World Smile Day: Kindness, Connection, and the Story Behind the Smiley Face

Introduction

A simple smile can communicate friendliness, encouragement, amusement, or joy without saying a word. World Smile Day gives families a fun opportunity to explore the history of a familiar symbol while practicing kindness, empathy, communication, art, and reflection.

World Smile Day is observed on the first Friday in October. In 2026, that is Friday, October 2. The observance was started in 1999 by commercial artist Harvey Ball, who created the familiar yellow smiley face in 1963. The idea behind the day is wonderfully simple: perform an act of kindness and help another person smile.

Today’s learning combines history, social-emotional skills, writing, art, and real-world kindness.

Learning Goals

By the end of the lesson, children can:

• Explain the basic history of World Smile Day.

• Identify ways facial expressions communicate emotions.

• Describe kindness and give examples of kind actions.

• Consider how their actions can affect other people.

• Create something designed to encourage or brighten someone’s day.

Educational Videos

Learn the Story Behind World Smile Day

Start with the official Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation website:

https://www.worldsmile.org/about

This page introduces Harvey Ball, the creation of the smiley face, and the origins of World Smile Day. The foundation states that Ball created the original smiley face in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1963 and launched World Smile Day in 1999.

K–2

Look at the smiley face together before reading selected information aloud. Ask:

• What emotion do you think this face represents?

• How can you tell someone is happy?

• What makes you smile?

• Can we make someone feel happy without giving them a present?

Keep the historical portion brief and focus primarily on kindness and recognizing emotions.

3rd–5th Grade

Read the short history together. Have children identify three important facts: who Harvey Ball was, when he created the smiley face, and why World Smile Day was created.

Ask children to put these events in chronological order:

1963 — Smiley face created

1999 — First World Smile Day

Today — People continue observing the day

6th–8th Grade

Use the history as a mini primary-versus-secondary-source investigation. Read the foundation's account and discuss why information published by the organization associated with an observance can be useful while still considering the purpose and perspective of the source.

Challenge learners to summarize the history of World Smile Day in 3–5 sentences without copying the website.

Interactive Resources

Explore Kindness and Empathy

PBS KIDS offers a collection of activities centered on kindness, friendship, compassion, and recognizing emotions:

https://parents.pbskids.org/parents/being-kind

The collection includes discussion ideas, activities, printables, and interactive resources designed to help younger children explore kindness and empathy.

K–2

Explore one activity together. Practice identifying emotions by taking turns making different facial expressions.

Try:

Happy

Excited

Surprised

Worried

Sad

Frustrated

Ask your child what clues helped them identify each feeling. Remind them that we cannot always know exactly how someone feels just by looking at their face, so asking and listening are important too.

3rd–5th Grade

Create a Kindness Cause-and-Effect Chain.

Begin with:

"I invite someone to play."

Then imagine what might happen next:

They feel included → they join the game → they welcome another child → another person feels included.

Now create a second chain beginning with a different act of kindness.

6th–8th Grade

Discuss the difference between kindness, politeness, empathy, and compassion.

Create an example of each and consider where they overlap.

Then discuss:

Is an action still kind if nobody knows who did it?

Can something be well-intentioned but not actually helpful?

Why might asking what someone needs sometimes be more thoughtful than assuming?

Crafts/Projects

The Smile Experiment

You will need:

• Paper

• Pencil

• Coloring supplies

• Optional index cards or sticky notes

Draw a large circle on a piece of paper.

K–2

Turn the circle into a face showing happiness.

Next, draw another face showing a different emotion.

Compare them. What changed?

Look at the eyebrows, eyes, and mouth.

Finish by creating a cheerful card for someone. Add a drawing and a simple kind message such as, "I hope you have a great day."

3rd–5th Grade

Create four faces showing four different emotions without labeling them.

Ask another family member to identify each emotion.

Then discuss which visual clues they used.

For the World Smile Day portion, make a Kindness Coupon offering something that costs nothing, such as:

"I'll help you with a chore."

"I'll read with you."

"I'll play your favorite game."

"I'll help clean up."

Give the coupon to someone today.

