Early Years RSE Day 2026 Activities
Activity 1 - Spreading happiness
Sit in a circle with a small bucket.
Pass the bucket around the circle and sing
Pass the bucket round the circle,
Pass the bucket round the circle,
Pass the bucket round the circle,
Till the music stops.
Invite the child with the bucket to say something kind about the person next to them and then collect a pom-pom from the middle of the circle and add it to the bucket.
Remind children when we are kind to others, we are also filling our own bucket with happiness.
Adult prompts:
- What could you say to fill their bucket?
- How do kind words make us feel?
Resources
- Small buckets
- Small craft pom-poms
Activity 2 - My bucket display
Invite the children to make and decorate their own buckets, using the available resources.
Add all the completed (and named) buckets to a display which the children can access.
Explain that at the end of the day we are going to think about all the people in the class who have been kind and helpful to them today.
After reflection invite them to put a pom-pom into that child's bucket.
Resources
- Paper cups
- Pipe cleaners
- Stickers
- Felt tips
- Craft items for decorating
- Glue
Activity 3 - Feelings sorting game
N.B - This could be used as a more independent ‘Continuous Provision’ activity or as part of a whole class circle time.
Look at the resources - ‘Feelings cards.’ These are pictures of children demonstrating different feelings.
Invite the children to sort the pictures into two buckets.
Bucket 1 – Full bucket feelings
Bucket 2 – Empty bucket feelings
Adult prompts:
- How might that person be feeling?
- What might have happened to make them feel like that?
