Connect

Spending quality time connecting with family and friends is a great way to help you feel happy, which is good for your wellbeing.

You can connect with other people through things like playing a game with family, making time to visit a friend you haven’t seen in a while or by taking part in a social sport.
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Connecting in these ways helps us to build good relationships, feel supported and valued, to lower stress and clear our minds.

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Friendship recipe

Write a recipe for the BEST friendship.
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• What are the important ingredients that you need?
• What are the steps that you take to build the best friendship?

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An ongoing letter

Start a letter and mail it (or walk it to your friend’s house and pop it in their letter box) and ask them to reply. You might like to tell them what it is that you enjoy about your friendship with them or you might just want to share a funny story.

​How long can you keep the letter going back and forth?

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Community service

Ask a friend to join you in helping out the community. Is there a neighbour who could use your help in some way, some rubbish that you could pick up in the playground or the park?

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Permission granted

Do you love to take photos when you are hanging out with your friends and family? It's important to ask for permission and to consider other peoples feelings when taking photos or sharing photos of others.

Together as a family, download Harold's Learning Experience and work through the questions with your family here.

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Family movie night

Take some time out of your busy day to curl up on the couch together and watch something that you can enjoy as a family.

Here are some ideas:

• Watch a movie that the adults enjoyed when they were children
• Watch family videos - this could be of family holidays, weddings or of when you were little

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Catch up with someone you haven't seen in a while

Catching up with friends or family that you haven't seen in awhile helps you to look after your special relationships.

​Here are some ideas:

• Invite some family members that you haven't seen for a while over for dinner - you could cook them a healthy meal
• Meet up with friends that you haven't seen for awhile at a fun spot like the local park or beach

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What to do if someone is mean to you when connecting online

Our Ambassador John Parsons is an expert in internet safety. In this video he  talks about what we can do if we have experienced someone being mean online or using other technology like texting. 

It’s important to remember that – despite using technology – cyber-bullying still depends on real people to spread and respond to it, so people are the key to shutting it down. 

For further tips check out Harold's factsheet 'What can I do if I'm bullied online?' here.

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Spot the difference

We change lots as we grow older. We look different, we act different and we like different things. But some things about us still stay the same!

Can you spot the difference if you look at a photo of yourself when you were a baby, and a photo yourself now?

Together as a family, download Harold's Learning Experience and work through the questions with your family here.

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Have a family games night

Get together with the whole whānau and play some games together one evening. 

Here are some ideas:

• Try Harold's board game from your activity pack 
• Play a card game
• Play a game like 'I Spy' or 'Simon Says'
• Play charades
• Come up with your own creative game specially for your family

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Read a book together

Do you have a book that you think your whole family would like? Why not enjoy reading it together! 

Take turns reading out loud - each person can read a page. You could even try using different voices for each of the different characters!

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Safety tips for social media profiles

Our Ambassador John Parsons is an expert in internet safety. In this video for adults he gives advice on how to make sure children are only connecting with people they know on social media. He also talks through the importance of creating visibility of family, friends and community through social media to help keep children safe online. 

For other tips on keeping safe online check out Harold's Fact Sheet 'How can we keep safe online?' here.

​This video is for parents and adults

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This video is for parents and adults

How to keep safe when connecting with others while playing online games

Our Ambassador John Parsons is an expert in internet safety. In this video for adults, John talks through the comparison with the online world and the offline world. We wouldn't talk to people we don't know offline, telling them personal information. This same rule applies for people online.

For other tips on keeping safe online check out Harold's Fact Sheet 'How can we keep safe online?' here.

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What's that noise?

What do you do when things get hard and you feel like giving up? It's always a good idea to stop and think about what to do or what to say.

Together as a family, download Harold's Learning Experience and work through the questions with your family here.

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International meal night

Draw a country out of a hat and cook a meal from that country together with your whanau. You could even learn how to say a few words or sayings from that countries language, which you can practice saying while enjoying the meal together.