6th–8th Grade

Design your own symbol for kindness without using the traditional smiley face.

Think like a graphic designer:

What colors will you use?

What shapes communicate your message?

Should the design work without words?

Could someone understand it at a glance?

Afterward, write a short designer's statement explaining your choices.

Optional Family Challenge

Have everyone secretly choose one person and perform a helpful or encouraging act for them before the end of the day.

The goal isn't to get credit. The goal is to make someone's day a little better.

Worksheets

Free Kindness Printables

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation provides a collection of free printables, including coloring pages, kindness bookmarks, posters, cards, and Kindness Bingo:

https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/printables

The organization states that these resources are free, and the collection provides several easy options for today's lesson.

K–2

Choose the Kindness Coloring Pages or Kindness Bingo.

While coloring, ask your child to name one kind action they could do today.

For children who are still developing writing skills, let them dictate their answer while you write it down.

3rd–5th Grade

Try Kindness Bingo or create a personalized version.

Include actions such as:

• Give someone a sincere compliment.

• Help without being asked.

• Invite someone to join an activity.

• Write a thank-you note.

• Clean something everyone uses.

• Tell someone why you appreciate them.

Choose several to complete today.

6th–8th Grade

Use the printable collection as inspiration, but have learners create their own World Smile Day Action Sheet.

Divide a page into three categories:

At Home

In My Community

Online

Write at least three realistic ways to show kindness in each setting.

Then circle one action that can genuinely be completed today.

Bonus Kindness Resource

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation also offers free educational resources organized by age, including materials for K–5 and grades 6–8:

https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/for-educators

The collection focuses on concepts including caring, respect, responsibility, inclusiveness, and courage.

K–2

Focus on one question:

What does kindness look like?

Let children draw their answer.

3rd–5th Grade

Complete this sentence five different ways:

Kindness can be…

Try to include actions involving family members, friends, strangers, animals, or the community.

6th–8th Grade

Choose one concept—respect, caring, inclusiveness, integrity, responsibility, or courage—and explain how it can connect to kindness.

Then provide one realistic example from everyday life.

Discussion Questions

K–2

• What makes you smile?

• How can you help another person feel included?

• What does a kind voice sound like?

• How can you tell when someone might need help?

• What kind thing could you do today?

3rd–5th Grade

• Why do you think Harvey Ball wanted a special day centered on kindness?

• Does kindness have to cost money?

• Can small actions make a big difference?

• How does it feel when someone includes you?

• What is one kind action you could do without being asked?

6th–8th Grade

• Why can simple symbols become so recognizable?

• What makes the smiley face easy to understand?

• Is smiling always an accurate sign that someone is happy?

• What is the difference between performing kindness for recognition and helping simply because someone needs it?

• How can kindness influence the culture of a family, team, group, or community?

Importance of the Lesson

World Smile Day can be much more than a celebration of smiling.

For younger children, the topic creates opportunities to practice identifying emotions, communicating feelings, and considering how other people might feel.

Older children can move beyond identifying emotions to examine empathy, intention, communication, and social responsibility. They can consider not only whether an action seems nice, but whether it is genuinely useful and respectful to another person.

The history of Harvey Ball also provides an interesting connection between art and communication. A remarkably simple graphic became recognizable around the world, making World Smile Day an opportunity to explore how visual symbols communicate ideas.

Most importantly, children can immediately put the lesson into practice. Learning about kindness becomes more meaningful when they have an opportunity to actually demonstrate it.

Wrap-Up: One Smile, One Action

Finish today's learning with one final challenge:

Do one intentional act of kindness for another person.

It doesn't need to be dramatic.

Help with a task.

Invite someone to join you.

Write an encouraging note.

Give a sincere compliment.

Listen when someone needs to talk.

Thank someone whose work is often overlooked.

Then gather together and reflect.

K–2: What kind thing did you do, and how did it make you feel?

3rd–5th Grade: How did your action affect another person? What evidence did you notice?

6th–8th Grade: Did the experience change anything about how you think about small acts of kindness? Why or why not?

World Smile Day began with an incredibly simple idea: use kindness to brighten another person's day. Today's challenge is to turn that idea into action.