Getting to Know You Craft for Kids: A Small Group Craftivity

This getting to know you craft does two things at once: students make something, and they think seriously about who they are and how they work alongside other people.

Students draw their own face on a folding paper doll, then fill in reflections on what makes them feel appreciated, what helps them get along in a group, and what listening looks and sounds like. The drawing makes it feel like an art activity. The writing makes it a community-building one.

The craftivity works well during the first week of school but can be used any time a new group forms — new table groups, new reading groups, or any time students are starting fresh with classmates they don’t know well. It also makes a strong display for back-to-school night.

What is included in the getting to Know You craftivity

Included in the craftivity is a page with three people and a page with a variety of “heads”.  The head page has blank faces where students can fill in their own faces. Students draw their own features on the blank faces, which makes this a natural art and drawing activity as well as a writing and reflection piece.

Students are asked to share what makes them feel appreciated, what helps them get along in groups and what listening looks or sounds like, in addition to something they love to do and an “I feel ___ when ____” statement.

What Students Reflect On

Each folding doll gives students space to write and draw their responses to five prompts:

• Something they love to do
• What makes them feel appreciated by others
• What helps them get along in a group
• What listening looks or sounds like to them
• An “I feel ___ when ___” statement

These prompts go deeper than favorites and fun facts. They give students a chance to think about how they show up in a classroom — and give you a window into each student’s perspective on collaboration before a single group project starts.

How to use the Getting to Know You Craftivity

Included in the resource are “before the activity” suggestions, anchor chart samples, and graphic organizers that can be used in whole-class settings or within interactive notebooks.

Since this activity asks students to reflect more deeply on their ability to work in a group, doing some activities prior to the craftivity will help them succeed with the project. Plus, if you keep the anchor charts up during the year, they can become tools to use when troubleshooting group dynamics. This craftivity works well in grades 2-5, where students can write independently on the doll figures.

Simply print the number of pages students need to work on the craftivity within a small group or individually. Within the resource are suggestions for how to use it with a small group.  There are are a variety of ways to have students share the discussion points on the folding dolls.

You can use this craftivity within table groups as students sit down with a new group of students or even as a whole class if you tape all of the dolls together in one line.

How to Assemble the Getting to know you Folding Dolls

To cut out the craftivity, I find it easier to cut the outside of dolls before folding and cut the inside, between the arms, after folding.  While the dolls line up on the page, folding the dolls may make them misalign.

There are three dolls on each page. If students are in groups of more than three, leave a little bit of space on one side of the dolls on the left and right side of the page and tape them together. Trim the dolls as necessary after taping to provide continuity.

How to Purchase the Craftivity

The Getting to Know You Craftivity is available on Teachers Pay Teachers.