“The positive effects of kindness are experienced in the brain of everyone who witnessed the act, improving their mood and making them significantly more likely to “pay it forward.” This means one good deed in a crowded area can create a domino effect and improve the day of dozens of people!”
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101 Kindness Acts for Kids
Here are 101 of our favorite kindness acts for kids! Kindness is contagious and paying it forward can be extremely rewarding.
This blog post includes some free printables to help you get started with making the world a better place!
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What is Kindness and Why is it Important?
According to Mark Twain (American author), kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see. Kindness is universal; It can transcend boundaries, race, and even disabilities. Kindness is being nice to someone else without expecting anything in return – It’s seeing with our heart.
There are numerous scientific studies that discuss the long term benefits of engaging in random acts of kindness. According to Diana Samuel, MD, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, kindness acts can help us feel more connected to each other, which in turn, strengthens our sense of belonging; being kind can directly influence loneliness and improve relationships. Kindness has the potential to change you, me, our children and impact our world on a large scale.
Related: Scribble Art for Kids – Kindness Art
Related: Zentangle Heart Craft
Related: 10 Kindness Crafts
Being kind can go a long way toward improving our emotional wellbeing. A 2019 study in The Journal of Social Psychology found that people who performed kindness activities for seven days saw a boost in happiness. Kindness is truly amazing!
Our Kindness Begins With Me coloring book series is the perfect tool to reinforce the power and beauty of kindness. These coloring books have beautiful kindness quotes on playful backgrounds that can encourage children to have more compassion and empathy towards others. Click on the images below to check them out!
3 Health Benefits of Kindness
Paying it forward and being kind has some incredible benefits! Here are a few mind blowing scientific facts:
Kindness decreases pain – Engaging in acts of kindness produces endorphins—the brain’s natural painkiller! Lizette Borreli, Medical Daily
Kindness decreases stress – Perpetually kind people have 23% less cortisol (the stress hormone) and age slower than the average population! Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 1998
Kindness decreases anxiety – A group of highly anxious individuals performed at least six acts of kindness a week. After one month, there was a significant increase in positive moods, relationship satisfaction and a decrease in social avoidance in socially anxious individuals. University of British Columbia Study
This is just a snippet of the many benefits of being kind. Incredible right?!
One of the best ways to foster kindness is through regularly participating in kindness acts. Here are 101 ways to help you do that. These kindness acts are not just for kids! Please feel free to participate alongside your kids.
Don’t forget to download our free 30 Days of Kindness Challenge PDF. This PDF file includes a colored and black and white version. I’ve also included a free Kindness Begins With Me coloring a page from our kindness coloring book series. This coloring page is a great addition to your discussions about kindness.
This 30 day challenge does not have to be completed in order and it does not have to be done for 30 days consecutively. These kindness acts can be incorporated into your schedule at your convenience.
I’ve divided these 101 kindness acts into different categories, so you can decide with your child or class, which area they’d like to focus on first or you can make your way through the list at your own pace.
These kindness acts can also be tweaked if necessary. Feel free to simplify or up level certain tasks depending on your location or age of children. Here we go!
Acts of Kindness for Family and Friends
Here are some kindness acts for kids that can be completed with family and friends!
1. Help your parents – When it comes to being helpful, sometimes it is nice for kids to help without being asked. For example, if they notice someone is struggling carrying bags, they can offer to help.
2. Be kind to your siblings – Siblings are bound to disagree, so this can be an excellent kindness act for kids to embrace.
3. Clear the table after dinner – This is a lovely way to show a bit of appreciation for the meal that has just been enjoyed.
4. Write letters to family members, especially elderly relatives – Sometimes families don’t live close by or you don’t see them as often. Writing a letter can be a lovely way to show someone you are thinking of them. Elderly relatives could really appreciate something like this.
5. Read your younger siblings a bedtime story – This is a lovely opportunity for some extra bonding between siblings. Older children get to practice reading, and younger siblings enjoy listening to stories told in a different way.
6. Look after pets without needing to be asked – Let’s be honest here. Most of the time, the responsibility of pets always seems to fall on the grown ups in the household, so helping take care of pets could be a fun thing for kids to do. Some suggestions include, cleaning out a pet cage, feeding them or refreshing their water bowl, and taking them out for a walk if appropriate.
7. Help siblings with homework – Offering help with school work can be a blessing in disguise for your siblings and is a great way to show some extra support and kindness within the family.
8. Tidy your room or put things away – A small gesture, but one that can go a long way. When kids help with tidying a room, or putting things away when they no longer need them, they can save others from having to tidy up after them.
9. Elf on the shelf ideas – Use the elves that visit at Christmas time as a way to encourage random acts of kindness. This blog has a printable with lots of different ideas for each day of December.
Find out more about it here.
10. Show your family some appreciation – A quick way to show some kindness is through appreciation. This post is called the Family Appreciation Project and it has some great ideas about how to show appreciation towards our family members.
Find out more about it here.
