Cultivating Peacemakers in Early Childhood

Winter is often thought of as a season of peace with the snow, the holidays, and the shift into a fresh new year. Children often ask what peace means. They hear the expression “Peace on Earth” but they don’t always understand the concept. Different families and cultures view peace in many ways; from harmony with neighbors and acceptance of one another, to personal well-being and calmness in our hearts. 

"Peace is what every human being is craving for, and it can be brought about by humanity through the child"
-Maria Montessori

Our Peace Curriculum at the Children's Garden is deeply rooted in Maria Montessori's work in Peace Education.  While we draw from many educational philosophies to create our unique learning community, our years of teaching in Montessori schools have been integral in creating an environment to support young peacemakers.

Montessori recognized children as the redeeming factor in the evolution of humankind. In order to bring about a world of peace and tolerance it is important to focus and teach peace early. Having a peace curriculum is a sure way to prepare our children to be peace-seekers. Dr. Montessori said “…we must gather together all the elements of the world and organize them into a science of peace.” 

There are many forms and layers of peace.  To think about what peace is and how it can be practiced means analyzing possibilities for its application.  The Peace Flower diagram provides a simple, concrete framework upon which teachers and parents can focus on.

The Montessori Peace Flower- The Four States of Peace Awareness: ​​

Self Awareness - An awareness of how we are thinking, feeling, and behaving.  It means being mindful about thoughts, words, and actions.

Community Awareness - An awareness of other people in the community and the nature of relationships we have with people, especially people with whom we interact every day.  Community radiates out from each individual to include family, other students, teachers, school staff, neighbors, shopkeepers, etc.

Environmental Awareness - An awareness of what the earth needs to stay healthy and how individuals, communities, and cultures treat the earth.

​Cultural Awareness - An awareness and appreciation of the differences in people’s attitudes, beliefs, practices, customs, and social behavior.

In Early Childhood, we spend a significant amount of time on the first petal of Self Awareness.  We want to help identify and name all of the various feelings the child will have, and help them know that all feelings are okay and give them tools to process their feelings in a healthy way.  Continuing to move outward, we want to show them what appropriate actions they can do with these feelings.  We then want the child to begin to contemplate and meditate upon their actions before they are performed.

While concentrating on the first petal of self awareness, our overall goal is to help the child move from a less egocentric state to one of community, environmental, and ultimately cultural awareness.

(North American Montessori Center)

Here are an abundance of projects, activities, and resources to support creating peace and well being in our children and cultivating the peacemakers of tomorrow!

Breathing Beads

By now all the kids should know - what's the first thing we can do to calm down when we start to feel upset?

BREATHE!

First we decorated our popsicle sticks with markers and stickers.

Then with one side of a pipe cleaner taped to the popsicle stick we counted out 8 beads and beaded them onto the pipe cleaner.

After our beads were on we taped down the other side of the pipe cleaner.

To use the breathing beads we moved all the beads to one end of the pipe cleaner.

Then we breathed in as we slowly moved one bead to the other end of the pipe cleaner, matching movement and breath.

On the exhale, we moved another bead.

We repeated for the remaining beads and then moved the beads back, one by one, to the beginning.

​You can also use the breathing beads for encouraging longer breaths by counting to 4 beads per inhale and 4 beads per exhale.

Such a fun tool that really helps us to slow down and focus on our breathing!

Peaceful Yoga

The kids loved these cards made by Yoga 4 Classrooms!

We had some delightful conversations on what it means to be peaceful.  Being quiet is one way to be peaceful, but there are many other ways to practice peace.  Peace is an attitude we create with our thoughts, words, and actions.  Here are some ideas the kids came up with of how we can practice peace everyday:

"Sing with my mommy"
"Play outside"
"Be nice"
"Give lots of hugs and give presents"
"We give presents to kids who don't have any presents"
"Hug my brother"
​"Smile and be nice"

Peace Crawl

Peace Breath

Star Pose

Guided Meditation

Peaceful Thoughts

We feel peaceful when we think positive thoughts!  The kids loved coloring and painting these positive messages and then making collages out of them.

Peace Fortune Tellers

We loved making these Peace Fortune Tellers from The Peace Booth.

How Can We Create Peace?

Inspired by these great books we created a community poster and a classroom declaration of peace.

The Peaceful Classroom is a wonderful resource and has inspired a lot of our activities in learning about compassion and cooperation!

"If we are to teach real peace in this world... we shall have to begin with the children."
—Mahatma Gandhi

Peace Flowers

A lovely Montessori practice is to use the Peace Flower method to help preschoolers learn how to problem solve.  Similar to a "talking stick" if there is any conflict each child has an opportunity to speak respectfully while they are holding the flower.

Step 1:

Fold the tissue paper into rectangles.

Step 2:

Twist a pipe cleaner stem onto the middle.

Step 3:

Trim of the edges so they are rounded.

Step 4:

Carefully separate the tissue paper into beautiful flower petals.

The Peace Flower method of problem solving allows children to recognize and express their own feelings as well as learn respect for the other child’s feelings.

A basket containing the peace flower is made available to the children at all times.  When a conflict arises one child will get the Peace Flower. While holding the Peace Flower the child can express what they did not like or how they feel to the other child. When they are done they pass the flower to the other child.

