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Growth Mindset Activities for Elementary Students in 2024

The concept of a growth mindset was developed by psychologist Carol Dweck in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. According to Dweck, “A mindset is a self-perception or self-theory people feel about themselves.” You likely have heard the terms “growth mindset” and “fixed mindset”. People with a fixed mindset believe their qualities are fixed traits and believe talent creates success without effort. People with a growth mindset, on the other hand, believe their basic abilities can be developed through persistence and effort and that brains, and talent, are merely a starting point. One of our many roles as educators is to support our elementary students in developing a growth mindset that will benefit them not only this school year, but for the rest of their lives. The question then is: How do we do this? The answer: Growth mindset activities designed specifically for elementary students. Learn about some highly effective examples of growth mindset activities below!

Growth Mindset Unit

This Growth Mindset Unit includes everything you need to teach a comprehensive unit or series of lessons on growth mindset. It’s packed with detailed lesson plans, center games and activities, video lists, and much more. Learn about the resources and activities included in this growth mindset unit in our Clutter-Free Classroom Teacher Store!

Growth Mindset SEL Unit

Growth Mindset Book Companions

Ish by Peter H. Reynolds

Ramon had always loved drawing. He would draw pictures of anything, anywhere. Then one day, his brother laughed at his picture of a vase. Ramon tried and tried to fix his drawing so it would look like the vase of flowers, but he couldn’t get his drawing to look just right. He notices his sister come into the room and take one of his crumpled up drawings. 

Ramon chases Marisol up to her room to find that she has hung up all of his crumpled drawings. He tells her the drawing was supposed to be a vase but he couldn’t get it to look right. Marisol tells Ramon she thinks it looks “vase-ish.” This inspires Ramon to take a second look at all of his drawings. He starts to draw again and feel free as he creates imperfect drawings. Ramon learns that things do not have to be perfect and he can still enjoy activities like writing and drawing.

Check out these Ish activities!

Ish book companion

Owen by Kevin Henkes

The story Owen is about a mouse named Owen who loves his blanket Fuzzy. He takes Fuzzy with him everywhere he goes and does everything with Fuzzy. Mrs. Tweezers next door points out that Owen is a little too old for Fuzzy. Owen’s parents try to take Fuzzy away from Owen by using different tricks. However, each time they try to take Fuzzy, Owen is able to save him.

Eventually Owen’s parents tell him that he can’t take Fuzzy to school. Owen cries and cries and his mother thinks of the perfect solution. She turns Fuzzy into handkerchiefs so he still has a part of Fuzzy with him.

Check out these Owen activities!

Owen

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds tells the story of Vashti, a young girl who thinks she cannot draw. As Vashti sits in art class, her paper is empty and she is clearly frustrated. Her teacher encourages her to make a start by making a mark and signing her name. 

The following week when Vashti walks into art class she sees that her dot drawing is behind the teacher’s desk in a fancy gold frame. When she looks at her art, Vashti thinks she can make an even better dot than that. She starts making all big dots, little dots, and all different colored dots. 

When it is time for the school art show, everyone is interested in Vashti’s dot drawings. A young boy admiring her pictures mentions that he wishes he could draw like that. Vashti encourages him to draw a line and sign his name.  

This heartwarming story is a great way to introduce growth mindset to students!

Check out these The Dot activities!

The Dot book companion

The Thing Lou Couldn’t Do by Ashley Spires

Lou and her friends love playing together: they run fast, build forts, and go on adventures. Lou believes in herself and wants to do exciting things when she grows up like drive cars or dive in the sea. One day, Lou’s friends decide they want to play pirates and a tree can be their pirate ship. Lou has never climbed a tree before, and is nervous about being up high. While her friends start to climb the tree, Lou starts to make all kinds of excuses as to why she can’t climb: she needs to walk the cat, she just ate, an asteroid was coming, and that she didn’t feel well. She doesn’t understand what is so great about climbing trees anyway. However, after watching and listening to her friends play, she starts to feel left out. Lou tries to think of other ways to get into the tree, but eventually tries to climb. She gives climbing her best try, but is not able to get up the tree. Lou realizes that she can’t climb yet, but will try again soon.

Check out these The Thing Lou Couldn’t Do activities!

The Thing Lou Couldn't Do book companion

The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Gary Rubinstein and Mark Pett

Ramon had always loved drawing. He would draw pictures of anything, anywhere. Then one day, his brother laughed at his picture of a vase. Ramon tried and tried to fix his drawing so it would look like the vase of flowers, but he couldn’t get his drawing to look just right. He notices his sister come into the room and take one of his crumpled up drawings. 

Ramon chases Marisol up to her room to find that she has hung up all of his crumpled drawings. He tells her the drawing was supposed to be a vase but he couldn’t get it to look right. Marisol tells Ramon she thinks it looks “vase-ish.” This inspires Ramon to take a second look at all of his drawings. He starts to draw again and feel free as he creates imperfect drawings. Ramon learns that things do not have to be perfect and he can still enjoy activities like writing and drawing.

Check out these The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes activities!

The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes

In closing, we hope you found this list of growth mindset activities for elementary students helpful! If you did, then you may be interested in these other posts:

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