Friendship skills as a part of teaching
Examples of good friendship skills include the ability to express yourself constructively, taking others into account and setting your own boundaries.
The Friendship skills with the Moomins learning materials and the Friendship Skills programme by the Finnish Red Cross strengthen the interaction and social skills of children and young people as well as increase self-knowledge and help alleviate loneliness among children and young people.
The exercises and challenges of the Friendship Skills materials allow teachers to easily include practising these skills in their teaching.
Friendship skills require practice
We do not automatically have good friendship skills. Instead, we all need practice and encouragement with some particular area at least.
Friendship skills with the Moomins intended for early childhood education and preschool and primary education pupils and Friendship Skills intended for lower secondary school and older pupils contain the following themes:
- Getting to know a new person
- Self-knowledge
- Self-compassion
- Friendship skills
- Loneliness
- Facing setbacks
In addition to texts, the learning material contains videos, exercises and challenges. The teacher can use the learning material as a whole or select entities suitable for their group.
The Friendship Skills material was created by the Finnish Red Cross, and its content was produced in collaboration between the Finnish Red Cross and MIELI Mental Health Finland as a part of the Friendship Skills for Young People project of the Finnish Red Cross, funded by Veikkaus. Friendship skills with the Moomins were also made possible by LähiTapiola and Moomin Characters.