10 Respect Activities For High School Students And Adults

Do you remember the last time someone shouted at you for no real reason or vice-versa?

This is a common phenomenon where we might be the victim or even the suspect. However, it is important to identify areas of disrespectful behavior to keep a check on your self-respect and protect other people’s opinions too. 

It does feel nice when people understand your point of view without being harsh to you. That’s exactly why respect plays a significant role in shaping our relationships and personal life. Respect ensures that we grow in an environment of safety, mutual understanding, and care. 

As much as you like being appreciated or cared for, you sure need to give it back in different situations of life. With the use of different respectful activities for high schoolers and adults, you can foster an environment of healthy relationships and trust. These activities promote a fun learning environment thereby boosting the necessary skill.

Effective activities for teaching the importance of respecting others

At any point in life, individuals need to keep a check on their behavioral changes. Respect is one of the main components that one must have to build a healthy society and a promising nation. Hence, explore the below-mentioned activities which are a combination of various aspects of kindness, empathy, compassion, and appreciation that help develop respect in individuals. 

1. Let’s Do It Together

Working together on a project or an assignment is the time when you need to communicate, accept and come across different perspectives. This activity focuses on strengthening relationships.

Instructions:

• Make a pair of players who are new to each other
• Now, assign them any task, project, or an assignment 
• After this, allow them some time to complete it
• Meanwhile, ask them to note the clash of opinions, different perspectives, and perceptions of their partner
• Allow an open discussion after the task is completed

As individuals work together, they are likely to come across challenges on the personal front. Such an activity helps build a respectful relationship while completing a task with integrity.

2. React your Way

Respect is often developed through habits and everyday conversations with people. This activity helps individuals explore their imagination in situations that need wit and grace.

Instructions:

• Prepare different sets of situations and write them on a chit
• Make sure these situations are offensive in nature 
• For example, you can draft them in the following way
  • Your neighbor commented about your outfit being too out of fashion. How would you react?
  • Your best friend made fun of your achievements in a joke-like tone. What would you do?
  • Your boss shouted at you for a really silly mistake. How would you react?

• Considering the above situations, ask players to present their reactions and check if they are respectful
• You may ask individuals how to modify their words and thoughts to sound more respectful 

When individuals are exposed to offensive or unwanted situations, they are most likely to lose their temper and control of words. With such an activity, they get an opportunity to develop respect, control their extreme emotions, understand social behavior, and keep a check on their reactions.

3. Write a Letter

Expressing views through words is an important part of developing love and respect for others. Whether it is your co-worker, a friend, or your parents, being gentle with words starts with a respectful expression.

Instructions:

• Ask individuals to think of any person and write a letter to them
• This could be a thank you, gratitude, or a sorry letter 
• After this, ask individuals to give this letter to the concerned person and share their reactions 
• Allow an open discussion as to how they feel after expressing their feelings 

Showing respect is more than just being polite. It includes thanking others and expressing the right emotions to people. Such an activity helps develop genuine respect for others and recognize their efforts in your everyday life.

4. The Questionnaire Round

People have different perspectives about respect and its impact. This activity focuses on understanding the beliefs of individuals towards respect and guiding them in the right direction.

Instructions:

• Make a list of different questions about respect
• You can use the following questions to start the activity
  • Do you respect someone due to their intelligence or their behavior towards others?
  • Do you think respect should only be given to people who respect you?
  • Do you believe respect should be given to someone’s age?

• After this, ask individuals to discuss their answers and invite an open discussion with others 

With this activity, individuals get an opportunity to present their views about respect. It not only helps accept perspectives but also exposes knowledge to people’s opinions.

5. The Creative Bingo

You must have played many bingo activities; however, this one is different. The activity focuses on spreading happiness and respect with various acts of kindness.

