Building Character (with blocks)

One theme of our summer has been "Building Godly Character".

In May, I downloaded several lists of qualities and began focusing on those that we were most lacking.  (Follow this link to download the PDF file of one of my favorite resources.)

After learning what each word meant, reading verses, telling stories, and giving examples of each, we began looking for godly character in each other. 

On a family trip, we started a "contest" of who could notice the most positive character in others.   

I kept a pocket notebook handy; so I'd always be ready to give a tally-mark when a child made note of someone with the qualities we had listed.  On another page, I also gave a tally-mark to the child that displayed the positive character.

It was such a pleasant change to have my monkeys praising each other rather than tattling.

As we rearranged a few rooms this summer, we rediscovered our building blocks.  (For my boys' birthday present years ago, I cut 12", 6", and 4" blocks from 2x4s.) 

I chose to give these a new purpose by writing the character traits we were learning about on the 6" blocks and moving them out into the living room.  (I will soon make a post to show you what I did with the other blocks.)

On the back, I wrote a Bible verse that corresponds to each adjective...

with the reference written on the bottom side.

It is easy to review what we have learned with these blocks.  As a "memory game", you can place the verses face up and ask what character word and reference goes with it, or flip all the words face up and ask the kids to recite the verse. 

The qualities we are looking for each week are placed on the mantle as a reminder.



I have enjoyed seeing my kids play with these blocks again knowing these words are being set before their eyes, reminding them of what our family values.

As an example, here is what I found this morning...

What a blessing to see my kids "building character"!

Additional pictures of  how we use these character qualities, including the kids' "character spirals", can be found in the  post "BUILDING BLOCKS OF FAITH".