Compliment Tag

Giving and connecting with others are great ways to boost our wellbeing.

This activity gives tamariki the chance to practice giving and receiving compliments in a fun, energetic, ‘low-pressure’ way.

As well as giving each child an awesome self-esteem boost, this activity will remind students to be kind and compliment others.

Just in case, it might be wise to let your tamariki know to avoid touching another person’s head when they tag them. The head is tapu.

We’d suggest completing our Compliment poster activity before playing this game, to help tamariki understand and practice giving compliments.

And before playing, you may like to revisit:

What is a compliment? Saying nice things.
What sorts of things could we compliment? To help with the activity, list a mix of answers on the board (E.g. attitude, being good at something, being funny / friendly / kind, trying hard etc).
What's the difference between a 'deep' compliment and a 'surface' compliment? A surface compliment is something anyone could notice about the person (e.g. "You have nice hair."). A deep compliment is something you genuinely admire about the person, and could only notice if you knew them well (e.g. "I love in kapa haka that you have lots of energy and always give it your all.")
What does it take to give a deep compliment? Something that makes that person feel special and when you say it you're 'being real' or authentic.
How should we receive a kind compliment? Feel good! Say thank you!

In the classroom, revisit our compliments kōrero (above) then head outside!

To play the game:

Start by nominating 1-2 people to be ‘in’.
When the person who's in tags someone, they shout "FREEZE" and everyone stops to hear the compliment.
Once the compliment is given the recipient can say "Thanks!" and give a high five, which means everyone can start moving again.
If needed: Say players cannot be tagged for three seconds after the high five, to allow some time to get away.