Teaching Kids about the Five Love Languages

Love
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

Today I wanted to focus on tangible expressions of love. I wanted the girls to have specific examples of how they could show love. I immediately thought of the “Five Love Languages.” I also just noticed they have the book the “Five Love Languages for Children” now too. I haven’t read that one yet, but I think I may need to get it.  If you are unfamiliar with this concept, the basics are that people experience and show love in five different ways. Since we are learning about love this week, I thought teaching kids about the five love languages would be beneficial in the discussion.

The five love languages are: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service and Personal Touch. To demonstrate this concept, I wrote down two ideas for each love language.

• For words of affirmation I wrote: “Tell your sister you love her.” and “Tell your sister something you like about her.”
• For quality time I wrote, “Do a puzzle with your sister.” and “Ask your sister what activity she would like to do with you.”
• For receiving gifts I wrote, “Go pick your sister out a sticker to give to her.” and “Find a toy that you think your sister would like to play with.”
• For acts of service I wrote, “Pick up one of the toys your sister left out.” and “Ask your mom, ‘What can I do right now to help you?'”
• For personal touch I wrote, “Give your sister a hug.” and “Give your sister a kiss.”

I gave each of them a bag filled with one activity for each category (5 ideas in each girls’ bag). Then, they were able to reach in the bag and act out what their paper said. We continued this activity until they had shown love in the five different ways.

We then talked more about five ways to give and receive love, and I asked them which one meant the most to them. It’s great to learn your child’s love language so you can meet their needs in a way where they feel it the best. Your children want to be known, and as we do this better, we show how much we care about them. They feel the love, so continue to keep your relationship fresh by getting to know them better each day.