite people comes up a path, and is happy to see you . . . That person is very peaceful today . . . and that person slowly pushes you on the swing . . . You enjoy watching the pretty garden from up high . . . When you get off the swing, feeling peaceful and full inside, you see yourself in this room . . ."


Share: Ask your children to share their experiences. Acknowledge their responses.


Activity: Ask the children to draw what they imagined. Or, for little ones, ask them if they want to make fish or flowers. Cut them out and color them together. Save these to decorate a Peace Tent.


Sing Together 
Sing a song about peace or make up your own. Make up your own hand movements and tune for the following song!
 
I Am a Peaceful Star
I am a peaceful star, I am,
I am a peaceful star, I am,
When we care together,
When we share together,
We are peaceful stars, we are! (Repeat)


Conflict Resolution
Talk with the children about peace. Ask what are our arms for. Introduce the phrases, "Arms are for hugging, not for shoving," and "Arms are for giving, not for grabbing."

If someone pushes someone else, tell the child who is pushed: "Tell him/her what you don't like. Say, 'I don't like it when you hit me. Arms are for hugging, not for shoving.'"

If you encourage the children to use this phrase, they will soon be able to apply it independently. Conflicts will decrease as their appropriate communication skills develop.

If there is more than a little shove, get peaceful yourself, and then say, "Come, I want you both to learn how to solve your problems."

Ask both children to sit down. 

• Ask one child to say how he or she feels while the other listens. Ask the second child, "What did he or she say?" After it is repeated, ask that child the same question (how he or she feels) and have the first child repeat that. 
   
• Then ask each one to tell the other what he/she would like the other not to do. Ask the listener to repeat what the speaker says.
   
• Then, ask them each to say what they would like the other to do. Each listener is to repeat what the speaker says. 
   
• Ask if they can do that for a certain amount of time. Set a short enough time so they will be successful. 
   
• Positively notice when they are playing peacefully when they have been doing that.

• Set up a Peace Corner. It could be in a corner in the bedroom or the house, and a bed sheet could be used to create a tent. You could decorate it together, using pictures of whatever makes you feel peaceful or gives a warm feeling inside. 
  
  The Peace Corner could be used for peace visualizations before nap time or to sit together with little ones and sing a song and play. Perhaps the Peace Finger Puppets could live there, too. This could be a place to resolve conflicts when the children are quarreling. 
   
• Sing peace songs together while you do things. Sing as you take a walk or swing in a swing. 
   
• Let the children know when they are "making peace." Give them a peace prize of a kiss or a hug. 
   
• When you make cookies, tortillas, or chappatis, roll some out so you and the children can make peace symbols with it. Examples are: doves, peace signs, or ?
   
• Include peace in your prayers with the children.

A note of appreciation: Thanks to the two wonderful parents who choose the activities from the Living Values books, Sophia Woodbridge and Theresa Alletto.