**Note: This page is for educational inspiration and is not officially affiliated with the United Nations. U.N. International Day of Peace is established by the United Nations. For official information and to learn more about global peace efforts, please visit the United Nations website (www.un.org/peaceday).
Understanding U.N. International Day of Peace in EYFS & KS1
Let's make peace! 🕊️ The U.N. International Day of Peace, often simply called Peace Day, is observed globally every year on September 21st. Established by the United Nations, this day is dedicated to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples. It's a day for a global ceasefire and non-violence, calling on everyone to honour a cessation of hostilities.
For early years settings, nurseries, preschools, childminders, and Year 1 and Year 2 classrooms, this day provides a profound and universally relevant theme for exploring kindness, friendship, empathy, and conflict resolution. It's about teaching children the foundations of peaceful coexistence, understanding different emotions, and learning how to treat others with respect and compassion. This day offers fantastic planning ideas and inspiration for engaging activities that truly resonate with young minds, making learning about social harmony and emotional well-being both meaningful and impactful.
Why Is Teaching About Peace & Kindness Important for Young Children?
Integrating lessons about peace and kindness into your practice with young children (aged 0-7) is incredibly important for fostering their social-emotional development, moral compass, and ability to navigate relationships positively. During their early years, children are learning crucial social behaviours and understanding their impact on others.
Empathy and Compassion: Discussing peace and kindness helps children understand and share the feelings of others, fostering a caring attitude.
Conflict Resolution: Learning about peaceful ways to solve problems (sharing, taking turns, talking) provides essential life skills.
Emotional Intelligence: Exploring feelings associated with peace (happiness, calm) and conflict (sadness, anger) helps children manage their own emotions and understand those of their peers. Our emotions - 'why is teddy sad?' activity pack and emotions - 'why is teddy happy?' activity pack are excellent for this.
Building Positive Relationships: Promoting kindness and friendship lays the groundwork for healthy, supportive interactions.
Creating a Positive Environment: A focus on peace helps to cultivate a calm, respectful, and inclusive classroom or setting.
Global Citizenship: Even at a young age, children can begin to grasp the idea of peace extending beyond their immediate environment to the wider world.
Engaging Peace & Kindness Activities for U.N. International Day of Peace (0-7 Year Olds)
Make International Day of Peace a truly harmonious and thoughtful experience with these planning ideas and activities perfect for EYFS and KS1 children. The focus is on compassion, connection, and understanding! Many of these early years and year 1 activities can be supported by the extensive range of printable resources we have available.
Here's some inspiration for nurturing peace and kindness in your setting: (Please use your own discretion and knowledge of your children to ensure appropriateness of each activity and safety concerning any materials given and activity undertaken.)
Acts of Kindness Challenge: Encourage and celebrate daily acts of kindness. Use ‘Acts of Kindness’ activity and display’ to inspire and track kind deeds. Our let's show kindness - activity prompt poster and let's show kindness - activity prompt cards offer more prompts.
"What Makes a Good Friend?" Discussion: Explore the qualities that make someone a good friend and how these contribute to peace. Use our ‘Kindness and friendship - ‘what makes a good friend’ mark making sheets’ for children to draw or write their ideas.
Friendship Card Making: Provide materials for children to create cards for their friends, expressing appreciation. Our 'Friendship' and Thank-you for being my friend!' cards can be helpful in this.
"My Lovely Friend" Activities: Encourage children to draw or write about a special friend using 'My Lovely Friend' mark making sheets.
Connecting with Others: Facilitate activities that encourage positive interactions. Our ‘Let's Connect with each other’ - activity prompt poster and ‘Let's Connect with each other’ - activity prompt cards offer great ideas for interaction.
Sharing and Fairness: Play games or engage in activities that require sharing and taking turns. Our ‘Beach - who will share this shell?’ can be a fun prompt for discussing fairness.
Peaceful Play Scenarios: Set up role-play areas that promote cooperation and peaceful interaction. An 'At our picnic we...' display can encourage sharing and enjoying time together.
Kindness Display & Awards: Create a "Peace and Kindness" display. Use our ‘Kindness and Friendship - display certificates/notes’ to celebrate children's kind actions and positive friendships.
Drawing/Writing About Peace: Provide sheets for children to express what peace means to them, or to draw situations where people are being kind and peaceful, using ‘Acts of kindness’ mark making/drawing/writing sheet.
Story Time: Books on Peace and Friendship: Read age-appropriate books that explore themes of friendship, kindness, resolving conflicts peacefully, and understanding differences.
These activities offer great inspiration for making U.N. International Day of Peace a memorable and impactful experience in your early years and Key Stage One setting, fostering social-emotional development, empathy, and a lifelong commitment to peace.
To explore ideas surrounding additional early years events, please visit our 'Special Dates Calendar' page.
Printable resources to support teaching & learning surrounding: ‘U.N. International Day of Peace’
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Explore special dates (including awareness dates, festivals, celebrations & events) relevant to your EYFS & KS1 children
Browse our ‘Special Dates Calendar’ page using the link below. You’ll find calendars for every month of the year to aid your planning!
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Disclaimer:
This page is for educational purposes only and is intended to support early years and primary practitioners with ideas and resources related to 'U.N. International Day of Peace'. We are not officially affiliated with or endorsed by the United Nations, which established this day. We do not claim any rights to specific trademarks or official materials associated with this day. For official information and to learn more about global peace efforts, please visit the United Nations website at www.un.org/peaceday.
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