Establish a culture of peace in your LEAP program by integrating the 5 Spheres of Peace – personal, social, political, institutional, and ecological – into your daily activities:

• Personal – self-regulation and managing internal conflict

  • Schedule daily mood check-ins, journaling or drawing, or present other mindfulness exercises 

• Social – developing positive social relationships and managing external conflict in a mutually respectful way

  • Read books that focus on friendship, such as:

    • A Big Guy Took My Ball

    • Boy + Bot

    • How to Be a Lion

    • I Walk with Vanessa

    • The Adventures of Beekle the Unimaginary Friend

    • Worm and Caterpillar Are Friends

    • and check out our book guides for older children and tweens!

  • Have conversations about how to manage challenging social interactions

• Political – engaging in productive discussions and decision-making with a diverse group of people

  • Discuss the kinds of behaviors that should be followed during LEAP activities and create a collaborative Behavior Agreement with your LEAP participants

• Institutional – being able to work towards shared values, seek change, and work towards justice within an organization

  • Provide encouragement and mentoring to help youth speak up for their needs and develop constructive communication patterns with people in authority roles

• Ecological – recognizing the connection and interdependence of all living things

  • Help youth become caretakers of our environments (local and beyond) by picking up after ourselves, not wasting resources, and thinking about our seen and unseen impact on the world around us

Make a Peace Wreath

materials - paper plate, construction paper, pencil, scissors, glue, markers  

1. Write “Peace is...” on the center of the paper plate.

2. Trace each of your hands on construction paper.

3. Cut out your hand tracings.

4. When you think of peace, what do you think about? How does peace look, sound, smell, taste, and feel to you?

5. Write your ideas on the fingers and thumb of each hand.

6. Glue the hands to the bottom of the paper plate.

7. Trace and cut out other symbols of peace.

8. Decorate and hang your peace wreath.

Watch the video instructions.

Friendship Wheel

materials - paper; scissors; markers, pencils, or crayons; tape (optional) 

1. Trace a circle and cut it out.

2. Divide it into 4, 6, or 8 equal sections, depending on the size of your group. Each person in the group gets 1 section of the circle.

3. Each person should write their name and draw something that shares who they are or what they like to do in that section. They can draw up to the edge of their section, but not cross the line. 

Bonus - Create a huge friendship wheel by cutting a quarter or half circle from a piece of paper and taping the pieces together. Instead of passing the paper around, have your group work together at a table and talk about what they’re drawing. 

Moon Myths

materials - black and dark paper; paper plate; scissors; pencils; crayons or markers; glue 

1. Cut out the center of the paper plate.

2. At the top of the circle, write, “If I lived on the Moon, I would...”. Then complete the sentence.

3. Decorate your moon to reflect your idea and glue it on a dark piece of paper.

4. Using a different color of paper, draw the outlines of people and landscape.

5. Cut them out and glue them to your paper.

6. Finish decorating your story. 

Bonus - Write a story about what the people on earth think about why you live on the moon and why you do that on the moon. 

Circle Mosaic

materials - paper; pencil; cup; crayons or markers; scissors; glue (optional)  

1. Use the cup to trace circles on the paper.

2. Create colorful designs in each circle.

3. Cut out the circles.

4. Fold each circle in half and in half again. Cut along the folds.

5. Mix up the pieces and recombine them to make a mosaic. You can keep it as a puzzle or glue them on a piece of paper to make a card. 

Bonus - Do this project with a group and make a mural of all your circles! 

My Dot!

materials - paper; pencils, markers, or crayons; scissors; glue; various craft supplies such as tissue paper, foam shapes, pompoms, stickers, colored paper (optional)

1. Draw a dot on a piece of paper.

2. Write words in the dot that share something about your personality.

3. Decorate your dot to highlight each of the descriptive words.

Bonus - Use unique craft supplies to add textures or layers to your dot.