EYFS Helping Hands Activity

EYFS helping hands activity resources are a lovely way to encourage young children to think about how they can care for other people in everyday life. This printable EYFS helping hands activity has been designed to help little learners reflect on simple, practical ways to help friends, family, and classmates, building empathy, kindness, and social understanding in a clear and child-friendly format.

In the early years, children are still learning what it means to be part of a group, how their actions affect other people, and how they can show care through small everyday choices. Official early years guidance explains that strong, warm, and supportive relationships with adults help children understand their own feelings and the feelings of others, while supported interaction with other children helps them make good friendships, co-operate, and resolve conflicts peacefully. That makes this EYFS helping hands activity a strong fit for nursery, preschool, and Reception settings where kindness and positive relationships are an important part of daily life.

This helping hands worksheet EYFS resource encourages children to think beyond themselves and notice how they can support the people around them. Whether that means sharing toys, helping tidy up, comforting someone who is upset, or offering a kind word, these simple acts can help children build early social awareness and confidence. Used regularly, an EYFS helping hands activity can support both emotional development and positive behaviour in a gentle, meaningful way.

Why Choose an EYFS Helping Hands Activity?

An EYFS helping hands activity gives children a visual and practical way to explore kindness. In early years settings, children often need ideas modelled clearly and positively. Rather than simply telling children to “be kind” or “help others,” this printable helping hands worksheet gives them a chance to think about what helping actually looks like in real life.

The Department for Education’s early years guidance explains that adults should create connections, show empathy, and provide words and meanings so children can name and express emotions. These same principles help children understand why kindness matters. When children begin to recognise feelings in themselves and others, they are often better able to act with care, patience, and thoughtfulness.

Because this helping others activity for kids is simple and open-ended, it can be used in lots of different ways. It works well for whole-class discussion, small group PSHE work, circle time, or home learning. It can also support some children with SEN or EAL needs by providing a visual and concrete starting point for talking about helping behaviour.

How This EYFS Helping Hands Activity Supports Social Skills

This EYFS helping hands activity supports more than kindness alone. It also helps build the early social skills children need to thrive in shared spaces. Through supported interaction, children learn how to make friendships, co-operate, and become part of a caring classroom community.

A well-designed eyfs social skills activity helps children think about other people’s needs and feelings. This can strengthen empathy, communication, turn-taking, and reflection. When children are encouraged to think about caring actions, they begin to understand that positive relationships are built through everyday choices, not just words.

This early years PSHE kindness resource can support children to:

• think about how to help others

• reflect on caring actions at home and school

• build empathy and awareness of feelings

• strengthen friendship and co-operation skills

• take part in PSHE and wellbeing discussions

• develop confidence in positive social behaviour

Being with others helps children build social relationships that provide opportunities for friendship, empathy, and sharing emotions. That makes an empathy activity EYFS resource like this especially useful in classrooms and nurseries where social development is a key part of daily provision.

Ways to Use This EYFS Helping Hands Activity

There are lots of simple ways to use this EYFS helping hands activity across your setting. You might introduce it during circle time, use it in a PSHE session about kindness, add it to a wellbeing unit, or send it home as part of a family discussion activity.

This printable helping hands worksheet works well for:

• kindness and friendship lessons

• circle time reflection

• caring for others EYFS discussions

• classroom community activities

• home learning tasks

• wellbeing and emotional literacy work

• simple drawing or writing activities linked to helping others

Because the worksheet gives children space to draw or write, it can be adapted to suit different stages of development. Some children may talk through their ideas with an adult and then draw them, while others may write short words or phrases independently. That flexibility makes this kindness activity for preschool both accessible and easy to use.

For a wider emotional literacy approach, this resource also pairs well with our Bucket of Kindness activity, helping children connect feelings with caring actions and understand how kindness can support other people emotionally.

You can also connect this work to trusted early years guidance on Relationships and Emotions, both of which reinforce the importance of empathy, supported interaction, and understanding feelings in early childhood.

What’s Included in This EYFS Helping Hands Activity?

This printable EYFS helping hands activity includes:

✅ 1-page printable worksheet in PDF format
✅ Child-friendly design with space to draw or write ways to help others
✅ Suitable for EYFS, nursery, and preschool learners
✅ Ready to print and use
✅ No preparation needed

This makes it a practical and low-prep resource for busy teachers, practitioners, and home educators who want a simple but meaningful kindness activity.

Perfect For

This EYFS helping hands activity is ideal for:

• EYFS and Reception classrooms

• nursery and preschool settings

• PSHE and wellbeing activities

• SEN and EAL learners

• friendship and kindness work

• home learning and family conversations

• early years social skills development

If you are looking for a supportive, visual, and meaningful way to encourage empathy and caring behaviour, this EYFS helping hands activity is a valuable addition to your setting. Designed to help little learners think about how they can help others in simple everyday ways, this helping hands worksheet EYFS resource supports kindness, confidence, and positive social development from the very start.