Simple Ways School Counselors Can Help Students Learn to Give

The holiday season offers a natural opportunity for school counselors to guide students in developing character traits that go far beyond decorations and presents. By emphasizing generosity, kindness, empathy, and forgiveness, counselors can help students focus on meaningful connections, relationships, and personal growth.

Creating a Positive, Relationship-Focused Environment

December often brings excitement about gifts, holiday celebrations, and receiving special treats. It also provides a wonderful opportunity for elementary school counselors to help students discover the joy of giving. Teaching generosity helps children understand that giving is about more than money or presents. It can mean sharing time, offering help, including someone who feels left out, or giving encouragement to a friend.

For school counselors, generosity is an important character education topic that supports social-emotional learning (SEL), positive relationships, and a caring school community.

What Is Generosity?

Generosity is the willingness to share what we have, give our time, offer help, and think about the needs of others. A generous person looks for opportunities to make someone else’s day a little better without expecting something in return.

Children can demonstrate generosity in simple ways, such as sharing classroom supplies, helping a classmate clean up, welcoming a new student, or offering a kind word to someone who is having a difficult day.

Why Do Elementary Students Need to Learn Generosity?

Children naturally focus on their own needs and wants as they develop. Learning to consider the needs of others helps them move beyond an “I want” mindset and begin thinking about how their choices affect the people around them.

Generosity is especially relevant in December, when children may be surrounded by messages about gifts and getting things. Counselors can use this season to emphasize that the most meaningful gifts do not always come in a package.

Generosity also helps children recognize that everyone has something valuable to give, regardless of how much money or how many possessions they have.

Generosity: A Key Character Trait and It’s Benefits

• Why It’s Needed: In a consumer-driven world, generosity helps students learn that joy comes from giving, not just receiving.

• Benefit: Builds empathy, reduces self-centeredness, and fosters gratitude.

• Activity Idea: Create a “Generosity Chain” where each student writes or draws one way they gave to others (time, help, encouragement). Link them together to decorate the classroom.

Counselors play a key role in shifting the focus from material things to relationships. Instead of highlighting what students receive, create opportunities to celebrate shared experiences, acts of giving, and community building. This can be done by organizing classroom activities that focus on appreciation, service projects, and storytelling that highlight values. When students see the holidays as a time for caring for others and building stronger relationships, the season becomes more inclusive and enriching for everyone.