Have you noticed that some people are a little on edge lately? Well, fires, floods, pandemics, politics, and a list of surprises that never seem to end, will put anyone on edge! At a time like this it seems especially important to talk to our children about kindness.
So we read A Little Spot of Kindness by Diane Alber this week!
When I read this book in the classroom, I asked the children to say KIND every time I held up the large yellow dot(which I did when the word kind came up in the story). This helped engage the children even more with this story.
I also asked each class how they thought they could be more kind:
This book comes with a chart to help the children remember to be kind:
You can find and print it here: https://dianealber.com/books/
Some easy ways for children to be kind every day: Help clean up, share their toys, say they are sorry, say please, say thank you, help a friend in need, cheer up a friend, be patient and the list goes on…
What would our lives be like if we practiced intentional kindness every day? What would our families be like if we practiced random acts of kindness together? A few of my favorites:
Be kind to yourself (the old “give oxygen to yourself first”!)
Paint encouraging messages on rocks and put them in your neighborhood for walkers to see
Tape coins around a playground for children to find (probably out of reach of little ones who have a tendency to put everything into their mouths!)
Insert coins into a parking meter that is about to expire
Leave a treat with a kind note for your mail carrier, FedEx, UPS and or Amazon driver
Donate books and or food to your local food pantry
Buy coffee for the person behind you at your favorite coffee drive through
Leave a note of kindness somewhere
TRY IT – it feels GREAT, is FUN and will easily put you and your children in a better mood.
Here are some more ideas from: http://www.sunshineandspoons.com/2016/11/30-random-acts-of-kindness-to-do-with.html
1. Leave a thank you note and treats in the mailbox for the mail carrier.
2. Bring cookies to the local assisted living or nursing home for the staff.
3. Buy lunch or coffee for the person behind you in line.
4. Have the kids make cards for family and friends. Hand deliver them (the cards, not the kids, haha) if possible.
5. Buy a $5 gift card at a store and hand it to someone coming in on your way out.
6. Leave a bottle of laundry soap or put quarters in the machines at the laundromat.
7. Tape a bag of quarters to a vending machine.
8. Leave a bottle of water and a snack or a magazine in the nursing rooms at the mall. The Babies R’ Us in our area also has nursing rooms so we could do this there as well.
9. Leave a ziploc bag with a travel pack of wipes and a few diapers on a public changing table.
10. Give the kids each a few small toys and have them hand them out to other kids while shopping. I’ve bought a pack of sillybandz bracelets to do this with because both boys and girls love them.
11. Tuck a few dollars around the toy section at the dollar store or into various bins in the dollar section of Target.
12. Drop off a plate of cookies at the nurses’ station at the hospital.
13. Make “Homeless Blessing Bags” up with the kids and hand them out to the homeless you see while out shopping.
14. Tape a bag of microwave popcorn to a Redbox machine.
If you Google Random Acts of kindness you will find 500 more ideas!
Even more ideas here:
NOW LET’S ALL GO OUT AND CHANGE THE WORLD WITH KINDNESS! 🙂
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