Assign students to volunteer in community service projects. No matter the age of an individual, community service can be a vital piece to the proper development of a person. Community service projects challenge individuals to take up an active role and responsibility in their communities. Community service ideas include cleaning up the local park, helping at a nearby retirement home or volunteering at a local animal shelter. Because responsibility and active work are basic leadership traits, taking an active role in one's community instills fundamental leadership skills.
Have the class research, work on and present a group project. Split the class into groups and assign each group a topic. Assign each student in a group a section that he is responsible for. This will require each student to lead other group members in a specific project topic. At the end of the project, present each project to class with every student required to share on his project section.
A simple activity that teaches leadership skills is the group-knot game. For this activity, have a group of eight to 12 students stand in a circle. Each student must then reach out with his left hand and grab the left hand of a student across from him. Repeat with the right hand with a different person. The goal of the game is to untie the human knot by crawling through arms without letting go. Go around the circle, one by one, and require each student to give the next step the group should take to untie the knot.
Tell students to write a few leadership qualities down on a piece of paper. Then, go around the classroom and have each student stand and present a leadership quality to the class. Record each quality on the blackboard. After each student has listed one or two ideas, have the class discuss whether each quality is a good leadership trait. This activity challenges students to think about leadership skills.