Here is my introduction character building lesson about patience. This is part of my character building education series. As you enter into a week of teaching your kids about patience, this lesson lays the foundation.
This series about building character in kids is a wonderful resource for parents, care givers, Sunday school teachers, classroom teachers or really anyone that wants to work on teaching kids character.
Character Building Education Series
This series focuses on 52 important traits to teach kids. Heck – all of us adults need to continue working on these qualities as well.
Why 52 traits? There is one character quality for every single week of the year. The lesson you see today is intended to be the first lesson of many. I have at least 7 lessons for each trait, so you could be working on character with your kids 365 of the year.
Here are all the lessons for our week on patience.
Introduction Character Building Lesson about Patience
While this series is written by a Christian mom, there are lessons available no mater what your faith. If you believe it is important to teach your kids patience, you are in the right place.
Subject: Patience
Objective: Kids will learn the meaning of patience and learn a Bible verse about this topic. They will begin to understand why it is important to have patience.
PATIENCE VERSE
“And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” 1 Thessalonians 5:14 NIV
The scripture above is the memory verse for our character building week about patience. Work daily on this verse so kids can commit it to memory, thus writing the Word of the Lord on their heart.
PATIENCE DEFINITION
Read the following definition to your kids:
pa·tient [pey-shuhnt] – 1. bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint 2. manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain 3. not hasty or impetuous 4. steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity
Those are some big words. Talk about what that means.
REASON PATIENCE WAS CHOSEN
Maybe this trait is for me more than the kids. There are so many times I find myself virtually yelling, “Have patience!!!” Really, Jodi? Hmmm.
That said, we definitely all need to develop more patience, including our kids.
We live in a world today where things come quickly. How annoyed do we get if we look at our cell phone and our data isn’t streaming fast enough? Remember the times we had to wait for the dial-up modem or the rotary phones that took forever to dial? That’s just not reality anymore.
If you need to laugh about this topic, watch this:
Kids are going to have to be taught patience more because they live in a world of being able to access things almost immediately. Yet, we are taught that patience is a virtue, so that’s what we teach.
Patience builds into relationships. It sets people at ease and makes someone feel safe. It helps our own body regulate also.
As with any lesson for kids, we teach first through our own actions. However, being intentional about teaching character is also important.
Ask the following questions:
- Who is someone you know that shows great patience?
- In what areas do you have a lot of patience?
- In what ways do you need to improve your level of patience?
- Do you have any tools for learning to be more patient?
We become more patience through practice. When feeling frustrated our heart rate increases, our hands might start to feel sweaty, our tummy can feel off or any number of physical symptoms.
Here are some tools for practicing patience:
- Wait until emotions cool down before responding.
- Breathe deeply – in a big breath, out an even deeper breath.
- Think on the positive.
- Be present in the moment rather than being distracted or thinking too far ahead.
Character Building Activity: Creating a Word Ring for Patience
At the beginning of each week of lessons, the craft will be exactly the same because we will simply be adding a new word to our already established word ring. This week week focus on a lesson about patience.
As with all the 52 words we are working on for the year, the first task will be making a word card for our word ring and learning the Bible verse.
Materials Needed to Make Word Ring for Patience
Colorbok Designer Paper Pad, 12Sunmns 328 Pieces Glitter FoamLETION 66 A4 Paper Trimmer3Inch (12 Pack) Loose LeafOfficemate 1- Hole Punch, 5
 
How to Make a Word Ring for Patience -Character Building Activity
Have your kids chose a paper style and sticker letter they think will look good together. Then, have them sound out the word “patience.”
My kids took turns finding the letters we needed and sticking them on the paper…they’re kids – the letters will not be stuck on perfect.
Assist kids in cutting the paper to 9.5 x 3 inches.
Next, punch a hole in the corner and place the word paper on your binder ring.
Each week, a new word will be added to the clip in similar fashion.
Next, write the Bible verse on the back. I did this for my kids since they were still young. If your kids are older, have them do it themselves.
The is the first day of our patience week. We will spend this week learning the word, meaning and memorizing the scripture. There will be supporting lessons and activities to help develop patience in children.
Note: This post was originally written in 2012, but it has been updated with better formatting and description for the reader’s benefit.