Adults are constantly telling kids to “be kind”. They hear: share with your brother, include your friend, use kind words, think about how someone else feels.
Though, that’s what we should tell them, kindness is a skill and like other skills, kids need opportunities to actually practice it.
That’s where kindness activities can help. Kindness activities for kids aren’t just about cute crafts or worksheets that keep little hands busy. Those are fine and can be fun, but kids need in-action opportunities to recognize someone else’s feelings, practice empathy, solve social problems, help others, and discover that their actions can make a difference.
Whether you’re a parent, teacher, caregiver, or therapist, these 10 kindness activities can help you turn everyday moments into meaningful opportunities to raise kind, empathetic kids.
Why Practice Kindness With Kids?
Young children are still developing the social-emotional skills that help them understand another person’s perspective.
They aren’t always going to notice that someone feels left out. They won’t always know what to say when a friend is sad. And sometimes they know the kind thing to, but still need help actually doing it.
Instead of simply telling kids to “be nice,” we can give them opportunities to practice skills like:
- recognizing emotions
- considering another person’s perspective
- offering help
- including others
- using encouraging words
- showing gratitude
- solving social problems
- repairing relationships after mistakes
And we can make that practice fun. Following are 10 ways to get started.
Click here for our entire list of 25 Kindness Activities.
1. Kindness Scavenger Hunt
Create a list of kind actions for kids to spot throughout the day.
They might look for someone:
- helping another person
- sharing
- holding a door
- giving a compliment
- inviting someone to play
- comforting someone who is upset
Instead of only asking children to perform kindness, this activity teaches them to notice kindness happening around them.
Afterwards, ask: “Which act of kindness made the biggest difference? Why?”
2. Kindness Bingo
Create a bingo card filled with simple acts of kindness such as:
“Help someone.”
“Give a compliment.”
“Invite someone to play.”
“Say thank you.”
“Make someone smile.”
Kids can work toward completing a row or even the entire card.
Keep the emphasis on how their actions affected others rather than simply checking off boxes.
3. The Compliment Circle
Sit together in a circle and have each person give someone else a genuine compliment.
Encourage kids to move beyond appearance. Instead of only saying, “I like your shirt,” help them notice qualities such as:
“You’re a good friend.”
“You make people laugh.”
“You helped me when I needed it.”
“You worked really hard.”
This helps children learn to recognize positive qualities in others.
4. What Would You Do?
Present kids with simple social situations and ask how they might respond.
For example:
“You see someone sitting alone at lunch. What could you do?”
“Your friend loses a game and looks upset. What could you say?”
“Someone drops all of their crayons. What could you do?”
There doesn’t always need to be one perfect answer. The goal is to help children practice thinking beyond themselves.
5. Make Kindness Coupons
Create coupons children can give to family members, classmates, or friends. Ideas include:
- One big hug
- I’ll help you clean up
- You choose our game
- I’ll help with one chore
- Let’s read together
- I’ll play your favorite game with you
This helps kids see kindness as something they can intentionally do, not just something they feel.
6. Start a Kindness Jar
Every time someone notices a kind act, write it on a small piece of paper and place it in a jar. At the end of the week, read them together.
Don’t focus on and reward the person who performed the most acts. Celebrate what happened: “Look at how much kindness happened in our family/classroom this week.”
That helps shift the focus from getting recognition to building a culture of kindness.
If you don’t have the time to write the acts down, use a marble system. Drop a marble for every act of kindness. You can still focus on how full (hopefully) the jar is and the amount of kindness that was shared.
7. Read Books About Kindness
Stories give children a safe way to explore emotions, relationships, differences, and difficult social situations.
While reading, stop occasionally and ask:
“How do you think that character feels?”
“Why do you think they did that?”
“What could their friend do?”
“What would you do?”
You don’t need a formal lesson. A few thoughtful questions can turn storytime into an empathy building activity.
8. Kindness Role-Play
Pretend to encounter common situations kids experience. One person can play a child who is left out while another practices inviting them to play.
Try situations involving:
- sharing
- losing
- waiting
- disagreements
- hurt feelings
- new students
- asking for help
- apologizing
Practicing before these situations happen gives children language they can use when they encounter them in real life.
9. Secret Kindness Mission
Give your child a secret mission for the day. For example:
“Find someone who could use some encouragement today.”or “Help someone today without being asked.”
At the end of the day, talk about what happened. Ask how the other person responded and how doing something kind made your child feel.
10. Make Encouragement Cards
Grab paper, crayons, markers, stickers, or whatever you already have.
Create cards for:
- grandparents
- teachers
- neighbors
- classmates
- community helpers
- someone who is sick
- someone having a difficult time
This is an easy way to connect creativity with thinking about someone else’s needs.
The world is in desperate need of kindness. Teach your kids how to do their part in making this world a more joyous place.
Recent Comments