Free character educatuin activities on this page are designed to prompt kids to reflect on the type of person they want to be, while promoting a variety of positive character traits: Honesty, integrity, perseverance, love, trust, respect, leadership, and a strong moral center. Most are designed for kids in preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school, but some can be adapted for teens in junior high or high school as well.

Character education activities for kids & teachers

How Others See Me – A Language Group Activity (all ages)

This activity helps children to think about how they want others to think of them. Are they honest, smart, funny, or good at sports? It can be solo, or a group time activity.

Reasons for rules: A class discussion activity  (grade school, jr. high and high school)

A character education activity designed to teach children about rules: The reasons we have them, who benefits, and whether it’s ever okay to break them.

Scenes of Virtue (Art: All Ages)
Pose this question to your kids: If honesty were a picture, what would it look like? What about bravery or kindness? Then have them draw or paint a scene that symbolizes this virtue. You can have kids pick a particular virtue on their own that they’d like to draw, or assign different virtues on different days of the week and have kids create scenes to symbolize them all.

Character Analysis (Group: All Ages)
Select a child-appropriate movie or television show to watch in class. Once it’s over, have a discussion about the different morals and virtues exhibited by different characters in the movie:

• Who acted admirably, and who exhibited uglier qualities?
• What could each character have done better?
• Were the protagonists or “good guys” always good, or did they do hurtful things as well?
• Were the ‘bad guys’ always bad? How might the morality change if told from their point of view?
• Were the character portrayals realistic, or are things a bit messier in real life?
• What things should we want to emulate?

If you prefer, you can instead assign kids to watch their own preferred movie or television show as a homework assignment, then write a report about the character virtues and flaws they observed in each of its main characters.

Character Superheroes (Art/Creative/Writing)
All Ages
Forget about superhuman strength and the ability to fly. Have your kids create superheroes based on admirable character traits, such as “Honesty Man,” or “Care-Woman.” Have them draw a picture of the superhero as they imagine them to be. Encourage kids to break from the mold of what the prototypical superhero might look like.

Then have them write/dictate a story about this superhero saving the day by utilizing this positive character trait. For older age groups, you can even have them create their own character-based comic books built around this character.

Virtuous People (Writing)
Grades 2 and up
Have children write about someone in their life who’s brave, dependable, caring, capable, hardworking, honest or trustworthy, while telling a story that serves as an example of this virtue. You can let kids pick their own character trait to write about, or assign a different trait on different days and have kids write about different people they know who excel at this trait.

Virtuous Posters (Art)
Pre-K to Grade 2
Gather some construction paper, pencils, glue, glitter, sequins, and paint or markers. Write different character traits on sample cards and set these out at a table. Have kids use the pencils and flashcards to copy a word onto their paper in big, fancy lettering. Once they have it just right, trace the lettering in glue and apply glitter and sequins to it. Then have them decorate the rest of the page using the paint or markers to create a unique poster. Kids may want to do more than one poster, so be sure to have plenty of paper.

Real Life Superheroes (Homework/Group)
All Ages
Have kids search the Internet or look through newspapers to find inspirational stories that exhibit positive character traits, such as a person leaping into the water to rescue a drowning child (bravery), or a story about people feeding the poor (kindness & compassion). Once they have their story, clip it or print it, and have them create a short presentation to the class about why this story inspired them and what type of virtues it exhibits. Then have a discussion about these real life superheroes and how real heroes differ from the imaginary ones.