Have You Filled Your Bucket Today?

For those of you who are not aware of what "Bucket Fillers" are, then please visit this website: Bucket Fillers 101.  In a nutshell, the Bucket Filling concept is that we all carry around invisible buckets, which is where we store our good thoughts and feelings, when our buckets are full we are happy and when our buckets are empty then we are sad.  By filling each others buckets (gratitude, compassion, kindness, positive comments, etc.) we fill our own and by 'dipping' in each others bucket (negative comments, bullying, put downs, etc.) we are dipping into our own too.  The book "Have You Filled Your Bucket Today?" by Carol McCloud explains and demonstrates this concept to children with beautifully written text and illustrations. 

 When I went to the Target Dollar Spot the other afternoon, I found this really cute white tin pail with a bow on it and I thought it would be perfect for classrooms that are "Bucket Fillers".  I plan on implementing the bucket filling approach when I start teaching again... but for now I thought I'd share the idea with all of you so you could use it in your classrooms. 

(Before the Makeover: Plain ol' white bucket)

They had them in various solid colors (pastel: pink, yellow, blue, etc.) and some even had print (polka dots, stripes, etc.) on the buckets.  I purchased a white one so that it would match with any color bulletin board paper or fabric.

 

(Here's the bucket once I drew the famous "bucket filler face" on it with a Sharpie)

*Note: I used the side WITHOUT the bow because the bow was in the way and the "bucket filler" bucket from the book does not have a bow on its head! 

 

Foam Stars (smiley face) and Construction Paper Stars

I had these foam shapes and construction paper star cutouts in my art supplies bin and I decided that they would be perfect for the bucket!  I'm not sure where I purchased them, but my guess is that it was either at Michael's or Get Smart!  The foam stars (the ones with the happy face) come in a pack with the other shapes seen above (clouds, moon sun) and the pack comes with different sizes of each shape so the rest of the shapes could also be saved and used with the students later on in the Math Station for sorting activities.  Just an idea!

(Materials I used for my bucket: 1 Foam Star and 9 construction paper star cutouts and my trusty glue gun!)

I used the materials listed below the picture above, but if you prefer the stars with the faces then you can use those instead of the construction paper star cutouts (its more cost effective though to use the construction paper cutouts because if you have to make 20 buckets for your classroom then you'll need MANY packets of the foam shapes stars!) Also, the packet of construction paper star cutouts brings like 100 stars in each pack and since they don't have faces on them it doesn't distract from the famous "bucket filler face" and it makes it look cute and neat instead of a smiley face overload! I love me some smiles, but it just seemed a bit much and I wanted to keep the buckets looking clutter-free.

 The finished bucket (front) 

You can have students personalize their buckets (with  tiny star stickers: multi-colored, gold, silver, etc.) and you can add each child's name with a sharpie above the eyes or below the mouth.

The finished bucket (back)

The foam star smiley is covering the two holes from where I removed the white bow.  Once all of the buckets are finished you can create a bulletin board display in your classroom with the heading: "Have You Filled Your Bucket Today?" or "Room (insert room number) Kids Are Bucket Fillers!" or "We Fill Our Buckets with Hearts and Smiles" or "How Full is Your Bucket?" etc.  Here's a sample bulletin board (using different buckets of course, but its to give you an idea of what it would look like).

This lovely bulletin board was made by Stephanie @ http://kringangel.blogspot.com/  She did an amazing job!

Here's the link to one of the forms that can be used to fill the buckets: Bucket Filler Form .  I got the form from Miss Powell's website: http://myfunteacher.com/index.htm ; Take a look around her site she has some amazing resources and ideas! :)

Happy Bucket Filling!