Kindness Activities for Kids

Teaching Kids to Be Kind

I often think about some of the skills we teach kids from Kindergarten to Grade 3. Along with reading, writing and math, we should have time set aside each day to teach our students that kindness matters. It’s a hot topic. All you have to do is look on Pinterest. You’ll see all kinds of inspirational quotes about kindness and ideas to promote random acts of kindness. Wanting my students to be kinder and more compassionate was the inspiration behind my book, How to be a Friend (Scholastic Canada). If you’d like a kid-friendly version about this inspiration, you can download my letter here.

The premise of this beginning chapter book is about a Grade 3 class doing random acts of kindness. The kids participate in a group project about spreading kindness and doing kind deeds for others. However, the main character, Lexie, struggles with completing the project while keeping her own secret that she has epilepsy. As time passes, Lexie gains confidence and makes friends among her classmates, even giving a presentation about epilepsy to the entire class. (One dreaded day she actually has a seizure in the schoolyard — and learns that good friends can be trusted to understand and accept who you are, and even help out in times of trouble.) The story promotes empathy, acceptance and kindness among elementary school children. You can check out the book here.

As an elementary teacher, I liked to tie in this read-aloud with meaningful activities. I started a kindness club at our school. We met once a week and choose a new kindness activity to do throughout the week. The culminating activity was baking chocolate chip cookies. (Remember, I’m a self-confessed chocoholic!) We passed out packages of the homemade cookies. A hand printed kindness message was attached to each package. Super cute! We went to a central shopping location in the town. (Yes, I had terrific parent volunteers who went with us so we could break off into small groups.) The kids had sooooo much fun! Shoppers seemed genuinely delighted to get the unexpected gift. And the kids were stoked about the idea of doing something for others. (A great random act of kindness!)

Here's a resource (with 10 different activities) that's super easy to use in your classroom:  Kindness Matters

I hope some of these activities inspire you to take on a kindness project either in your class or with the whole school because kindness rocks!