What is a friend? And more importantly, how do we make friends and treat them well? In this award, Eager Beavers learn about about friendship. We placed this award at the very beginning of the year in an effort to kickstart some wonderful new friendships in our club this year. Making friends and treating people with respect and love are critical skills, and I love that Adventurers work to strengthen these essential skills each year. Playing with Friends is a required award for Eager Beaver Investiture Achievement.
Story: Jesus Chooses His Disciples
Fulfills Requirement # 6
As all of our adventurers were learning about friendship at the same meeting, we learned about Jesus picking out His disciples and inviting them to follow Him during our club worship. Most Bible story books will include a story about Jesus choosing His disciples. I chose to read “Jesus Chooses His Disciples” from The Beginner’s Bible from Zonderkidz (page 308) because it’s short, to the point, and I thought it’d hold the attention of all of the kids the best of all of my options. To engage the kids (and to help fulfill requirements) I had the kids repeat the names of the disciples whenever I read them.
Story: Let’s Play! A Book About Making Friends
Fulfills Requirements # 2-5 when combined with Thumbs Up Thumbs Down
To prepare for this award, I checked out a pile of picture books about friendship from my local library. I found a stack of great books about friendship.
Let’s Play! A Book About Making Friends written by Amanda McCardie and illustrated by Colleen Larmour is ideal for this award. The story follows Suki as she starts a new school after moving. Suki feels lonely, but as kids start being friendly and kind, and as she begins to be friendly and kind too, she makes friends with her new classmates. The thing I love about this book is all the concrete examples of how kids make friends with each other. And then it shows how friends support each other. It’s inclusive and lovely and full of positive messages.
Song: Hello Greeting Song
Fulfills Requirement # 8a
This is a simple name song sung to the tune of Frere Jacques. The teacher sings the line and the class repeats it. Sing it once through for each Eager Beaver. The song sheet is in the printable file.
Hello <Name> Hello <Name>
How are you? How are you?
Stand and wave hello, Stand and wave hello,
Then sit down. Then sit down.
Craft: Friendship Makes the World More Colorful
Fulfills Requirement # 7
I’ve chosen to take some liberty with the requirement here. The official requirement is to make a craft to give to your friend. This is a lovely idea; however, it’s sticky in practice. Many kids want to keep their craft. We used this award to kick off our year. Our four returning Eager Beavers all know each other, but our newest Beavers only know one of the kids. In an effort to avoid hurt feelings, I modified the craft into something more cooperative.
Supplies and Instructions
You’ll need a variety of washable ink pads, baby wipes, the printable (at the end of the post), and willing little fingers. Each kid should get one ink pad. Ideally all of your ink pads are different colors. Each beaver will “stamp” the other beavers’ pages with their fingerprint. Unless your class is very large, have them stamp each page multiple times. They can also make fingerprint hearts. When the craft is finished, each Eager Beaver will have a cheerful page of friendship.
Options
If desired, parents can write their child’s name on some of the hearts/prints in tiny letters. I printed mine on cardstock because I thought cardstock would stand up to the stamping better, but I think copy paper will also work fine. Although the ideal is for each kid to use a single color, I also realize all of my Eager Beavers like the same three colors! We let the kids trade stamp pads. The key is to have fun and to have a colorful page at the end. Baby wipes do a great job cleaning washable ink off of little fingers. I highly recommend you use them both when changing colors and when you are finished crafting.
Game: Thumbs Up Thumbs Down: Friendship Edition
Fulfills Requirements # 2-5 when combined with the story Let’s Play!
I love using Thumbs Up Thumbs Down with older adventurers whenever we have a list of facts to get through. This is my first time trying is with Eager Beavers, but the jury is in, and it’s even more popular with the younger crowd! You can play this game very calmly sitting around the table and just answering with your own thumbs; however, this game is much more fun when running is involved. Place the emojis at opposite ends of your room. Ideally, you’ll use an open space for this activity. We use our foyer. A hallway would also work fine.
Everyone starts in the middle of the room. Read the statement. Kids decide if this is a good thing (thumbs up) or a bad thing (thumbs down) and run to the correct emoji. After they have all made a decision, have them come back to the middle of the room for a discussion (if needed) and the next statement. As the majority of the statements are thumbs up, I highly recommend you have the kids always start in the middle of the room. Whenever it’s a thumbs down scenario, I have included a follow-up discussion question.
Although I thought all of the statements were very obvious about being good or bad, I have been informed that the statement “I can make friends by pushing them down the slide” was not clear. It seems our Eager Beavers like it when people push them down a slide. They find it helpful!
There are ten statements, so the game should be quick. Our club found the game went by far too quickly. After finishing the prepared statements, the kids started making up their own situations for their friends to decide if they were good things or bad.
Activity: I.. Do You?
This activity is completely optional. It’s an opportunity for the Eager Beavers to see all the things they have in common with the other kids. Eager Beavers stand together on one side of the room. If the statement is true for them, they move to the other side of the room. Although they likely won’t agree with every statement, most kids will agree with many of them as they are all popular “kid things” like “I like pizza” and “I like books.”
Story: Making a Friend
Considering the high number of fantastic books about friendship, this is a great award to finish with another story – if there is time. Making a Friend written by Tammi Sauer and illustrated by Alison Friend is an adorable story about Beaver who struggles to make friends. In the process of trying to build himself a friend (a snowman), he meets a raccoon who is eager to help him build. Sadly, snowman doesn’t turn out to be a very fun friend for Beaver or Raccoon. However, Raccoon and Beaver realize they make great friends for each other! This is a fun book with a great message. (Note to conservative churches: Animals talk and wear human clothes.)
Closing Discussion
Fulfills Requirement # 1
Ask the kids (or have your puppet ask): What is a friend? Can anyone be a friend?
Additional Book Suggestions
I don’t believe any of the following books will help cover the award requirements as well as Let’s Play! A Book About Making Friends. That said, the following books are fun, sweet, and would be a lovely addition to your meeting. And any of them could replace Making a Friend. (Note to conservative churches: Animals/Foods talk and wear human clothes. None of the following books are “realistic.”)
Something Beautiful
Something Beautiful by Lita Judge is absolutely adorable. It’s about a mouse who is perfectly content playing with Ball, until he meets elephant. As the story progresses, the Mouse and Elephant will continue meeting new jungle animals and becoming friends with them all. This story has a nice words to pictures ratio for younger Eager Beavers (or Little Lambs).
Peanut Butter & Cupcake!
I enjoy Terry Border’s sense of humor in Peanut Butter & Cupcake! Peanut Butter (on a slice of bread) is new to town and is looking for a friend to play soccer with. None of the foods want to play soccer with him, but he perseveres until he meets… I can’t tell you anymore without spoiling the plot! This silly book shows the importance of perseverance. It’s a fun book for the Eager Beaver to Sunbeam age range.
Ruby’s Tools for Making Friends
Apryl Stott’s books always give me warm fuzzies. Ruby’s Tools for Making Friends is no exception. Ruby is a new student and she’s nervous about making friends. Fortunately, she has a bag of tools to help her remember how to deal with the anxiety of challenging situations. The gorgeous illustrations are perfect for autumn. The text to picture ratio is on the higher side. Older calmer Eager Beavers will enjoy this story, but if you have a particularly wiggly group, this book might be a bit too long.
Printables
Awards for other Adventurer levels that would “coordinate” with Playing with Friends: Sharing (LL), Cooperation (BB), Friend of Jesus (SU), and Caring Friend (HH).
How do you help your Eager Beavers make friends with each other? Especially the ones who don’t attend school together? I’d love to know what works in your club! Please leave a comment and tell us.