Respect for the other persons turn to talk is stressed. The children are encouraged to use “I” words such as “I didn’t like it when you hit me”. We use kind language when holding the Peace Flower.

When the two children reach a solution or simply get over their difficulty they put their hands on the flower and say, ‘we declare peace’, or ‘friends’.

The Positive Classroom
​

Nonviolent Communication

All the teachers and volunteers at ACG receive training in Nonviolent Communication.  When we work with the kids we use vocabulary words that are free of judgement but express authentic feelings.  The list below is just a partial list.

Here are some of the words that might express your Feelings:

Excited
Amazed
Motivated
Delighted
Appreciative
Thankful
Touched
Encouraged
Amused
Glad
Happy
Tickled
Energized
Restored
Content
Relieved
Centered

Here are some of the words that might express your Needs:

Cooperation
Consideration
Respect
Support
Ease
Harmony
Order
Rest/Sleep
Contribution
Participation
Space
​
Here are some words for feelings when your Needs aren’t met:

​Baffled
Dismayed
Exasperated
Frustrated
Irked
Surprised
Ashamed
Exhausted
Tired
Hurt
Frazzled
Cranky
Nervous
Overwhelmed
Stressed out
​

For more details on NVC and how to use it with young children check out this article by Marion Badenoch Rose Ph.D.:

The Heart of Parenting: Nonviolent Communication in Action

The Peace Basket

Every home and classroom needs a Peace Basket filled with tools for young peacemakers.  Here we have our classroom peace flower, a meditative finger labyrinth, a calming mind jar, arnica based "boo boo cream" and noise cancelling headphones for sensitive ears.

The kids love using this simple finger labyrinth!

Check out our previous blog to learn how to make your own calming mind jar at home!

Community Puzzle

This project was like a community quilt for all ages. The puzzle consists of large, interchangeable, blank puzzle pieces. Each person decorates one or more puzzle pieces in his or her own style and then we put all the pieces together to create our unique group puzzle!

Peace Flags!

The most common common peace flag was first used in Italy at a peace march in 1961. The flag was inspired by similar multi-colored flags used in peace demonstrations.
The most common is an upside down rainbow and is emblazoned with the Italian word PACE, meaning "peace". 

We made our own peace flags with beautiful beeswax crayons and a PEACE stencil.

The kids were delighted when they took off their stencil to reveal the word PEACE!

Peace on Earth - Peace Signs

We loved this tape resist "Peace on Earth" project!  We mixed blue and yellow water color on paper plates to look like the blue water and green land of the earth and then peeled off the tape to show a peace sign.

Picasso Peace Doves

A beloved emblem of world peace, the dove, comes to life in this moving story that introduces Pablo Picasso and his art to young children.

We created our own doves of peace with sparkling water colors and a print of Picasso's - The Dove of Peace.

Peace Quilt

We put all our art projects together to decorate our Peace Corner in the classroom.

Peace Candles

We created a variety of beeswax candles to help us Sing Peace Around the World.

Hint - if the beeswax is a little tough to mold in the cold weather - try a hair dryer!

At circle time we learned the song Light a Candle for Peace which is a classic Montessori Peace Day project.  For more details on the project - check out World Community.

"Light a candle for peace
Light a candle for love
Light a candle that shines all the way around the world
Light a candle for me
Light a candle for you
That our wish for world peace
​Will one day come true!"

Community Garden Salad

Taking care of our garden and creating food together is a wonderful way for us to practice our environmental awareness!

To prepare the salad we ripped up the collards into bite sized pieces and washed it in the salad spinner.

Oh the joys of salad spinning!!

We added a fresh orange from our orange tree!

---

Scooped out some yummy avocado...

...and made a simple dressing of fresh lemon juice, olive oil, and salt.

Bon Appetit!

Check out our Facebook page for pics and the recipe for this delicious carrot cake we made with this HUGE carrot for our Winter Solstice Potluck!

 Environmental Peace

In Science class we have been learning all about the amazing properties of water and how to take care of the earth to protect clean water.

The Secret of Water

​Dr. Masaru Emoto's stunning water-crystal photographs have enchanted millions of people in his many books. His groundbreaking work has shown that thoughts and words have a direct effect on water- crystal formation, and since our bodies are mostly water, our thoughts and words certainly affect not only ourselves but the world around us. In The Secret of Water, Dr. Emoto brings water's message of love, peace, and hope to the next generation in his first children's book. This book offers an understanding of water that will encourage parents and children alike to value and give thanks to our most precious resource. 

To learn more about Dr. Emoto's work check out the Emoto Peace Project.

The kids loved reading this book and looking at the pictures of the different water crystals and then took to their water play with extra respect and gusto!

Peaceful Music

Since ancient times music and singing have been considered powerful healing tools.  We love listening to World Music from Putumayo Kids to learn about other cultures and discovering new peaceful music at the library.

Every day we have the opportunity to make the world a more peaceful place. We start by teaching children how to be kind, how to care for one another, how to solve problems, by making sure all children feel a sense of love and belonging, and instilling a feeling of connection to our planet and it's many cultures.

How does your family practice peace?  Let us know in the comments below!