Spread Kindness
Below you will find printables and ideas for small acts of kindness. Little actions that will let others know that they are cared for. This summer with Covid keeping people from gathering we decided to make 48 of these bags and handed them out to our friends so they could spread kindness. Check out the list below.
The way we did it is put each item into the bag and then gave a little instruction sheet. For each one, I’ll put a link for the printable and the item that needed to do the kindness activity. However, you can just use the printables for your family and just do one or a couple of the activities. You don’t even have to print out the papers, just do the activity if you have the supplies. If you want to make a large amount we got the bags to put the supplies in at Oriental Trading Company.
So this is the main printable. My kids and I searched through to figure out some kindness activities that other kids could do that required little things we could give them for inspiration. For example, we packed a little “gem” for the kids to hide in a friends yard, and a book for them to use the little libraries. I’m guessing not everyone wants to make as many activities as we did so I have an editable PDF below so you can make make your own list. Check out this page to learn how to use editable pdfs.
Here is the link to start your kindness adventures Kindness checklist
Here is the link to the editable kindness sheet so you can just add the activities you would like or create new ones. Editable kindness checklist
This first kindness activity is one that will bring connection and joy to the family doing the kit. You need to pack a book in the kit. We packed all old used books (it makes it easier for the kids to part with them), but we tried to make it books we’d think our friends would like to read. You can find old books in your house, at a library for free or cheap, or even ask on freecycle. This activity is good for kids and adults so if you are giving it to an adult just make sure to give them something they would like to read. They then take the book to the closest little library and exchange it for a new book (hopefully after they read it). This is a kindness because it absolutely delights the nice people that go to all the trouble making little free libraries when it’s used, you are giving those that frequent the little free library a new choice, and you are starting a new tradition in the family that received the kindness kit. It’s a win, win, win!
Here is the link for the book printable.
The second activity is creating a Giving Plate. You will create a plate that will then be filled with baked goodies and then passed on, eaten, (hopefully cleaned), and then filled up with goodies and passed on again. To do this kindness or create it for your kit buy a plain ceramic plate at the dollar store. Dollar tree has awesome ones. We bought online through Dollar Tree Direct and got two sets of 24 to make 48 kits. But you can just go to the store and buy one. While you are there buy permanent markers. We put a couple in each kit to decorate the plate.
Then put in a bag of chalk in the kindness kit. I put in 3 jumbo chalks into a sandwich sized ziplock. If you are buying in bulk you can get a pretty good deal here ($24.95 for 136 pieces). The idea is for the family with the kindness kit to take the chalk and decorate the sidewalk of someone that they know or someone they want to cheer up. When I made our 48 kits, I didn’t make toppers for the chalk bag but below is a printable if you want to make yours super cute (it is a pdf with the chalk topper and the birdseed topper).
We actually love painting rocks and hiding them out our friends’ houses. We then found out there is a whole community called The Kindness Rocks Project and they often have local facebook pages where you hide the painted rock for someone to find and on the back is the facebook groups name to say you found it, so cool. We usually take a picture of the rock and then text the friend and say “We hid this in your yard because we think you are awesome … go see if you can find it.” So just put a rock and some paint in the bag. Paint pots can be expensive because it can’t be washable paint (more than a $1 each and you need a brush). We solved the problem by buying these paintable banks that come with paint and a brush for $1 each. We are going to save the banks for a future kindness event! Here are some great ideas on pinterest for rock painting ideas. Below is a printable if you want to put it in your kindness kit with the rock and paint.
The post cards or card part of the kindness kit can be done lots of ways. You really just want your kindness kit recipient to be inspired to write to someone. You can use blank cards and envelopes, you can just put in construction paper folded over, or you can also add a stamp on an envelope to go one step further. We went easy land bought postcards. We bought these, but I also love these!
The next is a bag of crayons. This may be one you want to skip, but we thought it was a chance for families to do some crafting and be creative. We had about a billion old crayons as my kids have become a bit snobby and really only like markers or colored pencils. We put them in a sandwich bag with this printable. We’ve had lots of friends enjoy the melted crayons on rocks.
This is a small printable and you can just save the image to the right and print it, but here it is with other printables.
This is an activity that is fun for those doing the kindness as well as those receiving it. It is a chance for kids to have an adventure and then share the joy of the adventure with another family. There will be two bags in the kit each with a little toy and the printable. The directions tell them how to go geocaching and how to find one close to their house and then they exchange the toy with one in the cache. They have a second set to give to another family and tell them on their adventure and encourage them to try it. It shows your family that sharing joys and adventures is a great way to be kind. We added little plastic toys that we have had and collected for years. It was fun for my kids to pick out special ones for each family that we gave a kit to.
This is a really fun thing to do as a family. Inside the Kindness kit include a “Certificate of Award for_______.” As a family, sit together and talk about who they know that is awesome at stuff. It could be a neighbor who has a beautiful garden, or a crossing guard who is always smiling, etc. Then you fill out the certificate and give it to the person. It is powerful because it’s great to get your kids thinking about what they are thankful for in other people! We bought these that were less than $5 for 25, but I’ve made a colored version and a bw version for you to print out.
This is really fun for kids and parents alike. It’s simple, take a fake gem or jewel and hide it at a friends house. You can give them directions to find it or you can take a picture of it where it’s hiding to help them find it. It is really fun. We had a great time making our jewels. These are good directions and they teach the science behind what’s happening. We have found that marbles that are all one solid color work the best. You can get a bag of marbles or even those flat gems at the dollar store.
A package of birdseed. This is pretty simple for even the littlest kids to do. We bought a big bag of birdseed and then split it up into the 48 bags, but you can just get a package of sunflower seeds (not salted) and do the activity. The kids can throw the seeds outside on a hot day in the grass or they can be fancy and make a bird feeder with directions here.
Beads to make a bracelet. We have a huge box of bracelet making supplies so we just separated them into bags and put them in the bags. The idea is for your child to make a cute bracelet and give it to a friend. This activity is one where you can make lots and lots of bracelets and hand them out to friends or you can leave them in places like the library with a note that says, “This is for you, I hope it brightens your day!”
I love the simplicity of this gift. I just wish I added a pair of plastic gloves to my kit, since in this age of Covid no one should pick up trash bare handed. But it’s just a brown paper bag with a tag that says kindness kit and the idea is to go to a park or a walk around your block filling the bag with trash! This is also something you could do weekly or once a month with your kids, you could do it at a park and then play. They would be helping their neighborhood and the earth and then having fun outside playing with you.
Plantable seed paper. This one that we got looks like confetti really making the kindness bag festive. But you can really get any kind you want, just buy regular seeds, or you can even make your own seed paper. The kindness is for the earth and helping more plants to grow. It’s a great time to tell your kids that we need the oxygen that plants provide to breathe.
This is a fun printable that you can do anytime. It is for all those kids that like to check boxes and to help them remember to think about doing a kindness each and every day.
