Bucket Filler Activities & Stunning Kindness Bulletin Boards You Will Love
Bucket filler activities are amazing for teaching students about kindness and empathy. This simple concept is an incredible classroom management tool that helps them understand the impact of their words and actions. Kids learn that their behavior doesn't just hurt those around them, it can hurt them too!
Students feel the positive effects of kindness through engaging bucket filler activities. They notice how even small acts of kindness, like a smile or a compliment, can fill a bucket with good feelings. It's a great way to help them build strong relationships and trust with their peers and teachers.
Using kindness activities, teachers also help students develop essential social-emotional skills. And teaching kids to be kind is one of the most powerful tools for creating a calm and inclusive classroom community.
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Who Created Bucket Filling?
The concept of bucket filling originates from Dr. Donald O. Clifton (1924-2003). He taught educational psychology and is known as the "father of strengths-based psychology". Don helped start a company that focused on customer research and personnel selection. It merged with the famous polling firm Gallup in 1988.
"Following Don Clifton's death in 2003, Gallup published How Full Is Your Bucket?, a book coauthored by Clifton and his grandson Tom Rath.
Don and Tom's Bucket Filler Books
How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life is an easy read for adults. They followed up with How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids, a hugely popular picture book for children.
Both books explore how positive interactions and relationships can improve wellbeing and life satisfaction.
If you fill two buckets a day, and the owners of those two buckets go on to fill two new buckets, more than a thousand buckets will have been filled at the end of 10 days.
If each of those same people filled five buckets instead of two, more than 19 million buckets would be filled in just 10 days.
Educator and author Carol McCloud is also an advocate for bucket filling. Her children's book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids brought the idea into classrooms. Carol’s bucket filler books are extremely popular with teachers worldwide. The concept is a simple way to create nurturing environments with the power of kindness.
Carol's Bucket Filler Books
What is Bucket Filling?
The bucket filling concept is simple but very powerful. Everyone carries an invisible bucket that holds their feelings. When our bucket is full, we feel happy and confident, but when it’s empty, we feel sad and lonely. Through kind words and actions, we can fill others’ buckets as well as our own. This metaphor teaches kids the impact of their behavior on themselves and others.
What is a Bucket Filler and Bucket Dipper?
Here are some kid-friendly descriptions you can use when describing bucket fillers and dippers.
Bucket Fillers
A bucket filler is someone who does kind things to make others feel good and happy. Imagine that everyone you meet has an invisible bucket, and you have the power to fill it up with good feelings! You fill someone’s bucket when you help them, share with them, or give them a compliment. When you make someone smile, your own bucket gets filled up too, making you feel great and full of joy!
Some things that fill buckets:
Your bucket has one purpose only. Its purpose is to hold your good thoughts and good feelings about yourself. You feel very happy and good when your bucket is full, and you feel very sad and lonely when your bucket is empty.
Bucket Dippers
A bucket dipper is someone who does or says things that make others feel sad or upset. Just like a bucket filler can fill up your bucket, a bucket dipper can dip into your bucket and take out some of that happiness. When someone is mean, rude, or unkind, they are dipping into others’ buckets. It's important to remember that being a bucket dipper also empties your own bucket. This can leave you feeling sad and lonely as well.
Some things that dip from or empty buckets:
When you dip into someone else’s bucket, you dip into your own. In other words, when you hurt someone else, you eventually hurt yourself.
Benefits of Using Bucket Filling in the Classroom
What fills your bucket the most? Love, laughter, fun, hope, acceptance, encouragement, understanding, appreciation, respect, or kindness?
If you need any of these ten “bucket fillers,” start giving them to others. If you want love, give love. If you want appreciation, show appreciation. Be deliberate about filling other people’s buckets and watch your bucket fill.
Bucket Filler Bulletin Boards for Elementary
Around 65% of people are visual learners. These people absorb and understand information better when it's presented through images, diagrams, or videos. This is because visuals can simplify complex information and provide clear, immediate context that aids comprehension.
This makes bulletin boards fantastic tools because they turn the information into something tangible and engaging. Wall displays provide a vivid and interactive way to connect with the material for greater understanding and retention. Bright colors and interesting images help capture attention to make the learning experience more memorable.
1. Bucket Fillers Kindness Confetti Bulletin Board
If you've used bucket filler activities in your classroom, you know how effective they are. This bulletin board or door decor is a fun way to remind your students to fill a bucket each day. It has a fun twist with colorful kindness confetti - another wall or door display favorite!
Imagine your students' delight as they collaborate on this bucket filling poster, adding colorful confetti to a vibrant wall or door display. It’s an exciting way to encourage positive behavior and remind everyone about the importance of being kind.
Setting it up is a breeze. Just print the elements on tabloid or A3 paper, cover your space with black or white paper, and add the "Bucket Fillers Throw Kindness Around Like Confetti" sign. As students observe or perform acts of kindness, they add confetti to the display or contribute ideas for kindness in your classroom.
With bright, engaging colors, you can choose between a fresh white background or a bold black backdrop to make those colors really pop. You can also use the outlined elements for a fun coloring activity or art project.
