Mr. Manners and Mrs. Polite

Role-play with named characters provides safe distance for practicing polite behaviours while making courtesy feel playful rather than prescriptive.

Objectives

Materials

Instructions

Introduce the character puppets or pictures: 'Meet Mr. Manners and Mrs. Polite! They're champions of good manners and they're going to help us practise being polite.'

Demonstrate character use by enacting a scene: Mr. Manners enters a room and says 'Good morning, everyone!' Mrs. Polite asks 'May I please use that crayon?' Mr. Manners says 'Thank you for sharing!' Children watch and identify the polite behaviours.

Invite children to become Mr. Manners or Mrs. Polite through props or imagination. Set up scenarios: greeting someone, asking to share, thanking a helper, saying excuse me, apologizing for bumping someone.

Let children practise scenarios in pairs or small groups. Circulate and coach: 'What would Mr. Manners say here? How would Mrs. Polite ask for that?' Celebrate efforts: 'You sounded just like Mrs. Polite!'

Create student-generated scenarios: 'What else could Mr. Manners and Mrs. Polite help us practice?' Act out their ideas.

Conclude by discussing how these polite behaviours make everyone feel: 'When someone says please and thank you to you, how does it feel? We're all going to be like Mr. Manners and Mrs. Polite!'

Educator tip

Use Mr. Manners and Mrs. Polite throughout the day as gentle reminders: 'What would Mr. Manners say right now?' This externalizes the expectation and reduces shame around forgetting manners.

Assessment

Observe and note: sustained engagement, sensory responses, early vocalisations, and attachment behaviours. Document using the Characteristics of Effective Learning framework (Playing and Exploring). Observe behaviour modelling accuracy, use of polite language during role-play and throughout the day, and understanding of why manners matter.

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