Have you filled a bucket today?

By Carol McCloud

ISBN: 9780996099936

Carol McCloud does a great job in transferring the “bucket-filling” concept to children in this book, and reading the book out loud to them opens up a horde of teaching opportunities and book-related activities.

The aim of the book is to teach children (particularly between ages 4-9) how to be bucket-fillers – how to compliment another’s life by expressing love and kindness, and through it be fulfilled yourself. This includes filling our own buckets with positive words and deeds too.

A lot of ideas, everyday situations, in which you can fill someone’s bucket are mentioned in the text, in a way kids can easily grasp.

I read this book to foundation phase students (Grades R-3) at Thorntree Preparatory School in our Book Club Hour slot, and included a few practical activities to try to bring home to the kids that whatever seed you sow, that’s what you will reap, so if you sow unkindness or bad words, you’ll reap rejection from others. If you sow good seed (speak and do good things), others will return that kindness. And one seed maybe grows one plant, but the fruit are always multiplied. I actually showed the kids some seeds (pea, beetroot, onion), and they were fascinated with it! The idea was for them to only look at it, but they made sure each kid got his own seed (of every type). It was just so funny that most of them asked whether they could eat it…!

After dishing out the seeds, each of the kids had a chance to pick a note from a bag. On each note was printed either a “bucket-filler” or “bucket-dipper” activity, which I helped them read, and they told me in which “bucket” (I made my own) it should go. They quickly picked up the concept.

I then handed them some prepared paper cups and pipe cleaners, with the idea to show them how to make their own “buckets”, but before I could even start, most of them already knew what to do! (clever little Fantastico’s!!).