This pack is ideal for Friendship Day, Bullying Awareness Month, or Kindness Week, and includes everything you need:
Let this bulletin board be a centerpiece for teaching and celebrating kindness in your classroom. Check out the preview to see how it looks and get ready to inspire your students to be kind!
2. Bucket Filler Birthday Bulletin Board
Brighten up birthdays in your classroom with this gorgeous wall display! This engaging bulletin board is a lesson in giving compliments that fills the bucket of each birthday child.
Students contribute a cheerful message written on printable hearts and stars (confetti) to compliment the birthday child. The confetti is placed in and above the bucket to build a bright display honoring the child.
This hands-on bucket filler activity is a powerful way to teach kindness and empathy while boosting self-esteem and confidence. As students give and receive compliments, it helps them feel valued and loved. Receiving genuine, positive feedback from their peers, reinforces their sense of self-worth and belonging within the classroom community.
After the celebration, the compliments can be collected and gifted to the birthday student as a memorable keepsake.
Setting up is simple. Just print the elements on tabloid or A3 paper, choose a black or white backdrop for your space, and display the adorable bucket with the "Happy Birthday" banner. Personalize the display by adding the name of the birthday child under the sign.
The vibrant colors can be showcased on white backgrounds for a clean look or on black backgrounds for a bold effect. To add a more personal touch, use the outlined elements as a coloring project, and laminate them for repeated use. Your students will love seeing their colored contributions during each birthday celebration!
This pack includes everything you need for a beautiful birthday display:
Your students will look forward to celebrating birthdays and learning the important skill of filling buckets by making their classmates feel special and loved.
Other Bucket Filler Activities Your Students Will Love
Teaching students how to fill a bucket is an easy way to learn kindness and respect. A wonderful side effect is the boost in their wellbeing and behavior.
Research shows that being kind makes everyone feel good, not just the giver and receiver but also anyone watching. These activities teach students that filling buckets is more than just making others happy. They learn that being kind and friendly fills their own emotional buckets, too.
Bucket filling opens up discussions about friendship, kindness, caring, and respect and provide opportunities to address:
1. Fill a Bucket Bulletin Board with Compliment Notes
This is the perfect pdf to introduce the concept of bucket filling with easy and engaging activities. As they start to grasp the concept, you can then introduce bucket dipping to help them realize how unkind words and actions can hurt others.
In the next lesson, use the bucket clipart and paper "drops" to capture the kindness ideas you’ve brainstormed together. Create a bucket filler bulletin board with the posters, compliment notes, and other printables. Encourage students to write about and share acts of kindness they’ve received or witnessed, making it a celebration of positive behavior.
Students will also learn to be more observant and compassionate, understanding how to fill an empty bucket when they see someone feeling down.
To extend the learning at home, the homework activities encourage students to teach their families about bucket filling. Family members can recognize kind acts by adding drops to a family bucket that students create and take home. Kids can also write heartfelt notes of appreciation for their loved ones to spread kindness beyond the classroom.
2. Valentine Bucket Filler Compliments Activity
This low-prep but meaningful Valentine's Day activity is the perfect friendship activity for your classroom! Through this kindness lesson, students write heartfelt compliments to fill their classmates' buckets, making everyone feel valued and included.
Students start by creating their own buckets, using a disposable cup with the provided labels and stickers, or drawing a bucket on a piece of card. Then, they'll receive a list of 3-5 classmates to write compliments for on a variety of design options to color and decorate. The compliments can be placed in the classmates' buckets or displayed on a bulletin board.
The activity also includes Valentine craft templates for students to make their own envelopes, perfect for personal letters or storing compliment notes. The coloring pages can serve as a mindfulness activity for early finishers or be used to create a beautiful bulletin board filled with messages of kindness and friendship.
3. Interactive Bucket Filler Activity
Looking for meaningful online social emotional learning or interactive social skills activities? This digital kindness activity is a way to teach kids to be kind to build a supportive classroom community. This friendship lesson is ideal for 4th to 6th graders offering 5 kindness challenges that are perfect for Random Acts of Kindness Week.
Whether you prefer a digital or printable format, this bucket filler activity is versatile and easy to use. Students can complete each act of kindness by either typing their reflections or writing them down. As they progress through the tasks, they'll see a heart change to color on the digital activity or receive a colored heart sticker for their completed printed worksheet.
Here’s a sneak peek at the kindness challenges:
This interactive resource is also ideal if your internet is unreliable. Just download it to your devices to maintain all the functionality. Plus, a collection sheet allows students to track their progress, giving them a sense of achievement as they complete each task.
Your bucket filler journey should start with one of the wonderful picture books mentioned above. Then follow up with an engaging activity or two to help reinforce the concept. Your students will be so thankful for a bucket filling classroom and remember the lessons you teach for years to come.
If you have a fun bucket filler activity your students love, I'd love to hear about it!
Read these posts for other fun kindness activities and bulletin boards
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AUTHOR: Lisa Currie - Ripple Kindness Project
For over a decade, I've focused on promoting kindness and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in elementary classrooms. Through hands-on experience supporting students, I've seen how empathy and respect are vital for creating harmonious, inclusive environments. I'm passionate about helping students understand the impact of their emotions and actions on their relationships. I believe kindness is fundamental to fostering self-confidence and happiness while building inclusive, safe classroom communities that discourage bullying and exclusion.
