Promoting Empowerment Activity

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🔍 Overview

Year Level: Year 6
Learning Area: Health and Physical Education – Personal, Social and Community Health
Curriculum Strands:

• Being healthy, safe and active (ACPPS054, ACPPS056)
• Communicating and interacting for health and wellbeing (ACPPS055, ACPPS059)
• Contributing to healthy and active communities (ACPPS060)

Unit: Body Image Empowerment (Lesson 3 of 5)
Duration: 60 minutes
Class Size: 30 students
Lesson Title: Promoting Positive Body Image

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🎯 Learning Intentions

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Understand and explain what body image is and why promoting positive body image is important.
• Identify and apply strategies for using affirmations and respectful language to support their peers.
• Work collaboratively to design creative and inclusive visuals (e.g. posters) that promote positive body attitudes.

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✅ Success Criteria

Students will be successful when they:

• Demonstrate empathy and respectful communication during group activities.
• Create a visually engaging poster that promotes body positivity.
• Articulate how words and actions can affect someone's body image.

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🧠 Prior Knowledge and Connections

This lesson builds on Lesson 2, where students unpacked stereotypes and media messages relating to body image. Now, students begin to actively practise and model supportive behaviours and messages that foster body acceptance.

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🛠️ Resources and Preparation

Equipment:

• A3 paper or cardboard sheets
• Textas, coloured pencils, paint, glue, glitter
• Magazines for collage
• Scissors and glue sticks
• Examples of body positive slogans (cut out or on display)
• Sentence starters for affirmations (e.g. "I love that my body can…")
• Portable speaker for background music during poster-making

Set-Up:

• Group tables in clusters of 5-6 students
• Poster-making materials spread out on each table
• Whiteboard and markers for brainstorm session

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🕒 Lesson Sequence (60 mins)

⏱️ Warm-Up (10 mins) – “Words that Stick” Circle Game

Objective: To introduce the power of language and how words affect our self-image.

Instructions:

1. Students stand in a circle.
2. Pass around a soft ball. Whoever catches it says either a positive or negative comment about body image (e.g. You're strong vs You're too skinny).
3. After 7–8 turns, pause and debrief:
   • Which words made you feel good?
   • Which words didn’t?
   • How do words shape the way we think about ourselves and others?

Key Message: Words are powerful – let’s use them to lift each other up.

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📖 Explicit Teaching (10 mins) – “What is Positive Body Image?”

Teacher-led discussion using visuals on the board:

• Define body image: How you view, think, and feel about your physical self
• Discuss how society and media influence body ideals
• Emphasise that all bodies are good bodies
• Explain what body positivity means: Accepting and appreciating all body shapes, sizes, and abilities

Australia-specific connection:
Refer to Australian campaigns like Butterfly Foundation messaging and examples of Aussie athletes/celebrities who promote positive self-image.

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🤝 Guided Practice (25 mins) – “Poster Power: Designing Positivity”

Task: In groups of 5 (6 groups total), students will collaboratively design an A3-sized Body Positivity poster.

Instructions:

1. Each group brainstorms slogans such as:
   • “Every Body is Unique”
   • “I Love My Body Because…”
   • “Strong, Smart, and Me”
2. Encourage use of inclusive imagery:
   • Diverse body types, abilities, cultures and gender representation
   • Using magazine clippings, drawings, or symbols
3. Include 3 positive affirmations per poster
4. Play mellow, uplifting music during task to foster a relaxed, creative environment

Teacher role:

• Move between groups providing guidance and prompting deeper discussions with open-ended questions like:
  • “Why did you choose that message?”
  • “How do you think this will make someone feel when they see it?”

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💬 Reflection & Share (10 mins) – “Wall of Empowerment” Showcase

Task:

• Each group briefly presents their poster to the class
• Posters displayed as part of a 'Wall of Empowerment' in the gym/hallway

Facilitated reflection questions:

• What messages stood out to you?
• How can we continue to use these messages in our everyday life?
• How might this activity make someone feel seen and accepted?

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🧭 Differentiation

• Support: Give sentence starters or word banks to EAL/D and neurodiverse students
• Extension: Challenge fast finishers to write a short 'body positivity pledge' to read aloud
• Inclusive Practices: Representation of all body identities, shapes, and abilities encouraged through discussion and materials

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📝 Assessment for Learning

Formative Assessment:

• Observation of group interactions and use of respectful language
• Quality and inclusiveness of poster content
• Participation in discussion and creative tasks

Student Self-Evaluation:

• “One thing I learned about body image is…”
• “One way I will support my friends is…”

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🔗 Curriculum Links (Australian Curriculum v9.0)

• ACPPS054: Examine the influence of emotional responses on behaviour and relationships
• ACPPS055: Recognise how media, identities and stereotypes influence attitudes to others
• ACPPS059: Practise skills to work inclusively and respectfully with others
• ACPPS060: Investigate ways to promote health, safety and wellbeing within the school and community

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💡 Teacher Tips

• Store posters to use again in the final Unit Showcase (Lesson 5)
• Take photos of groups with their posters for digital classroom display
• Consider inviting a guest from a local community health group or youth speaker for follow-up sessions

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🌈 Connections Beyond the Lesson

Encourage students to:

• Post daily affirmations in the school bathroom mirrors
• Start a 'Kind Compliment Jar' in the classroom
• Use body-respectful language in every area of Physical Education

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Your Year 6 students will leave this lesson not only more informed—but uplifted, empowered and eager to build each other up. 🌟