Beliefs, thoughts and feelings that people must have in order to establish and continue the imagined order in human societies, accepted by the individuals forming the society and transferred from generation to generation are called values. Thanks to these phenomena, people can find a place for themselves in the society they live in and live as social beings.
The acquisition of these values, which make it possible to live together and in peace, is possible through education, as in many other subjects. Individual, social and cultural development of children is carried out together with the values education that enables the acquisition of these phenomena through various methods applied in educational institutions .
Values Education – Love
Love is the emotional state that pushes a person to be close to any entity, event or phenomenon and to share common feelings. One of the most basic benefits of being human is love.
Beyond the basic needs of children such as eating, drinking and sheltering, they need adequate cognitive and emotional nutrition in order to grow up as a healthy individual. In addition to learning the behaviors that can sustain their lives, children want to know that they are loved and feel love no matter what. In a family environment where they feel unconditionally loved, they feel safe and can develop a positive outlook on life.
The most basic condition for all other personality development is to ensure that the child feels loved and accepted in every way. It is observed that other mental and even physical developments of children whose emotional development is supported in this way maintain a healthy progress. When children grow up in an environment of love, they become self-confident individuals who can make effective and correct decisions when they become adults. Children whose needs for love and approval are fed are not afraid to try, so they realize their talents and have the chance to develop them. Individuals who learn love in the family prefer to lead a life based on peace because they know how to love other people.
From a social point of view, the prerequisite for people to live together in harmony depends on the development of respect and tolerance. People who love themselves, each other, nature, the world and living are very successful in applying values such as respect, tolerance and empathy. People who know how to love value people only because they are human, they know that acting for the benefit of society will make everyone happy.
Values Education Love Board
Boards, one of the most frequently used visual materials in educational institutions, are also one of the basic elements of values education activities. Love-themed banners, posters, cartoons, and boards can be used to help children understand the feeling of love. Providing children with the opportunity to display their favorite people or assets on boards with their own designs is one of the effective board works.
Stories about love can provide lasting changes in children with messages that make them feel that love and goodness are the right path. In addition, every month, love-themed poems can be published on the boards and memorization studies can be done.
Values Education Love Activities
The most effective way to develop the concept of love, which is the key to the social order in children, as a value is to love children. Only children who feel loved can learn to love. The following activities can be applied to children in order to develop in children’s love of family, love of animals, love of nature:
- Greeting family members with words of love every day in order to make them feel loved and valued, and record it in a table.
- To make them feel important by preparing gifts for the people they love and value with their own efforts.
- Don’t take care of an animal. Animals are very effective in the development of the feeling of loving beings in children.
- Nursing home visits. It can be a different experience for children while meeting the needs of the people living here to be loved that they want to share.
- Do not water a tree selected from the immediate environment, prune its branches if necessary, and take care of it.
- Do not share toys with friends. Positive behavior can be reinforced by marking the number of toys shared.
- For the little ones who love to cut and cut, various visual designs that they can show their love for and increase sharing and interaction in the classroom environment can be handled within the scope of love activities. With colored paper cut in the shape of a train, anyone can stick photos of their loved ones on a wagon. Photos of all the members of the class can be pasted on a love tree with leaves cut into a heart shape. These activities can be exhibited on the classroom or school board within the scope of values education.
Types of love processed within the scope of values education love theme;
- family love,
- nature love,
- friendship love,
- love of country,
- school love
- can be divided into subheadings such as the love of books.
The needs of the children can be determined and activities can be planned accordingly.