Identifying Values
Have the children find a commercial aimed at their age group. The commercial could be for a food, toy, movie or game. Have the children make a list of the values that are given as important in that commercial. Discuss the values when the children meet again. Ask them what values the commercials promote. Most commercials promote undesirable values, but some promote good values, such as family time, healthy eating or exercise.
Values List
Break the children up into groups of four or five. Give the children five minutes to come up with their top 10 values. Allow the children to argue for and against what they consider to be the most important values. Have one child from each group read the list of values to the rest of the children and discuss why their group chose those particular values. After all groups have read, discuss similarities or differences between the values list that each group came up with.
Role Play
Give children different scenarios to reenact to allow them to determine how they would respond to challenges to their core values. Create situations, such as a friend wishing to shoplift, another group of friends wanting to vandalize, peer pressure from a crowd smoking or drinking, that could challenge a child's values. Discuss with the children how they would react to certain situations. Try to make the situations as realistic as possible so the children get practice in standing up for their values.
Fictional Values
Read books and watch TV shows or movies together. Have the children take notes during the show identifying the different values that each character has and whether they stuck to their values throughout the show. After the show or story is over, have the children discuss how they would respond to the same situations, and how the character's values differed from their own. Have the children read their notes from the story and determine if the characters had moral values or higher values for something else in life, such as material possessions or the desire to be cool.