Instructions: 

• Ask participants to make a bingo with 5 rows and 5 columns 
• Now, write different tasks on each box and individuals need to complete those
• The tasks could be drafted in the following way
  • Thank someone for their good words
  • Appreciate your classmates/co-workers for their kind work
  • Show others you care for them
  • Be a part of someone’s conversation and actively listen to them
  • Help someone 

• After this, give some days and let everyone complete the bingo
• Invite an open discussion about their feelings and how they completed the activity 

As individuals indulge in different acts of kindness, they not only learn about respecting others but also understand the joy of giving. It helps them develop a positive perspective on life and how every human deserves to be treated.

6. Kudos!

Right from the security guard to the people around you, everyone needs to be treated with love and kindness. This activity focuses on spreading love and equipping oneself with respectful behavior.

Instructions:

• Give a small sheet of paper to all individuals
• Now, ask them to write – Kudos to _______ for your super helpful behavior. I really appreciate _________
• Ask them to fill in these blanks and handover the paper to anyone they want to give kudos to
• This sheet of paper can be given to general helpers, teachers, parents, siblings, or co-workers 
• After this, ask individuals to share their feelings after distributing this sheet of paper 

While this activity is about showing grace and love to others, it helps individuals reflect on other people’s efforts and services. Such empathy activities act as a great way of teaching respect and right behavior. 

7. The How of Respect?

Showing respect has several ways however, it differs from situation to situation. The activity highlights the importance of being respectful to people in various situations.

Instructions:

• Make different chits and put them in a bowl
• These chits should have situations that can be drafted like below.
  • How to respect people’s feelings?
  • How to respect someone’s learning?
  • How to respect someone’s personal space?
  • How to respect someone’s social boundaries?
  • How to respect yourself?

• Now, ask individuals to pick a chit and share their thoughts with other participants 

While individuals learn to respect others in different situations and ways, this activity helps them learn from others too. As everyone gets to share their thoughts, the environment is sure to create a sense of learning and endless possibilities for developing personally.

8. The Observation of Debate 

Debate is one of the common ways of presenting information in legal, political, or academic matters. A slight argument can turn into debate resulting in sharing of opinions that might be disrespectful to others.

Instructions:

• Set up a debate environment for individuals 
• Write different topics considering the age group of participants 
• After this, team them into 3 members each and let the debate begin
• The other participants are supposed to note if any team or member was disrespectful during any point of debate
• Invite an open discussion where individuals learn the difference between a healthy argument and disrespectful 

It is crucial for individuals to understand what respect is and what it is not. Through this activity, they get an opportunity to keep a watch on their words and analyze their thoughts in a comprehensive way.

9. Research like a Pro!

The world is filled with news that might surprise you or make you happy. It is time to read newspapers and see how the world is reacting to various incidents in the political, environmental, and social media zone.

Instructions:

• Individuals need to read newspapers or online articles 
• As many articles are filled with conversations or tweets from people around the world, they need to identify the disrespectful ones
• For example, there might be an article claiming how a certain company’s employee disrespected the customer during billing
• They need to find at least 5 such news and share them with everyone

While respect comes from personal experiences and learning, it is important for individuals to identify what is wrong and right. Such awareness helps them deal with disrespectful behavior in a more positive and witty manner. You may also check out engaging newspaper activities for enhancing research skills. 

10. Creative Posters

Respect is measured in so many ways as all individuals believe that respect should first be given to animals/females/workers and so on. This activity helps individuals express their views in a creative way.

Instructions:

• Ask individuals to think about respect and prepare a poster on it
• You can either go with digital posters or have an engaging poster-making session
• Provide them with blank sheets and general rules
• Once the poster is done, invite feedback from other individuals through an open discussion 

Art activities like this one help individuals express their beliefs and thoughts about the subject matter in a visual form. It also highlights how individuals perceive respect for animals, the environment, teachers, work, work-life balance time, or family. Such an activity highlights their perspectives without forcing them to talk about it. 

Wrapping Up

While respect seems to be a general concept, it is more than just being nice to others. At times, individuals might not know what they are doing wrong or how they hurt others. In such cases, activities that teach and highlight the features of respect help them pave the right way to a great future.

Respect activities not only help build a respectful culture but also boosts empathy in individuals. It encourages an ever-growing society where individuals are harmonious and helpful toward each other.