Other suggestions of kindness acts for kids when it comes to your family and friends:
11. Facetime a grandparent
12. Check-in on an elderly relative
13. Set the table for dinner
14. Send a postcard or a letter to a friend
15. Clean up your toys without being asked
16. Give high fives to your friends
17. Leave positive affirmations in places that your family will see
18. Write kindness notes to your parents
19. Share a special toy with a friend
20. Take care of a friend or family member’s pet while they are away
21. Clean your room without being asked
22. Prepare breakfast in bed for your parents
23. Bring a treat to a friend
24. Call someone you haven’t spoken to in a while
25. Put the groceries away
26. Tell someone what you love about them
27. Hugs
28. Help cook dinner
29. Make a handmade gift for someone
30. Really listen to a friend.
31. Recycle at home
32. Plant something in your garden
33. Wash your parent’s cars
34. Wash a neighbor’s car
35. Offer to cut the grass
36. Do some gardening for your family
37. Do some gardening tasks for a neighbor
38. Plan a family night
39. Create a kindness jar filled with lots of positive messages
Acts of Kindness for the Community
Showing kindness within our families or amongst our friends may come naturally for many people, but how do we encourage our kids to show kindness on a larger scale? Here are some suggestions.
40. Make blessing bags for the homeless – Sometimes there are people in the community that need extra support. These blessing bags are a great way to give back to the community.
Find out how to make yours here.
41. Care bags – Filled with essentials for people who may be struggling and are homeless. A care bag can be a great way to pay it forward.
Find out how to make yours here.
42. Picking up litter – This is a small but valuable act of kindness. Picking litter within the community or perhaps in your local parks can be a great way for kids to feel involved within their neighborhood.
43. Make something to hand out – Another thing you could encourage is getting creative. For example, I found a blog post where you can make bookmarks. You can then ask your children to add kind messages to them. Simply handing these out in your local area can give someone else a huge boost when they receive one.
Find out how to make them here.
Other suggestions of kindness acts for kids when it comes to your community include:
44. Make kindness rocks and leave them throughout the neighborhood
45. Donate your old toys to a charity shop
46. Donate outgrown clothes to a charity shop
47. Thank the cashier at the store.
48. Leave change in the vending machine
49. Ask your parents to leave change in a parking meter
50. Organize a little clean-up at your local park
51. Make a poster for your park
52. Dry the play area equipment when it has rained
53. Feed the birds
54. Feed the local wildlife
55. Write chalk messages on the sidewalk
56. Give the mailman or woman a letter saying thank you
57. Leave water out for delivery people
58. Leave snacks out at your front door
59. Leave a bowl of water for dogs walking by
60. Give out drinks on a hot day
61. Help out at a local animal shelter
62. Offer help in local shops or charities
63. Get involved in local events
64. Leave a positive note in a book for someone to find
65. Put some change in an envelope and leave it in a store with a little note
66. Hold the door open for someone
67. Wave at other people
68. Smile at everyone
69. Return someone’s cart at the store
70. Donate books to your local doctor’s office
71. Make pictures for your local doctor or dentist’s office
72. Donate toys to the children’s ward at the hospital
73. Donate your outgrown clothes
74. Gift your outgrown school uniforms to friends who have younger siblings
75. Bring flowers for your teacher
76. Hold the door open for someone
77. Volunteer at school
Acts of Kindness on a Global Scale
Finally, there are other ways you can encourage kindness beyond your local community. Here are some of the things you could consider:
78. Participate in a beach clean up – You won’t believe the amount of garbage that can be washed up on our beaches. These are the things that endanger our beautiful oceans and sea life. So, a great act of kindness could be to participate in a beach clean-up.
79. Pick up some litter while on vacation – If you are heading on vacation, then this is the perfect chance to do a quick litter pick-up while you are exploring. This might be at the beach or in the parks where you are playing.
80. Send care packages – You might want to create a care package for someone that lives in a different area to you. There are many websites that can show you how to do this.
81. Put together a package for a family in need around the holidays – There are usually many different organizations needing different care packages, especially around the holiday season. You usually fill them with toiletries and small things and they can be sent off to countries in need.
82. Donate school uniforms – There might be places in your community where you can send your outgrown school uniform. You could also get the school involved and they can do a mass collection for a school in a third-world country that would be very appreciative of it.
Other suggestions of kindness acts for kids globally include:
83. Try walking to school more often, if possible, to help the environment
84. Bring someone a souvenir from a trip
85. Say hello as you walk by people
86. Start a conversation with other kids while on holiday
87. Give some of your allowance to a global charity
88. Volunteer at a charity that services many countries world wide
89. Adopt an animal at a zoo in another country
90. Adopt an animal in the wild
91. Leave kindness rocks anywhere you travel
Acts of Kindness Kids can do for Themselves
Finally, I wanted to share a few kindness acts that children can do for themselves. It is important to encourage kindness within as well as externally. Here are some of the ideas that they can try:
92. Breathing – Breathing is so important! Asking our kids to take a few moments just to breathe is a huge act of kindness that they can do for themselves, especially in difficult situations. Here is a mindfulness art activity that encourages kids to focus on their breath.
93. Sing a song
94. Dance
95. Laugh out loud
96. Be yourself
97. Do something that makes YOU happy
98. Treat yourself
99. Use positive affirmations
100. Practice gratitude
101. Positive self-talk
Consistency is important if you want to reap the physical and emotional health benefits of kindness. Don’t think of a random act of kindness as a one-and-done event, but rather part of an ongoing everyday effort.
Making the world a kinder place might seem overwhelming for children but creating an atmosphere of kindness in our homes, classrooms, and in their daily lives can help create a generation with the capability to do just that. Kindness begins with me and you!
Here are some other blog posts you might be interested in:
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for more activities designed to encourage mindfulness and spark creativity, check out my printable resources below or visit my shop!
If you try any of our art activities, please let me know! I’d love to add your creations to our gallery, so upload your photos or send them directly to me at: [email protected] Thank you!
Don’t forget to download our free 15 page Mindfulness coloring book to help add a few mindful moments to your child’s day. Just click here or the image below!
